THIS JUST IN! “IE SUCKS, IS EVIL!”

Posted by

Jeremy Clarke

February 17, 2004

Yes, your close friend and (seemingly) greatest ally, Microsoft Internet Explorer is indeed quite likely the worst browser you could be using to look at the internet (of course this is a gross exageration, especially considering a recent experience I had with an ass old copy of Netscape Navigator). Without getting into the details of it, IE works in such a way that it makes the jobs of web-designers everywhere far more difficult than it has to be, failing to support functions, misrepresenting layouts etc.

also, it is owned by pure evil.

“But what can I do?” you might be asking. Well it’s your lucky day, because Mozilla has just released a brand new version of their amazing browser Firefox. It has all the obvious features of internet explorer, as well as a horde of new (if you’re using IE) and awesome things, such as tabbed browsing (an amazing way to organize your web wanderings), as well as totally functional integrated popup blocking.

Most importantly though, mozilla and Firefox are both open-source which means that I have a very good reason to convince you to use it, because, like every other human, I own the rights to it. Along with the free operating system Linux, Mozilla was created through the cooperation of a huge pool of programmers who donated their time to create something they could be proud of and give to their children. It’s electronic communism on a humongous and functioning scale, and you can take advantage of it even using the evils of Windows and MacOS.

Give it a chance and you’ll be hooked. I promise.

[edit: i forgot to mention this, but IBM is actually pushing Linux lately, and they made an awesome ad that i think sums up the spirit of open-source with the kind of clarity that only a mega-million dollar marketing scheme can acheive. damn.
download it here]

Comments

6 responses to “THIS JUST IN! “IE SUCKS, IS EVIL!””

February 18, 2004

Magnus (OverTilt)

Also, Opera is a very nice browser, and it was the one that started the whole “tabbed browsing” thing. Plus, it’s a Norwegian browser, much like myself. ^_^ AND it can go to a lot of websites that don’t work in Mozilla but work in IE. Not to mention the delicious “mouse gestures”.

It’s payware, but only to remove a banner. And you can easily get the registration code at trinsic.org anyway.
February 19, 2004

phil

i think i may have to try this firefox that you speak of….
February 19, 2004

brian f.

Jer- you always have to design for the most finicky browser, especially if 95% of all people are using it. (now catering to the four people who still use that old-ass netscape shit is another story) but completely writing off IE is a bad idea.

While I’m glad on one hand that there are more options and people are excercising them, the more browsers you have to take into account while designing, the longer and more difficult the design process is.

I’m test-driving Opera and Firefox but I’m not convinced I am going to switch. I will keep them around to test my pages and so forth but I’m having a hard time convincing myself I need to start using a new browser.

ps. isnt tabbed browsing exactly the same as opening a page in a new window only without cluttering your start menu (win)? how is that really as revolutionary as people make it out to be?
February 19, 2004

jer

okay now i know that it seems like a good idea to just keep IE, but in the long run we’d all be better off without it. it just fails to support too many functions that could otherwise make everyone’s life easier and better.
also, though tabbed browsing does clean up the taskbar in windows (and save your life on mac) it also serves a more important syndication kind of purpose illustrated at this link: http://simianuprising.com/other/tabbed.html
i mean seriously, even if i was going to use IE for normal browsing, i’d never give up that feature of tabbed browsing, it totally changes how you think about and DO check your links (and i check a lot, along with RSS)

also, NO POPUPS! ACTUAL POPUP BLOCKING THAT WORKS WHEN YOU NEED IT AND NOT WHEN YOU dONT!

*whew!*
February 20, 2004

Magnus (OverTilt)

I love pop-up blockage. And tabbed browsing. And the ladies. And mouse gestures. And the M2 Opera Email program.
February 21, 2004

jer

opera also seems to be a very sweet deal, but it has ads in it, which is lame.

the lame should be destroyed, s’all i’m saying.

destroyed.