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Good web-practices
July 26th, 2006 | Filed under Apple, Links, Technology
Being a Mac and Safari user definitely has its perks, however sometimes you run into websites like myheritage.com that do not support the Safari web-browser.
However, myheritage.com did the right thing by informing me of the problem and offering a solution. Most sites just kick you upside the head and crash your browser. Two thumbs up heritage! Here is the following text from the picture at above.
Apologies to Safari browser users! We are in the process of adding support for Safari in the site. In the meantime, please use Firefox for Mac if possible.
p.s. The site is pretty interesting as well check out this link. If you upload a picture be sure to leave a link in the comments! Via: American Copywriter.
Update: There is a great discussion going on in the comments between Buck, an actual web developer, and myself…a complete web noob. Check it out.
July 26th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
That’s so crazy! I didn’t even know that could happen!
July 26th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
My question is for you Matt. Why would you want to use anything but Firefox on an Apple? Given the multitude of issues Safari has and the market share it covers, Apple is doing a disservice to a majority of its user base by promoting a sub-standard product. The unwritten Apple philosophy has and will always be create the best product possible, and make sure it looks even better. In my opinion, the Safari application is the only program under the Apple brand that doesn’t belong. They are indirectly forcing companies to spend excess amounts of money for additional development. On the other end of the spectrum it requires small businesses like the one I work for, to make a decision to either support or refuse service to Safari users. Which in turn translates to every out of the box Apple user that doesn’t realize they have any other options. I will say that they do have the “looking pretty” thing down pat. Let me be clear, I don’t have an issue with the usability of the application. It’s that fact that the html rendering engine returns more bugs that any other browser currently available. I would rather develop for Opera. Steve just partner with Firefox, rebrand it and take back some market.
This is why I don’t blog, I’m just an angry person.
July 27th, 2006 at 9:05 am
Buck, thanks for the comment but I’ve got to tell you something about Firefox on the Mac. It sucks. On the PC it is a gift from on high and it is the only browser that I would consider using. Here are some problems I have with firefox that keep me from using it.
1. Firefox on the Mac is slooooowwwwwwww.
2. It is ugly. It looks like the port of a PC app, and I could probably re-skin it…but who cares it is slow.
In response to those problems I’ve been using Camino which is a Mac OS rewrite of the Firefox engine, is fast, reproduces most of the functionality of Firefox and Safari and generally looks like a Mac app.
However, it lacks support for the auto-discovery of RSS feeds. I know that sounds like a small thing, but when you add RSS feeds to Netnewswire (my reader of choice) it is incredibly annoying to have to copy and paste RSS feeds. With Safari I can click a button in the browser and the feed is added. Very simple, very convenient.
I’m okay with a company choosing to not support Safari, I understand the economics of it. I especially understand that Apple should probably not be creating another rendering engine for web developers to deal with, but at the time Safari came out (01.07.03), Firefox 1.0 hadn’t even been released. At the time Apple had no choice but to come up with a better browser because IE was terrible. Should they switch to a more Firefox friendly engine now…you bet. Will Apple ever do that? Well, they did switch to Intel chips so I suppose anything is possible now.
However, all I ask is if you are not going to support Safari for whatever reason please just give me a nice pop up window like myheritage.com did and we’ll call it even. For the most part I understand I’m working on a smaller marketed share holding OS and browser…just don’t make me feel stupid for doing it and suggest an alternative. If your web site or service is worth it than I’ll switch to another browser to use it. That applies to everyone, not just Buck.
p.s. And the comment above is exactly why you should be blogging. If for no other reason than to keep me on my toes. :)
July 27th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
I use an “optimized for G4″ version of Firefox that seems to work pretty well on my iBook G4. I just like some of the extensions, namely ‘Adblock’ and don’t want to move to Camino yet (they have an ad-block system too, but I don’t think its as good).
I get the optimized version here:
http://www.furbism.com/firefoxmac/