Every year, hundreds of web designers take their own lives rather than continue the hopeless struggle of making their websites IE compatible. Is that what you really want?? Dead web designers????? Cause that’s what you’re going to get!!!!!! See if I care!!!!!!!!!!
– Kill Bill’s Browser
I’m a Firefox user, have been for years. The thing I like most about it is the tab feature, which lets me have multiple sites loaded on a single browser window, thereby allowing me to indulge my ADD without cluttering up my taskbar. When I have to test my sites on different browsers, I do that with Netscape Browser, which has a feature which lets you choose between displaying the site like IE or Firefox.
As you all probably know, there’s currently a massive campaign to make people switch from Microsoft Internet Explorer to Firefox. It’s about time, I think. Even Google has gotten on board and wants to pay $1 for each new Firefox user you convert. One site I found amusing was the Kill Bill’s Browser site, which has a list of good reasons you should switch to Firefox.
One Firefox advocate has gone further than that. At Explorer Destroyer, you can download a script that detects if your website is being viewed on IE and, if it is, either includes a banner on each page encouraging the viewer to download Firefox, redirects the viewer to a splash page that also encourages the viewer to try out Firefox or completely blocks the viewer from browsing your site — depending on which setting you choose.
Now, while I’m all for killing the IE monopoly, I do think annoying IE users is just the wrong way to go. Sure, a lot of them are dissatisfied with their browser and will appreciate being giving options. However, blocking IE users from viewing your site is just too drastic, don’t you think? If a site required me to switch browsers just so I can view it, I wouldn’t care how amazing this new browser is, I’ll just go on to the next site. Also, the banner generated by the script practically defaces your web site — I don’t know anyone who has worked hard on her site design who will be willing to tack on that banner, no matter how much she adores Firefox. The splash page is a better option, I think. If the user isn’t interested in switching, he/she can just click on the “Continue without Firefox” link and go on viewing the rest of your web site.
Aside from buttons on web pages, what is the best way to get people to do the switch? I’m not sure. I think writing about it helps. A better model for this sort of campaign will probably pop up soon. For now, Firefox advocates are doing quite well, I think.
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> Aside from buttons on web pages, what is the best way
> to get people to do the switch?
i think as long as ffox maintains being a better browser, people will gravitate towards it whether there are campaigns to switch or not
wrote about it here.
nice easy on the eyes blog theme btw.
i think as long as ffox maintains being a better browser, people will gravitate towards it whether there are campaigns to switch or not
Yes, I hope so.
nice easy on the eyes blog theme btw.
Thanks. I would also like to thank Sebastian Schmieg for making such a nifty theme.
Explorer Destroyer
Check out explorer destroyer, a nifty little tool that will help you, ehem, nudge your IE-using readers towards Firefox. Recall that Google will give you US$ 1 for every user you’ve helped switch over…
This reminded me of the “too cool for ie” campaign which got me so tempted in putting in my blog. But I felt that’s there’s something wrong with it.
As much as I’d like Firefox’s market share to kick IE’s, this is not the original goal of the mozilla project. What they originally intended to do was to bring back innovation to web browsers AND to make the web really become an agnostic platform where you’re not required to use a single browser or OS in order to enjoy its fullness. Ostracizing IE users from a site therefore puts a web devloper in the level of the other web developers that only allow their sites to be viewed through IE. Or, should i put it: in the very level where MS would like web developers to be… near their ass.
edited my correct surname…;)
hmm..for me, it’s IE still…err Maxthon Browser I should say