How we evangelise (Re: PCMag ranks the browsers and says IE6 is the best...)

Hello all,

Even with the risk of being stoned, I'm going to speak my mind
on this matter.

On Sun, Sep 29, 2002 at 01:53:23AM +0100, Tom Gilder wrote:
> 
> > The last browser to require Web developers to code page correctly
> > was Netscape Communicator 4.79.  I still use this browser and,
> > because of it I am able to launch top quality Websites.
> Sorry, why exactly are you on a standards evangelist list? I believe
> your definition of correct HTML will differ from just about everyone
> else on this list.
> 
> > I also find a lot of poorly coded Websites, many of them
> > high-profile, corporate Websites!  The frequency of discovery is
> > increasing!
> 
> Er... lucky you. Or something.
> 
> Maybe it isn't in fact they're being marked-up worse, more than
> they're moving to standards, and don't work in your broken and
> outdated browser?

I'm sorry, but I don't think the kind of attitude I've just read in
the last mails on this thread is at all helpful to our evanglism efforts. 
Whether email-authors really meant to sound harsh or not, I've cringed
at the responses so far to Sandra's email (except for Joseph's).

Persuasion by evidence in a gentle, educative manner is a far more effective
method than throwing rocks, damaging someone else's pride and then having
them trying to throw something back at you.

Okay, so (I hope) most of us think that NS 4.x is an outdated and broken 
browser, but we should not condemn those who still use it. I know a couple
of large corporations still stuck with it because Communicator 4.x had
features which are tied together with iPlanet server features which
are (I believe) not available with NS 7 (such as Calendar). 

I remember an individuals or two who were worried about upgrading
because they were worried about what might happen to their mail,
and so forth.  

It's not good enough to just say 'NS 4 is obsolete, upgrade!' sometimes.

cheers,
-steph

Received on Sunday, 29 September 2002 23:05:32 UTC