With a ton of users being granted access to Google Wave, and Wave suggesting the installation of Chrome Frame, there’s been a bit of griping from Microsoft (and others, but I suspect mostly Microsoft) about not liking the ability for the content to choose the browser agent. I can understand why folks would be irked by this, I really can. It messes with their software
However, as a web designer/developer, I can say for a fact that it is absolutely necessary, and it is Microsoft’s own damned fault that it has come to this. Practically every other browser is up to date, or at least trying to be, with recent web standards. Those that follow my work may have noticed that Listy.us makes use of a bit of CSS3 and is set up in HTML5 for future expansion. I would love to use all the latest bells and whistles of HTML5/CSS3. Full HTML5 support allows awesome web apps like Google Wave. CSS3, among other things, lets you do cool stuff like drop shadows and curved corners without messy hacks and semantics nightmares. I want to use these things, and I’d imagine most other developers and designers do as well. The web would be a better place.
The catch? 34% of my visitors use Internet Explorer. That’s 34% of users that see the site with hard square edges, slow javascript, funky css behaviors, etc. Of those 34%, 43% are still using IE6. IE6 doesn’t even support PNG transparency without a hack. As a lone developer trying to get a web app up to commercial viability, I find myself focusing on development and letting the site degrade nicely (or as well as possible) to IE users – it still works (as long as you have javascript enabled – risky in IE), it’s just not as pretty.
So, why is Google Chrome Frame a necessity? Because it fixes the problem. Because it lets all the IE users out there experience sites like Google Wave the way they’re meant to be experienced. It exists because of those 34% of users still using IE, those 34%*43% still using old-and-broken IE6. It’s Google’s way of saying “Well, crap, we’re ready to go. If you can’t get your browser up to speed, we’ll do it for you.”
I fully support it, and if MS doesn’t get their act together, I’ll be encouraging the use of Chrome Frame on my own projects.
Now, what can Microsoft do about it? Obviously Microsoft has no interest in prolonging the life of IE6, but supporting it until 2014 doesn’t do anyone a service. They’re even offering charitable donations for each upgrade from IE6 (personally, I would’ve skipped the background music, guys). The problem with continuing to support old-and-broken technology like IE6 is that folks like Google and Mozilla will begin to create products like Google Chrome Frame because the web is being held back by Internet Explorer.
I’ll bottom line it for Microsoft: It is next to impossible to find a web designer/developer that does not loathe Internet Explorer with every fiber of their being. This is a problem. It needs to be dealt with. The rapid growth of technology means you should not support an 8-year-old browser that has no business being used on modern websites. If you don’t deal with it, someone else will.
