3 ms·

I really don't understand the mentality of engineers - or businesspeople! - who block certain browsers. Not supporting a browser with low marketshare, while sad

I really don't understand the mentality of engineers - or businesspeople! - who block certain browsers. Not supporting a browser with low marketshare, while sad, is at least understandable, but going out of your way to prevent people from using your website who otherwise might have had a perfectly good experience is ridiculous. At worst, just put a banner at the top that says "your browser is not supported, if the site looks broken try Chrome."

idoubtit 4y ago
There's an obvious reason: preventing bugs. If I were to make a bank transfer, and the process hanged in the final step because of an incompatible browser, I'd be furious, even if I had been warned about the risk using FF. In the worse case, I could be wondering if I need to repeat the operation with Chrome, or if the failure occurred after the transfer and repeating would duplicate... If they don't test their website with FF, there's a higher risk of bugs. A FF user might not even realize that they're hindered by bugs: the site could be much slower, or some blocks would not refresh, or some transactions fail silently. If it doesn't clearly look broken, and just behaves badly, the user will probably blame the website instead of switching to a Chromium-based browser.
- brokenmachine 4y ago
  Not every website is a banking website.
  - verdverm 4y ago
    Not every developer has time to deal with Firefox and other fringe browsers' differences
    - brokenmachine 4y ago
      Yes, but it hardly matters for a page of reddit memes. I don't want to live in a world where google is in complete control of the web.
      - verdverm 4y ago
        Then maybe help work on it? Be the change you want to see in the world The market will weed out those that are not competitive
        brokenmachine 4y ago
        I don't have the skills for that, but I can't be without some of the Firefox addons, so I have been happy to support by using Firefox and other alternatives.

idoubtit 4y ago

There's an obvious reason: preventing bugs. If I were to make a bank transfer, and the process hanged in the final step because of an incompatible browser, I'd be furious, even if I had been warned about the risk using FF. In the worse case, I could be wondering if I need to repeat the operation with Chrome, or if the failure occurred after the transfer and repeating would duplicate... If they don't test their website with FF, there's a higher risk of bugs. A FF user might not even realize that they're hindered by bugs: the site could be much slower, or some blocks would not refresh, or some transactions fail silently. If it doesn't clearly look broken, and just behaves badly, the user will probably blame the website instead of switching to a Chromium-based browser.

brokenmachine 4y ago
Not every website is a banking website.
- verdverm 4y ago
  Not every developer has time to deal with Firefox and other fringe browsers' differences
  - brokenmachine 4y ago
    Yes, but it hardly matters for a page of reddit memes. I don't want to live in a world where google is in complete control of the web.
    - verdverm 4y ago
      Then maybe help work on it? Be the change you want to see in the world The market will weed out those that are not competitive
      - brokenmachine 4y ago
        I don't have the skills for that, but I can't be without some of the Firefox addons, so I have been happy to support by using Firefox and other alternatives.