IE detect = recommend Firefox or Opera ? :)

I've added this line of code to one of my sites :

<!--[if IE]>
<br /><small><b>
<p style="border: 3px solid black; padding: 2px; ">
Internet Explorer is not a safe or good web browser
Please consider Opera or Firefox 
Read more here
</b></p></small>
<![endif]-->

Code (markup):

* HTMl code removed for readability

In short, if you are an IE user you get a special header telling you that your browser is a POS and maybe you should switch.

Thoughts ?

 

Just use Firefox (cut Opera out) and provide a link to download the installation.

 

Opera is considerably better than Firefox but most people haven't heard of it

 

I have heard of Opera, just never use it

 

Monetry wise, you could put in a google firefox referral button.

If you doing it for purely something you believe in, Opera and Firefox download links would be the proper way to go.

Opera is a very excellent browser btw.

 

I use both browsers, but by default I use Opera. FF and IE are there for testing.

Mouse gestures... You just can't beat them.

On Topic: I think it's quite entertaining and will almost definetely will raise awareness of better browsers. How does it relate to the site in question though?

 

Please. Don't. Do. This. Ever.

Why? It's amateurish, unprofessional and in the end will make you look like a fool. You're not educating anyone, you're advertising. People are SICK and TIRED of advertisements.

Not only that, but most of Internet Explorer's security issues are a direct result of the use of ActiveX controls. Learn how to handle the security issues and you're fine. As for CSS rendering and DOM support, no browser, not even FireFox or Opera (which I'm typing this post in) has 100% support. Furthermore, sometimes it's not just a matter of which browser renders a page better, but also how good the person writing the code is and how well they know the various browsers inside and out.

Your job therefore shouldn't be to tell people to use Browser B or C over A. Your job should be to make sure that your site works properly in browsers A, B and C. If you can do that, then there will be no need for these amateurish advertisements cluttering your pages.

Sure, you might get a few people to switch. But it's also far more likely that you'lll get several more to simply avoid your site in the future because they don't like you telling them what browser to use. This is 2006 (almost 2007). Not 1996. Can't we learn from the mistakes of a decade ago rather than repeating them in a new manner?

 

I think you're forgeting IE is inferior as a browser.

 

Thanks for nothing.

 

I agree with Dan Schulz somewhat, but I think he may have missed one side of the arugment. It's not just advertising... It's education. Getting people to switch will make IE a better browser in the long run, because they will be forced to see what FF is doing right, and copy them.

 

Huh? You asked for opinions; don't get pissed when you get one that's contrary to your own. Dan made good sense, if lacking a bit of tact.

To the average user, IE is perfectly fine. Because of lazy or incompetent developers who 'support' only IE, or because of the horrid amount of extra work the rest of us put into making IE seem to work as well as modern browsers, the IE user is not aware of its shortcomings. Telling him differently with an 'in your face' commentary will be taken poorly, as Dan quite rightly said.

A better approach, if you want to proselytize, would be to create a page that compares the various browsers objectively. IE will do poorly in any objective comparison. Even IE7, which ameliorates some security issues[1], is only a cosmetic/bug fix upgrade. Link to the page in the footer as 'about browsers' or some such. And, that will get your message across to anyone who's interested.

//edit: Good point made by slickricky while I was writing.

cheers,

gary

[1] Security is greatly improved, but is still not good. As long as ActiveX is in the mix, IE, Word, Excel, Outlook, &c., cannot be secure.

 

Here is a breakdown as to why your argument is not valid . I'm only doing this since other people seem to think you're making some kind of valid point.


1. It's not advertising. I'm not getting paid for it, the companies in question didn't contact me and ask me to do this. Furthermore this is a forum almost entirely about ACTUAL advertising which involves money so... get real

It is not "amateurish' to try and educate people about important issues.

2. It doesn't matter what causes IE security issues the fact is they exist and cause serious issues for general users. As I said before of ALL the major web browsers Internet Explorer is hands down the absolute worst when it comes to HTML/CSS standards and it's ability to be exploited for malicious reasons.


3. It's my web site therefor my "job" is to do whatever I please. My "job" isn't some fantasy description you get to make up and impose upon me at your whim as a mechanism to judge my choice to try and get people to use a web browser that doesn't suck.

4. I don't care. I like web browsers that do what they are told to. How many more hours must I waste changing my HTML so IE will actually display it properly ?


I suppose you think it's also "amateurish" that some MAJOR web sites will not let you use them UNLESS you ONLY use Internet Explorer.


The fact is Internet Explorer is made by one of the largest software companies in the world but is out done on every level by almost every other major web browser on the market which of course are made by MUCH smaller companies with MUCH smaller budgets.

Your criticism is welcome but I prefer it make some sort of sense. You sound like a huge Microsoft / Internet Explorer fanboy.

Good day.

Personally I'm tired of having waste time coding for Internet Explorer when Firefox , Opera and other web browsers are rendering the page correctly.

 

Follow ther rules from w3c
Check your code with http://validator.w3.org/
Test with all browsers
and mostly you won't find any problems with major browsers

 

If you code correctly, you won't have any problems.

And, if the css coder knows what he/she is doing, for advanced or pseudo elements, they can make different style sheets for different browsers.

 

Except internet explorer...

I test with browsers in windows (opera , firefox, IE) and in linux (konqueror, epiphany, firefox, opera) and IE is always the one rendering incorrectly.

thank you internet explorer !

ps. the site i did this on is a tech site

 

It's not your place to tell a user to switch browsers.

 

But it is your place to tell me that it's not my place to tell other people to switch away from their crappy web browsers ?

Gotcha.

 

Most people will use whatever browser they prefer and feel most comfortable with using. I know quite a few people who use IE. I personally use a customized version of Firefox. You have the right to tell people about using Firefox and Opera, but people will use the browser they prefer most.

 

I think most people (mom and pop types) use IE because it's pre-loaded.

Why look for another web browser when this one is working fine ? A lot of mom and pop types aren't even aware other web browsers exist !

I plan on eventually putting this simple IE nag script on every web page I control

 

Then why did you ask for our opinions on that silliness, then get hostile when you found the idea not highly regarded?

Just do it. There's no reason to troll.

gary