Is Your Browser Truly a Personal Preference?
A few readers don’t understand my extremely negative stance towards IE. The one argument that comes up the most is that the browser is the personal preference of the user. Why would the browser matter as long as they come here anyways?
Not Always a Choice
When you buy a brand new computer, you’re faced with the manufacturer’s software, most of the time. Windows gets you IE and a slew of trial software and useless apps, and buying a Mac gives you Safari, iLife/iWork and also a slew of apps you’ll never use.
A personal preference to me, means that you have fully and objectively tried an alternative to something, but you would rather use something else. So, how can an IE/Safari user that’s never seen anything else have a preference? It’s just that button they click to go to the internet. Many users don’t even grasp the fact of a web browser and how they differ, or even that there are other ones.
It can work both ways. For instance, I’ve never objectively and fully tried Opera or Camino. For all I know they could blow FF for Mac out the water (not that hard to do). However, I know what I want my browser to do- more. My browser does more than just display a web page, and only FireFox can do some of those things for me.
Mind Made Up?
If you’ve really given another browser a shot, and goe back to using IE, or anything else, I have no problem. I’ve even noticed a huge increase in IE7 users, which is great, but I still get 6%~ of IE6 users. IE6 users have been turning down the upgrade button since 2005!
If you’re an IE6 user, just know that the upgrade is a simple process. There’s no harm that can come out of it, and all your special info (bookmarks, etc…) will transfer over.
What’s Wrong With IE?
Razor, a regular commenter, said this:
i dont get it. people complain about ies lack of standard support yet every site ii code is xhtml complient and works fine in ie without any hacks
First, XHTML and CSS validation mean nothing to the interpretation of IE, or any other browser. If it validates, it doesn’t mean that it works perfectly across the board. David picked it up before I could get to it, saying this:
The simple fact is IE7 still doesn’t support parts of CSS Level 2, which is 10 years old!
From the IE Wikipedia page, Internet Explorer 8 will have “support for more of the CSS 2.1 specification. This is why IE just flat out sucks. They won’t even be full CSS2, when they should be full CSS3. For them it’s not about the users, it’s about making a shiny interface to attack market share, instead of keeping up with competition.
IE needed competition, and they have it from browsers like Firefox, Opera, Camino, Safari, etc… But they still rule the market, and still release poor browsers. Look at all the IE7 rendering problems, and then think about the 10 years those standards have been around, and the 4 years it took them to release IE7.
I’m all for people using IE after making an informed decision that it suits them better, but most of the time there is no decision to make- that’s why it’s not a personal preference.
Leave a comment
Henry
September 29th, 2007 at 6:22 PM
Well thats done it, this post deserves a comment from me. I don’t comment because i use an RSS reader.
I completely and utterly agree with you, most people who own computers own PC’s, they also don’t know about web browsers and all that rubbish. I didn’t when i first got a computer, it was just something where i could go to the internet.
I now own a mac, i use Safari (shock horror). I first got my mac set up the internet (was way too easy to do) and opened Safari to get FireFox. I also got the other browsers for testing purposes; i went back to Safari after i found out how to add plugins. Now my Safari is considerably faster and nicer looking that my FireFox.
For all those trying to find a browser: PC - FireFox; Mac - Safari with your own plugins.
Deron Sizemore
September 29th, 2007 at 7:40 PM
I agree with you. Microsoft released IE7 with a new interface and all that but they didn’t really fix what needed to be fixed. The whole problem is because they know the average web user couldn’t care less about web standards, css, xhtml or anything else. As long as they can get on Wal-Mart’s website, they’re golden. I’m afraid Microsoft really won’t improve their browser until the average user gets smart and stops using IE. Then Microsoft will wake up but hopefully it will be to late and IE will die for good.
Razor
September 29th, 2007 at 11:00 PM
lol i hope i didnt give the impression that i actually use IE other then to test my sites compatibility. ima Opera man all the way.
connor, u should try it for mac, works wonders on windows. all it needs is a bite of the apple
Daniel Johnson
September 30th, 2007 at 11:04 AM
As much as I share your frustration Connor, I reckon that you ought to just let this idea go.
Most people just want to load up their computer and view a web page. For them, IE does the job. Trying to convince people to use something else by using technical terms to woo them will never work.
If people want to use IE, then let them. Not everyone is techy enough to really care about their internet browser and why should they be?
2 side notes:
-a few spelling/grammatical errors there dude, might want to scan over it
-if you are going to post about this topic again then at least try Opera. You are urging your readers to make the switch and yet you haven’t followed your own commentors advice and taken a look at Opera. You really must. ^_^
Nathan
September 30th, 2007 at 1:51 PM
Nice post Connor. I don’t know what it is.. but I just can’t use IE7.. i think the design is terrible and it’s way too slow :-/
I’ve used Safari on this PC, but it crashes a bit too often - that just me??
Connor Wilson
September 30th, 2007 at 2:57 PM
I completely understand that Daniel, but the point is exactly that- there is no choice, and there is no preference.
I know I need to try Opera and I want to, because FF crashes all the time and is pretty slow, but it has everything I need. Also, I’ve tried to import stuff to Opera, to no avail. I want to try, but it’s hard to get around to. Not to mention FF has ALL of my passwords saved, something I can’t live without.
Acopic Web Design
October 1st, 2007 at 8:16 AM
Its still personal preference. You’re always going to get a default selection of software with a new PC but it’s up to the user to go out and get a new browser if they ain’t happy.
Saying windows comes with a whole host of useless apps is again your opinion - but probably most people would disagree. No matter how you dress it up it’s all personal opinion.
I’m not saying I love IE or adore Microsoft - I don’t - but thats just my personal opinion. I know a few people who prefer IE.
Just because someone doesn’t realise (or care) that other browsers exist doesn’t mean they wouldn’t stick with IE if they did.
David
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:40 AM
Hey Connor, if I were to guess, the vast majority of your audience is pretty tech-saavy. This means that they are not the type to keep the browser that was installed on their OS just because it is the default.
So while a blog about quilting might be full of the “default browser” crowd, yours most likely isn’t. Because of this, your argument is a bit flawed simply because if the people who are reading your using the default browser it is probably because they chose too.
Ryan Stamper
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:10 PM
Hi Connor, good post man. This is the firs time I visit your blog and I think it’s really great. Well I really don’t like IE7 because I think it’s boring, I prefer Firefox.
Ryan Stamper
Jamie
October 4th, 2007 at 10:39 PM
I use firefox just because I have in the past, and I enjoy the community. I have never really tested Opera, and only ever been frustrated with Internet Explorer.
Firefox offers more than IE, and more than enough to keep me from straying to Opera.
Adam
October 7th, 2007 at 12:54 AM
First thing I do is install Firefox whenever I reformat my hard drive.
One thing I don’t like about FF is that it’s not very good with memory management. After 30 minutes it steels your systems resources.
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