Browser Versions Are Dead (v3)

As a web developer you're surely familiar with the "IE6 Must Die" mentality of blaming old browsers (and their users) for what's holding back our industry.

But are they really to blame? Maybe not. I think what's mostly to blame is a series of lies about how browsers and sites and users interact, that we've now come to believe. We need to take a step back and rethink how we approach browsers and versions and how we develop sites/applications for them.

It's time to admit our obsession with browser versions so we can move past it. It's time we stop looking 10 years in the rear-view mirror. It's time to admit that we ourselves hold some blame for holding back our industry. It's time we start to retrain our bosses, clients, and marketing/sales departments on how our web platform really works.

When we do, we'll fully unleash our potential on the latest and greatest our platform can deliver!

Transcript

1. browser versions are dead kyle simpson @getify http://getify.me
2. “joe”
3. obsession the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.
4. browser “diversity” 24 19 12 6 10
5. browser “diversity” 24 19 6 10
7. crazy town
8. browser “diversity” raging hellish nightmare
10. lies, damned lies, and statistics
11. lie: “browser versions (still) matter”
12. arbitrary marketing labels
13. truth: features matter
14. analytics bloggers marketing depts
16. lie: “this site has to look, feel, and behave the SAME in all browsers and versions”
17. truth: browsers are different ON PURPOSE
18. bosses clients sales depts
20. lie: “every user matters”
21. Netscape 4.7
22. truth: user importance is... complicated
24. excuses, excuses
25. excuse: “IE6 sucks”
26. blame the browser
29. WARNING: OFFENSIVE
33. take a deep breath
35. excuse: “users suck”
42. excuse: “it just takes so much time and effort to make IE6 work...”
43. hackey hack
44. hackey hack
45. hackey hack
46. hackey hack
48. what about “cool features”?
49. corners
50. gradients
51. drop-down menus
52. file uploading
53. video
54. learn your craft
55. get over it
57. excuse: “web technology isn’t...ready”
60. “joe” faceplant
61. out of excuses?
62. let’s fix it
64. embrace browser differences feature detection “supports ____” user choice “oh well” degradation regressive fallbacks progressive enhancement “reactive” design
65. bosses retrain
66. bosses retrain TCO
67. clients retrain
68. clients retrain my bill
69. marketing & sales retrain
70. retrain upsell marketing & sales
71. small skirmishes
72. open web platform browser diversity FTW
73. Disclaimer: only one biker was harmed in the making of these slides.