Flutterby™! : Netscape 4.x

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Netscape 4.x

2002-02-28 15:46:01+00 by Dan Lyke 9 comments

So as part of this usual mental masturbation about changing Flutterby's design I went through the logs looking for client strings. A hell of a lot of you are still using Netscape 4.x browsers. And not even 4.7x. Wow. Okay, guess I will be worrying about how things degrade still, guess I have to put in those hooks to make the appearance options really work if I put up the snazzier versions.

[ related topics: Web development Flutterby Meta Work, productivity and environment ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment made: 2002-03-01 12:26:47+00 by: meuon

The real world is well behind the bleeding edge. Sorry Dan, it just is. I suppose I could go get the latest 'browser thingy' but.. I have not been forced to yet.

#Comment made: 2002-03-01 16:08:22+00 by: Dan Lyke

I'm actually impressed that my anti browser upgrade campaign whining was actually justified. I thought I was just being a Luddite, but especially the number of Mac users hitting with 4.0x is pretty damned impressive. CSS might be an option, but it won't be the default.

#Comment made: 2002-03-01 18:18:40+00 by: Larry Burton

No, Dan, you've got to make them change. ;-)

#Comment made: 2002-03-01 18:30:17+00 by: Dan Lyke

Well, I'd try to force the issue, but... well... I've seen Meuon's gun cabinet, and I know he's a better shot than I am. I think I'll let him keep his browser...

#Comment made: 2002-03-03 01:06:51+00 by: ebradway

Did you think that one of the reasons these people frequent Flutterby is BECAUSE it works on their browser?

Will converting to CSS improve the content?

#Comment made: 2002-03-03 02:30:28+00 by: Larry Burton

It could help unclutter the content. CSS shouldn't cause a well structured HTML 4 or XHTML document to not work anyplace.

#Comment made: 2002-03-03 03:44:09+00 by: topspin

It ain't meuon I worry about.

Isaac gets to use whatever browser he wants.

#Comment made: 2002-03-04 17:12:12+00 by: other_todd

I hit it generally either on my Mac or my Sun box at work, and in both of those places I have avoided going to a higher version of Netscape (i.e. above 4.x), for divers reasons. I am probably any number of those 4.x hits you're seeing.

But that's going to change. We are under pressure from students and faculty to go to 6.x on all platforms as the Institvte's supported browser. Alas. I'd rather have gone with Mozilla (at this point Netscape is really just a two-versions-behind snapshot of Mozilla code anyhow, and Mozilla is easier to customize to our peculiar needs).

This Mac will never go above 4.x. It just won't happen. If I find a page that I can't read properly on it, I go over to the PC with IE 5.something and use that. This Mac is frozen in time permanently.

#Comment made: 2002-03-04 20:06:02+00 by: Dan Lyke

Eric: Two reasons I've been considering going CSS:

  1. Lightweight browser readability. Once again, Lynx influences my design choices, but I've actually been using it a lot recently.
  2. I've had a few complaints about the super-richly linked entries, when it's impossible to tell what the link is. I could go the route Todd does, and put the links in some bizarre color and font size that looks horrid under my favorite color scheme, or I could make two classes of links.

I'm still weighing those against all the down-sides of CSS, but have been saved by real decisions by the fact that I need about two weeks of unemployment to catch up again.