Internet Explorer 6 users: Upgrade!

Hello Buzz folk. The statistics show that 18% of you are still using Internet Explorer 6. You're using a really old and crappy browser. Please upgrade to IE 7, as 6 will not be supported in future versions of CoasterBuzz. Use the Windows Update service to make this happen.

Or even better, give another browser a try, like Firefox 3 (my preference), or even Safari.

Thank you.

What are your stats on Firefox (any version) vs. Internet Exploder? With Firefox being so full of win, I am surprised that anyone still uses IE. Safari, on Windows at least, is actually worse than IE.

I've always been a FF supporter, until upgrading to version 3. Yeah, the memory leaks are gone but now I have vertical scrolling issues on several websites, including PB and CP. Did a google search on FF3 and scrolling issues and it seems that I'm not alone. Something about static backgrounds. There is a code you can paste in but I think I'll wait until Mozilla fixes it.

Upgraded to IE7 after the FF issues and I'm pretty happy with it.

I never got into the whole firefox thing. I liked the "tab browsing" but there were too many sites that I visited that didnt support FF so I always had to keep IE as a backup. Then IE7 brought in the tabs so I had no reason to ever go back to Firefox. My wife loves it though *shrugs*.

I know at one point people were saying that FF was "safer" (though I beleive that most security problems would be better addressed by changing the 'user' and not the program). But what now is the rationale for choosing FF over IE since they both have tabs now (that was the only noticeable FF advantage to me)?
lata, jeremy

PB doesn't have any static backgrounds, and Firefox 3 is the only browser I generally use outside of testing.

I like Firefox better than IE because... oh wait... there is no IE on the Mac. :) But in any case, when doing dev work in Windows-in-a-window, Firefox performs much better for AJAXy stuff like Gmail, sites that use the big AJAX frameworks (like Digg), etc.

Good example... if you expand one of the user blocks in a forum thread on PointBuzz, it's much faster and smoother on FF3. That's just eye candy, mind you, but Javascript stuff driving all that dynamic stuff is just generally faster.

IE7 is better, but still not as good. When they release the beta for IE8 at Mix this year, you should've heard the developer cheers when they showed all of the common IE quirks gone in the new version. Performance wise, for the first beta, they started to get closer to Firefox and Safari script performance. They're getting there. Better (years) late than never!

My reason for not wanting to support it anymore is that it's just time to let go.

Firefox on CoasterBuzz is about 30% (of those about 1/3 are using v3), Safari is around 7%. Mac users account for 10% of traffic, which means they're certainly not all using Safari.

---

2Hostyl said:
But what now is the rationale for choosing FF over IE since they both have tabs now

---

Pretty much anything, you name it. Of the big four browsers, Firefox, IE, Safari, and Opera, IE is pretty much your worst option in just about every capacity. I can understand why someone would prefer any of the other three over the other but I really can't even comprehend using IE unless you regularly visit sites that require it. For me the only site I've ever encountered that doesn't like Firefox is the website I used to file reports for my work, but that I only have to access once a week or so. Otherwise I really can't think of anything IE does better than any of the other 3.

Reason #1 for anything over IE: *security*.

Reason 2: IE6 has serious bugs in its CSS support. It's a massive pain for web developers to work around its bugs. Firefox, Opera, and Safari follow the rules better so there are fewer nasty surprises.

Another Plus is that Firefox 3 has the best adblocker of anything I have ever used.

I have Safari, FF3, and IE7 I use FF almost exclusively as it is head and shoulders above the other two.

on the extremely rare cases when something will not work in FF I simple right click and open the page in an IE Tab. Simple as 3.14159.

---

2Hostyl said:
I never got into the whole firefox thing. I liked the "tab browsing" but there were too many sites that I visited that didnt support FF so I always had to keep IE as a backup. Then IE7 brought in the tabs so I had no reason to ever go back to Firefox.

---

Me too.

IE is just fine for what I need to do.

When are these future versions of CoasterBuzz going to take place? Not trying to nitpick, just want to get an idea on when the website will stop working on my browser.

---

Jeff said:
Firefox on CoasterBuzz is about 30% (of those about 1/3 are using v3), Safari is around 7%. Mac users account for 10% of traffic, which means they're certainly not all using Safari.

---

PowerBook and running FF3. I built sites that are horribly broken in IE 6, to the point of murder...

If you want an add blocker install IE7Pro with that you can also block your flash player too

IE doesn't have security issues, not in a significant way at least. Those days have long since passed.

And using Macs at home for two years, I've not run into any sites that require IE. Not even one.

For me, I can use Firefox for everything I run into except for some of my corporate Intranet crap. Then I just use the IE Tab extension and open a Firefox tab with the IE engine.

Jeff,

Your site even works fine on Lynx in Linux. Since the router in my house is Linux based (runs on a machine I bought from a Sub-Prime Mortgage Company), trying to go to Coasterbuzz from that machine is an easy way to test the internet connection!

What is the percentage of users on your site using Lynx? Me?

I normally use Safari for this site. Works well, except for the pop-unders. Do those types of ads really work?

I use IE at work, but if I am allowed to change to Safari, I'd like to. Windows (XP and Vista) in general is annoying. Anyone here that knows me knows I can be annoying by myself. I don't need my OS to also be annoying.

-Sam

EDIT: Make that change to Firefox. Not Safari.

*** Edited 7/13/2008 8:54:00 PM UTC by Avalanche Sam***

Opera FTW!

Jeff, How do i know which version of Firefox i'm using? I checked my properties and everything i could think of and can't find out. The only thing it says is "Firefox".

I love Firefox and won't use any version if IE now. As a matter in fact i removed IE from my computer completely.

Help > About Mozilla Firefox

When I use Firefox, I don't get the handy dandy rich text editor. Is that unique to me or is that a comptibility issue?

Thanks Phantom i found it. I'm using version 2.0. Is v3 much better than 2?