Technology requirements in browsers

[Myk Melez]

David Miller wrote:
> Vlad Dascalu wrote on 3/1/06 3:05 PM:
>> Functionality (basic) should be available to Lynx users.
>>
>> Considering that, we can do CSS or javascript-only, or AJAX-only 
>> improvements (we already have such improvements for non-Lynx users: 
>> images, for example).
>
> Yeah, this is my view as well.  Let's make things pretty and 
> functional with the advanced technology, but as long as the basics 
> still work in eLinks and Lynx I'll be happy.
Unfortunately the devil is in the details (what's "basic"?), and 
supporting even basic functionality in these browsers is a lot more work 
and code complexity, which represents a significant opportunity cost.  
The time and energy we spend supporting them we can't spend making 
things even better for the vast majority of our users.

I suggest we drop the requirement to support these browsers but allow 
developers to continue to implement such support if they want it or have 
users who want it.  This way we place the onus for supporting these 
browsers on the folks for whom they matter instead of making everyone 
pay the tax for this tiny minority of users.

-myk