I agree with Rachel Andrew here. I’m not disputing Andy’s use of CSS3 and degradation to clunkier visuals in IE – this is totally the right thing to do – but clients should be educated about browser differences. Like Rachel said, you’ll end up looking like you were concealing things and then making excuses.
Someone suggested in an earlier comment that, when upgraded from (for example) IE6 to Firefox, clients would see the improvement and jump right on board. I feel sorry for anyone whose clients are that stupid. Anyone with a trace of sense will immediately ask “What percentage of users run IE6?”. You’ll give them a figure but add that many people are switching. “At what rate?” they’ll fire back. You have got to be honest.
I had to re-read the last section of the article after collecting my jaw from the floor and climbing back into my chair. Did Andy imply to the client that he had spent time specifically making the site work on mobile and then not billed for this time? That’s basically lying. The right response would be “Because of the way we design and code, the site works on mobile naturally and is future proof”.
David Goss
I agree with Rachel Andrew here. I’m not disputing Andy’s use of CSS3 and degradation to clunkier visuals in IE – this is totally the right thing to do – but clients should be educated about browser differences. Like Rachel said, you’ll end up looking like you were concealing things and then making excuses.
Someone suggested in an earlier comment that, when upgraded from (for example) IE6 to Firefox, clients would see the improvement and jump right on board. I feel sorry for anyone whose clients are that stupid. Anyone with a trace of sense will immediately ask “What percentage of users run IE6?”. You’ll give them a figure but add that many people are switching. “At what rate?” they’ll fire back. You have got to be honest.
I had to re-read the last section of the article after collecting my jaw from the floor and climbing back into my chair. Did Andy imply to the client that he had spent time specifically making the site work on mobile and then not billed for this time? That’s basically lying. The right response would be “Because of the way we design and code, the site works on mobile naturally and is future proof”.
I’m surprised nobody else has picked up on that.