5 ms·

Speaking only on my own behalf and not as part of Lexity, for whom I no longer work, I'd have to say that I'm fine with the risk of losing business from people

Speaking only on my own behalf and not as part of Lexity, for whom I no longer work, I'd have to say that I'm fine with the risk of losing business from people who are unwilling or unable to update from a seven-year-old browser, "assistive" or not. Sorry to sound short about this, but it's the same sort of thing that happens when a road turns into a freeway. For everyone's safety, you don't get to ride your bicycle.

aristus 14y ago
The OP means "assistive" as in "tools used by people who are disabled". It's not a choice to be blind.
- icambron 14y ago
  What is the relationship between "assistive technology" and "old browser"? It would surprise me if that tech was only available for IE7.
  - gte910h 14y ago
    The apps they use probably have a web browser embedded in them. They may not have 5k for a brand new version
    - jlawer 14y ago
      No... generally its software like JAWS (http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-pa...) that runs on stock windows. No special hardware running antiquated hardware, just a stock windows system. While I don't doubt there are solutions with a web browser embedded in them, the refresh cycle on such hardware is so old that people have moved off them on to more "generic" solutions a while ago.
    - chris_wot 14y ago
      I'd be very curious as to which apps these are. Eventually, they'll be left in the cold regardless. In at least two years time there will hopefully be nobody supporting IE6!
DanBC 14y ago
Bob sells software. To run that software Ann needs X, Y, and Z. When Bob tells Ann that she must have X, Y, and Z to run the software he is giving her important information. When Bob tells Ann (who is blind, or deaf, or has a motor-control disability (or just likes the software she uses), but who also buys the software her engineers use) that she cannot get information about the product that he sells because she uses the "wrong browser" Bob is being stupid. You might not like the fact that people use different computers and different operating systems and different browsers and different settings on those browsers. You may not like the fact that WWW was an attempt to solve compatibility problems across those variety of systems. But if you are trying to sell me something, and I visit your website to get information about what you are selling, and you tell me that I'm using the wrong browser to get that information - well, I'm probably not going to spend my money with you. This is especially true if the information you're giving is trivially easy to give as text with a few diagrams (and even diagrams can usually go with good alt and longdesc attributes.). That was available in HTML 1.x[1] I understand the desire to give everything sliding transitions and round corners and shiny overlays and etc. I understand that CSS and correct design help impart meaning that isn't available in plain text.[2] But it is incredibly frustrating to be told that you cannot get simple information because you're not using what someone else thinks you should be using. Remember that it is trivially easy for me to use the browser you want me to use, on the the OS you want me to use, on the computer you want me to use[3] and yet still totally destroy the design by increasing the font size. People used to specify font sizes. Most people know realise that's a stupid idea. (Imagine a TV station that broadcast a programme at a fixed volume, overriding the viewer's tv volume control. You'd call that station stupid.) [1] (http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q1/0182.html http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q1/0182.ht...) [1] (http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/alt-text.html#howlers http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/alt-text.html#howlers) [1] (http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/ http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/) [2] A List Apart used to have a nice page about this, but I can't find it at the moment. [3] Baffling that people say that a 1 GHz machine with 256 MB ram is insufficient power to browse a website, but people do say that. And not forgetting that IE on Mac used to be created by a completely different team to IE on Windows. God knows who the poor souls who did IE on Unix were. See also the unreasonable bandwidth requirements for many websites. Sure, do what you like for fun, but again if I'm buying something from you I want a quick responsive website even if I'm on a stupid slow Australian link, or on some dial-up in the US (which is still surprisingly common) or if I'm using my mobile broadband dongle on a train, with a poor signal.

aristus 14y ago

The OP means "assistive" as in "tools used by people who are disabled". It's not a choice to be blind.

icambron 14y ago
What is the relationship between "assistive technology" and "old browser"? It would surprise me if that tech was only available for IE7.
- gte910h 14y ago
  The apps they use probably have a web browser embedded in them. They may not have 5k for a brand new version
  - jlawer 14y ago
    No... generally its software like JAWS (http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-pa...) that runs on stock windows. No special hardware running antiquated hardware, just a stock windows system. While I don't doubt there are solutions with a web browser embedded in them, the refresh cycle on such hardware is so old that people have moved off them on to more "generic" solutions a while ago.
  - chris_wot 14y ago
    I'd be very curious as to which apps these are. Eventually, they'll be left in the cold regardless. In at least two years time there will hopefully be nobody supporting IE6!

DanBC 14y ago

Bob sells software. To run that software Ann needs X, Y, and Z. When Bob tells Ann that she must have X, Y, and Z to run the software he is giving her important information. When Bob tells Ann (who is blind, or deaf, or has a motor-control disability (or just likes the software she uses), but who also buys the software her engineers use) that she cannot get information about the product that he sells because she uses the "wrong browser" Bob is being stupid. You might not like the fact that people use different computers and different operating systems and different browsers and different settings on those browsers. You may not like the fact that WWW was an attempt to solve compatibility problems across those variety of systems. But if you are trying to sell me something, and I visit your website to get information about what you are selling, and you tell me that I'm using the wrong browser to get that information - well, I'm probably not going to spend my money with you. This is especially true if the information you're giving is trivially easy to give as text with a few diagrams (and even diagrams can usually go with good alt and longdesc attributes.). That was available in HTML 1.x[1] I understand the desire to give everything sliding transitions and round corners and shiny overlays and etc. I understand that CSS and correct design help impart meaning that isn't available in plain text.[2] But it is incredibly frustrating to be told that you cannot get simple information because you're not using what someone else thinks you should be using. Remember that it is trivially easy for me to use the browser you want me to use, on the the OS you want me to use, on the computer you want me to use[3] and yet still totally destroy the design by increasing the font size. People used to specify font sizes. Most people know realise that's a stupid idea. (Imagine a TV station that broadcast a programme at a fixed volume, overriding the viewer's tv volume control. You'd call that station stupid.) [1] (http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q1/0182.html http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q1/0182.ht...) [1] (http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/alt-text.html#howlers http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/alt-text.html#howlers) [1] (http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/ http://www.alanflavell.org.uk/alt/) [2] A List Apart used to have a nice page about this, but I can't find it at the moment. [3] Baffling that people say that a 1 GHz machine with 256 MB ram is insufficient power to browse a website, but people do say that. And not forgetting that IE on Mac used to be created by a completely different team to IE on Windows. God knows who the poor souls who did IE on Unix were. See also the unreasonable bandwidth requirements for many websites. Sure, do what you like for fun, but again if I'm buying something from you I want a quick responsive website even if I'm on a stupid slow Australian link, or on some dial-up in the US (which is still surprisingly common) or if I'm using my mobile broadband dongle on a train, with a poor signal.