Why stop me using a site just because the browser is not the one they want me to use

marvin

OK I am fed up with sites trying to dictate that the browser I use is up to date or not.

I have just visited a site which I cannot use because it plasters a popup over the site saying did you know your browser is out of date. There is no way of closing it and it actually stops you using any link on the site once it has popped up.

Yes I do know and the is nothing I can do about it as it belongs to my employer and they do not want to update it! But can't surly be good for a website that relies on sales to stop people using it because of this little problem.

I could wait till I get home but I tend not to do the kind of searching at home I do at work because I often have hours of nothing to do at work over night.

By all means tell me about it and give me a way to stop you continually telling me about it (you hear me Daily Telegraph and Shareprice) but this goes beyond a joke now.

yrp01

Unfortunately mate this can be down to alot of things ie outdated flash version or unsupported browser and im not gonna go deeper into the tech side of it XD.

Actually little story my work recently had the flash uninstalled so we couldnt watch bbc news sport. so there goes me watching F1 on the saturday/sundays between calls . But its for a pretty good argument that by doing this we swallow bandwidth that is sorely needed so removing flash was wat needed done to free up some resource for other systems.

So to be honest mate i dont see it getting fixed very soon and id expect it to happen at other peoples places of work just due to the fact people are abusing it to do other things unrelated to work.

Freddie_Snowbits

I have had no problem with windows 3.1 and ie 2

fluffnutter

Software development costs money. Writing and testing code that caters for every browser's nuances pushes up the price of that development. Most companies will only write code for the most common browsers, typically IE and Firefox although Chrome is becoming more commonly catered for.

If you use a browser that's out of date, or unusual - your choice. But don't expect the world to cater for your tastes.

woohoo_postingid

Egg Money Manager annoys me - won't let me use Firefox, only IE !

Helix

Supporting IE6 either costs more money or holds back the features that can be offered to everyone else that has bothered to upgrade their browser. These companies will have worked out how much money they are likely to use in not supporting IE6 vs how much it costs to support it.

Even Microsoft are now trying to get everyone off IE6: http://ie6countdown.com/. And you will see only 3.3% of the UK are still using IE6.

Dave_C_2

For me it's simple, any web site that doesn't support Firefox doesn't get my business. IE is too dangerous to use.

Dave

marvin

Ok don't support it but don't stop people using the site that is foolish in the extreme and wastes all the develpment costs.

Believe it or not I work in IT and I fully understand what goes behind websites and yes some features will not work but to place an obsticle in the way that stops people even viewing the site is bonkers.

now I am going to shout as people seem to be missing a point...

IT IS NOT MY CHOICE IT IS A COMPANY PC ON A COMPANY CONNECTION NOTHING TO DO WITH ME AT ALL!

sorry

TheSaint_2

Anyone who believes Firefox is totally secure needs to go and do a bit more research

IE9 is a really good browser, I actually prefer it to firefox - but thats not what the thread is about. Chrome seems to be leading the pack thesedays anyway.

OP - you can probably get utils that change your useragent string. Check google you might find one If you fiddle it to be an up to date browser you won't get the popups - but you will probably have problems browsing the sites. Unless you are just using an obscure browser that is fully standards compliant and the website you are visiting is using a crap bit of javascript to decide what browser you are running on.