IE7 Compatibility a Developer Nightmare 416
yavori writes "Internet Explorer 7 has kicked in at last on all MS Windows OS running PCs because of the fact M$ decided to force it's users to migrate through update. In fact this has started a IE7 Web Developers Nightmare. The article actually explains that most of the small company B2C sites may just fall from grace because of IE7 incompatibility. One of the coolest thing IE7 is unable to do is actually processing form data when clicked on an INPUT field of TYPE IMG... which is pretty uncool for those using entire payment processes with such INPUT fields."
Not a useful article, really (Score:5, Interesting)
The upside to this is that the same "forced" upgrade procedure MS are using to roll out IE7 can also be used to roll out bigfixes without user intervention, if IE7 was originally installed transparently anyway.
Anyway, I can't say it a big surprise that IE7 has its own foibles. IE6 was also a developer's nightmare, with the DOM and JS environment behaving differently from Firefox, Opera etc, so it's just another workaround. I'm only disappointed that Microsoft didn't make more of an effort to bring it inline with the competition so we could avoid yet another set of JS and CSS hacks. It's not like they have limited resources!
Bah (Score:5, Interesting)
And the MOST killer thing was the DISability of IE to submit data through "input type img"
Maybe I'm not understanding what the claim is, but it's easy to demonstrate that this is not true. I just tried with IE7 to submit data on a form that uses an input type of image and see that it works fine.
This article has almost no information and it seems the only reason it was posted here is to stir up anti-Microsoft antagonism. (Now someone will say, "You must be new here.") :-)
In my experience, IE7 is much better at supporting standards than IE6. A huge improvement in CSS support, so that now as I design in Firefox 2.0 and occasionally verify things in IE7, I see that they are very, very close. Most of what I'm doing is working with WordPress blogs so it's very possible I'm not using things that are now broken, but if anything Microsoft should be given some credit for improving their browser.
There's plenty of reason to not like Microsoft, but this article doesn't supply much (if any) ammunition, and it doesn't do the free software crowd much of a service to engage in our own unsupported FUD.
more than an incomprehensible rant (Score:5, Interesting)
As some have pointed out, this appears to be an incomprehensible rant. The "article" referenced says little and backs up that little with less.
I also notice the "submitter" seems to be the same person as the blogger for the article. Not saying this shouldn't happen, but this usually shouldn't happen... If it's good enough to get "published", it's good enough to be published by someone other than the author.
This is so True (Score:5, Interesting)
For instance, I have this js based terminal emulator. I don't want to edit that package, but just use js to read some fields. This is sexy in Firefox, but no chance in IE 7.0.
if (document.Form1.tsprog.value == 'fibfm' || document.Form1.tsprog.value == 'FIBFM'){
var pwrap = document.getElementById("pbsiwrap");
var cells = pbsiwrap.getElementsByTagName("span");
var item = cells[12].textContent;
document.getElementById ("headspot").innerHTML = '';
}
Re:Microsoft does suck (Score:5, Interesting)
No, not necessarily. Web Developers are advised to test against all browsers with more than a 3% market share for their site. If your site has 3% share of IE 5, 6, and 7, then you've got your work cut out for you. Most others don't have that problem.
Just because some academics came up with a "standard" doesn't mean there's a law that says that everyone needs to follow it. They should be called "suggestions".
The wonderful thing about standards, when done correctly, is that everyone can support the standard and get essentially the same result.
In all honestly, if your website can't function fine with the minor variations between browsers, then you've got a bad design. (And let's not even get into how bad your site will look in mobile devices, or without images, or for the blind.)
Forced Upgrade? (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh really? I still have IE6, although I never use it except when forced to. Who are these people who have been "forced" to upgrade?
Re:This is so True (Score:5, Interesting)
The document.FormName.InputName.value form is not part of W3C standards. Try document.forms["FormName"].InputName.value and see if valid code works.
I would hope that with an up-to-date doctype declaration (strict rather than quirks mode) Firefox would barf on that invalid code too.
I've had the exact opposite experience (Score:5, Interesting)
Everyone was worried that because of our choices and how heavily we rely on CSS and JavaScript that we would be in for a nightmare. Luckily, not so. However, two of the products we purchased for time tracking and for defect reporting both DIE because they have user agent checks built into their javascript. When they run into the unknown IE7 string they just chirp back a warning message and don't even try to load up. How many times do web developers need to be told "browser detection is bad use object/feature detection" before they'll get it.
I don't think that I've had any problem with any of the normal sites that I use when using IE7 over the last couple of months (banking, news, mail, social). I get the feeling that the author of this article just doesn't know what he's talking about.
You should use images for submit buttons anyway... (Score:1, Interesting)
Using images instead of input type="submit" is a usability flaw. I also believe if you use it you will use your WCAG compliance.
Re:I've had the exact opposite experience (Score:2, Interesting)
In my opinion IE6 Compatibility is a Developer Nightmare and once those installations have been replaced by either IE7 or a non-Microsoft browser my life as a webapp developer will be a lot easier.
Re:Completely and 100% untrue (Score:3, Interesting)
Can you honestly tell me that you know at least ONE news outlet for which facts matter? I live in France and used to live in the U.S. and I am still waiting for one.
Agree! Fixing IE7 is Microsoft's (only?) good deed (Score:3, Interesting)
Previously, if you told those lazy web developricks, "Hey, your web site doesn't display properly on Firefox, which is a whopping 4% of the market!" then they would answer, "Works fine with my computer --your Firefox must be broken." Well, guess what? Now it doesn't display properly on the latest IE either, and with Microsoft forcing IE7 down everyone's throats, it's not just going to be some insignificant minority who complain. More considerate developers who slave away at making those IE-specific adjustments can now say, "You need to get the latest version of IE in order for the web site to work," and then wash their hands of maintaining any more IE6-or-earlier hacks. IE7 will have a beneficial effect even for those of us who never use MS products, because it will have a profound effect on the WWWeb.
And those poorly designed websites mentioned in TFA, which will have to be redone to be IE7 compatible thus driving small businesses to bankruptcy? Well, cry me a river. Reminds me of the early days of the web when people just cut'n'pasted other web pages to cobble together their own Frankenstein[1] of a web site, which displayed perfectly on Netscape 3.1 but whose source code was an abomination.
You know when the Slashdot community bitches about Microsoft, and some MS supporter always asks, "You guys are never satisfied! What's Microsoft gotta do to make you admit that they are doing something *good*"? Well, fixing IE7 numbers among the answers (right under "Open up the MS Word format"). Keep up the good work, Microsoft, and someday your product might be as good as Firefox.
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[1] Yeah, I know Frankenstein is the creator of the monster, not the monster itself, but I'm using the term in the popular culture sense.
Re:Just in case it *is* broken (Score:3, Interesting)
Or, at a minimum, use browsershots.org [browsershots.org].