Even Microsoft can’t get it right in Internet Explorer
This post is just a quickie, but this screen shot pretty much sums up why Internet Explorer is inferior to almost every other browser on the market. This is taken right off of MSN.com’s homepage when I loaded up IE 5.2 for Mac:
“Your browser cannot find our style and presentation information and as a result may not display the page properly. You are welcome to use the page as is, or upgrade your browser to its latest version which may address the problem. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to the Microsoft Internet Explorer website to install the latest version. If you are using another browser, see the provider’s website for more information. If you are using Internet Explorer for Mac, we recommend that you use another browser to have an optimal experience on MSN.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Even MSN.com suggests using a browser other than Internet Explorer. This type of idiocy is pushing me ever closer to installing Explorer Destroyer on my site. It won’t be much longer now.
This post is just a quickie, but this screen shot pretty much sums up why Internet Explorer is inferior to almost every other browser on the market.
Yeah, they changed the website a while ago, and “made sure” that IE/mac doesn’t work anymore. Probably because they want to show just how great their webbrowser is, and that everybody should turn to PC’s in order to use their websites, hehehe.
But IE/mac is an ancient browser though… I think it’s already about 3-4 years old right? That program belongs in the trashcan, right next to MSN5 for Mac ;-)
But hey, if Microsoft wants to make people use other browsers, I can only support them doing it. Firefox is so far ahead (on PC’s), I’m not even sure if IE7 will be as good.
Yes, IE 5.2 for Mac is an antiquated browser. It’s painfully slow, horrible with standards, and extremely unattractive. However, I know a lot of people that still use it for their primary web browser either because they don’t know any better or it’s a comfort level. I don’t even know what this site looks like in IE 5.2 for Mac, but it doesn’t matter as it wasn’t part of my browser support matrix. Besides, most of my visitors are on IE 5.5 for Windows, Firefox, or Safari.
I guess 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
I keep a copy of 5.2 to on my mac so i can check it when I’m designing sites.
Heck, I figure if the site works on IE/Mac 5.2 it’ll work on anything.
That’s basically the only justifiable reason for having it on your hard drive at all. I believe it’s Eric Meyer in the Web Essentials ’05 Podcasts that says pick a browser and stick with it when coding out. I’ve found that I typically do this anyway, and only when I take the site over to my Windows testing machine do I have to hack the hell out of my stylesheet.
I haven’t gotten a chance to mess with IE 7 beta yet, but some folks still aren’t sold on Microsoft’s commitment to a better user experience through web standards.