Brettia

Normally I wouldn’t blog three days in a row, nor would I post such a short entry, but I am furious right now. Whoever built this website should die. The link takes you to the page you would see if you tried to go to proffs.nu using Netscape Navigator 4.x, Netscape 6/7, Mozilla 1.x, MozillaFirebird 0.x, and all other browsers using the Gecko architecture, which is just about everything except for Internet Explorer.

This is infuriating for several reasons. First, it takes some shots at the open-source community (indirectly, of course) that are unfair and ungrateful. Second, the author of the notice puts forth comments like this:
“We have done so to remind you that your current browser is unable to make this web site look the way it should.”
Comment: Wrong. Internet Explorer is unable to make websites look the way they should. IE forces web designers to design specifically for that platform, so layouts that look fine in IE are broken in Mozilla and Opera. It is actually possible to design pages that look fine in both IE6 and Moz/Opera, because I have done so with Organon and most other websites I have built.

“Use the browser Microsoft Internet Explorer. Either version 5.0 or a later version. Good idea. It’s probably included in your operating system.”
Comment: Wrong again. Not a good idea. Not “included in your operating system.” Microsoft doesn’t “include” software, it forces it down customers’ throats. Also, IE is plagued with security issues and other problems. It doesn’t have a download manager. It displays valid websites incorrectly. It has a poor implementation of PNG alpha transparency. I could go on and on, but these are the ones that matter most.

“Write to the makers of your current browser and ask them why it does not show web pages the same way Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0+ does. Since more than 90% of all users are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0+, one would think that the propeller heads who make your current browser would take that into consideration. In particular, you could ask them why scripting and cascading style sheets, the two most important technologies for web designers, are treated so differently in their browser compared to Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0+. If they answer, they may claim that they are on a mission from God or that their browser is more compliant with the recommendations of an organisation called the World Wide Web Consortium (rather impressive name or what?) Then you should ask them what they think is most important. Hundreds of millions of people using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0+ or some mumbo jumbo organisation.”
Comment(s): The author assumes that people use IE because it displays pages “correctly.” This is far from the case, as stated in previous comments. People use IE because they don’t know that any alternatives exist.
On scripting, the author says that other browsers display things differently than IE. First, “scripting” could refer to many different kinds of scripting, such as server-side scripting like PHP and Perl. The browser in use has no impact on the result of server-side scripting. The author was probably referring to JavaScript, a form of client-side scripting like Flash ActionScript. While useful in many situations, JavaScript should be used sparingly because some people might not have the Java plug-in needed to view such script effects.

Oh, and CSS is a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) specification, so by slamming the W3C the author is slamming the very technique that they use. In fact, HTML, XHTML, XML, XSLT, SOAP, and a myriad of other languages and specifications are all W3C managed and manufactured, and Internet Explorer probably wouldn’t support half of the W3C specs that it does if the W3C hadn’t pressured Microsoft a bit. Finally, the reason CSS is quirky in Internet Explorer, especially with padding and such, is because IE doesn’t support it the way it should, and probably never will since Microsoft has all but ceased development on it (except for the weekly security patch that can, ironically, only be downloaded through WindowsUpdate, which requires Internet Explorer to use ActiveX controls (the main reason for most of the security problems) to scan your machine for necessary updates). If WindowsUpdate can use ActiveX to scan your machine, think of what other, more damaging things it might do.

My rant for the week. Must get back to studying for finals.

UPDATE:
It seems proffs.nu saw sense and took down that page. They still have a redirect in place for non-Internet Explorer browsers, though.