Browser Versions Are Dead (v5)

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. “I don’t have all the right answers, but at least I’m asking the right questions”
3. “joe”
4. obsession the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.
5. browser versions obsession?
6. browser “diversity” 27 21 12 6 10
7. browser “diversity” 27 21 6 10
10. crazy town
11. browser “diversity” raging hellish nightmare
13. Therapy Session
14. lies, damned lies, and statistics
15. lie: “browser versions (still) matter”
16. arbitrary marketing labels
18. truth: features matter
20. http://IwantToUse.com
21. analytics bloggers marketing depts
22. whoa
23. lie: “it has to look, feel, and behave the SAME in all browsers and versions”
24. truth: browsers are different ON PURPOSE
25. bosses clients sales depts
26. sweet jump, man
27. Tale of 3 buttons
28. table for 2?
29. ruh roh
30. excuses, excuses
31. excuse: “IE6 sucks”
32. blame the browser
35. even IE9 is holding us back?
36. the enemy of the future is obsessing about the past
38. bad news, bro
39. excuse: “users suck”
43. dude...umm...
44. excuse: “it just takes so much time and effort to make IE6 work...”
46. hackey hack
47. hackey hack
48. hackey hack
49. hackey hack
50. what about “cool features”?
51. corners
52. gradients
53. drop-down menus
54. file uploading
55. video
56. learn your craft
57. get over it
58. didn’t see that coming
59. excuse: “web technology isn’t...ready”
63. “joe” faceplant
64. out of excuses?
65. let’s fix it
67. embrace browser differences feature detection “supports ____” user choice “oh well” degradation regressive fallbacks progressive enhancement “reactive” design
68. small skirmishes
69. bosses retrain
70. bosses retrain TCO
71. clients retrain
72. clients retrain my bill
73. marketing & sales retrain
74. retrain upsell marketing & sales
75. open web platform browser diversity FTW
76. Disclaimer: only one biker was harmed in the making of these slides.