Technology requirements in browsers

[Benton, Kevin]

I'm wondering what others are feeling about this:

 

At what point do we decide to stop supporting browsers that don't have
JavaScript/CSS2 support available?  I know that for some, this might
sound like a radical idea.  From my perspective, I've begun shifting my
focus somewhat from trying to support every browser out there to
recognizing that we don't necessarily have to support the oldest
technology in our newest versions.  While I think it's fair to say we
ought to be able to support at least 98% of the users (not 98% of the
browsers) out there; I think that we could do a lot better by not
allowing ourselves to get tied to very old technology as we move
forward.  I think that at some point, it makes sense to say that we
won't support "advanced" Bugzilla features in very old technology (VOT)
browsers that don't support JavaScript and CSS2.  That is not to say
that we should allow VOT browsers to file and update bugs, but I think
it's fair to say that we could do a lot more to make Bugzilla 1) look
prettier, and 2) work more intuitively for users if we can say bye-bye
to some of the self-imposed limitations.  NeoOffice Bugzilla
(http://bugzilla.neooffice.org <http://bugzilla.neooffice.org/> ) is a
perfect example from their main page.  Some of those menu items at the
top would be perfect for JavaScript drop-downs.  News that automatically
rotates every n seconds would also be something that would require
advanced browser features.  Quick stats could easily be reworked
slightly to handle multiple products on mouseover, etc.

 

I'm just thinking out loud and wondering what direction the rest of the
group thinks we ought to take based on these items.

 

---
Kevin Benton
Perl/Bugzilla Developer/Administrator, Perforce SCM Administrator
Personal Computing Systems Group
Advanced Micro Devices

 

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