The New Browser Wars
Part of me had hoped never to utter the phrase, “The Browser Wars” again, but they’re on their way back. Why? Web Standards. More importantly: Web Standards written by someone other than Microsoft.
First, don’t get the idea that I’m poo-pooing web standards. They’re what we need. The stress–the browser wars–will come from the effort to get Microsoft to get in line.
So here’s the problem: web developers have gotten significantly better at programming with web standards. Added to that: there are several non-Microsoft browsers out there that are fully compliant, so developers know it can be done and they know how much work it can save. So developers, many of whom have never been under the Microsoft umbrella, are going for it. And new services, like Wufoo, work great–except in Internet Explorer.
As a consumer of website maintenance services, your best bet is to ensure that the work on your website is at least W3C valididated. And then you have to check that any really cool functions work with the major players: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari.