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"We Noticed You Were Using a Browser Other Than Chrome..." PLEASE don't do this. PLEASE.

alekratz 5y ago
With firefox's market share of about 10%, the "we don't support firefox" message is basically announcing "our website is useless to 1 in 10 people". Very frustrating.
- smorgusofborg 5y ago
  10%? All the statistics I've seen recently put firefox bellow 5% and often well bellow like 3-4%. Given that is less common than colorblindness, colorblindness is not all that well handled on the web, and not handling a disability is an actual legal liability..
  - leppr 5y ago
    But then you wouldn't post your product in the "vision impaired community forums" for example. I'd be curious to see the actual stats, but HN surely has a high percentage of Firefox users compared with the general tech-naive population.
    - smorgusofborg 5y ago
      This isn't a "show HN" so most likely the author is not the poster. HN is also probably more color blind than average, so the poster should have checked multiple browsers and then the palettes before finding it interesting enough to post? I get the idea that it would be nice if the web were different, but I think that is a personal responsibility to choose for yourself or try to address yourself by submitting a PR that makes the repo better.
fguerraz 5y ago
Yep. That's sad. But I understand that ironing out all the issues on all browsers is very resource demanding...
- acdha 5y ago
  It really isn’t for most websites. There are a handful of APIs to be careful about but a mainstream website shouldn’t take much time at all. I do most of my development in Firefox and most of the time it works unmodified in Chrome and Safari. Mobile browsers can be trickier but most of that is adjusting for the form factor rather than the browser.
- KeepFlying 5y ago
  Then add a "we work best in chrome" to your error pages as a workaround when it actually fails, not before you even try. There's no need for the "go use X browser right now" messages unless you're taking advantage of some bleeding edge API that only exists in one place.
skybrian 5y ago
Also doesn't support mobile.
zouhair 5y ago
The message showed up and I close the tab.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
a2800276 5y ago
Don't be sad, it doesn't seem to work on Chrome either :) To the authors: Personally I wouldn't put too much effort into cross-browser compatibility early on for the sake of satisfying the users of niche software, but ... almost all modern DOM features are available cross-browser/platform these days and it will likely save you a lot of effort further on down the road dealing with deprecated APIs and other headaches to use it as a smoke test for code quality.
slenthen 5y ago
Frustrating as it may be, depending on the meaning behind "originally built as an intro to SWE project" I get why it really just works on Chrome. If they just pushed it up after that project so people could see, whatever. If they really want people to use it, a bit frustrating.

With firefox's market share of about 10%, the "we don't support firefox" message is basically announcing "our website is useless to 1 in 10 people". Very frustrating.

smorgusofborg 5y ago
10%? All the statistics I've seen recently put firefox bellow 5% and often well bellow like 3-4%. Given that is less common than colorblindness, colorblindness is not all that well handled on the web, and not handling a disability is an actual legal liability..
- leppr 5y ago
  But then you wouldn't post your product in the "vision impaired community forums" for example. I'd be curious to see the actual stats, but HN surely has a high percentage of Firefox users compared with the general tech-naive population.
  - smorgusofborg 5y ago
    This isn't a "show HN" so most likely the author is not the poster. HN is also probably more color blind than average, so the poster should have checked multiple browsers and then the palettes before finding it interesting enough to post? I get the idea that it would be nice if the web were different, but I think that is a personal responsibility to choose for yourself or try to address yourself by submitting a PR that makes the repo better.

fguerraz 5y ago

Yep. That's sad. But I understand that ironing out all the issues on all browsers is very resource demanding...

acdha 5y ago
It really isn’t for most websites. There are a handful of APIs to be careful about but a mainstream website shouldn’t take much time at all. I do most of my development in Firefox and most of the time it works unmodified in Chrome and Safari. Mobile browsers can be trickier but most of that is adjusting for the form factor rather than the browser.
KeepFlying 5y ago
Then add a "we work best in chrome" to your error pages as a workaround when it actually fails, not before you even try. There's no need for the "go use X browser right now" messages unless you're taking advantage of some bleeding edge API that only exists in one place.

skybrian 5y ago

Also doesn't support mobile.

zouhair 5y ago

The message showed up and I close the tab.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

a2800276 5y ago

Don't be sad, it doesn't seem to work on Chrome either :) To the authors: Personally I wouldn't put too much effort into cross-browser compatibility early on for the sake of satisfying the users of niche software, but ... almost all modern DOM features are available cross-browser/platform these days and it will likely save you a lot of effort further on down the road dealing with deprecated APIs and other headaches to use it as a smoke test for code quality.

slenthen 5y ago

Frustrating as it may be, depending on the meaning behind "originally built as an intro to SWE project" I get why it really just works on Chrome. If they just pushed it up after that project so people could see, whatever. If they really want people to use it, a bit frustrating.