Why be a Browser Snob?

Visitors to this site that use Internet Explorer will have noticed what I call a "Lame Browser Warning" (LBW) that shows up just special for them. I hesitated to put it there, because I know how people get when you insinuate that Micro$oft may not actually give a flying fig about creating secure, community-friendly products. But in terms that us programmers speak in all day:

MarketShare != Quality

Microsoft controls something like 70-80% of the consumer computational device market. Congrats to them. But that doesn't mean that their product for surfing the Internet is very good.

I have a hard enough time just getting my blog entries posted. I don't have time to prop this site up with the various hacks and contrivances required to make it fully compatible in both IE and all the other browsers that access this site (browsers that I myself use, since I'm one of those Apple snobs as well as a browser snob). I've given it the old college try, but if I've failed, then the LBW is there as my excuse for not giving a flying fig myself.

I use to be one of the silent minority that felt this way. Now, as bloggers proliferate, and consequently so do the number of people finding out what us web developers have known for years, I'm suddenly not alone in my browser snobbery:

"If 95% of the people in the world drove Yugos, would that make it the best car in the world?" —JCF, White Moments

You really should read the whole thing: What's With All This Firefox Business, Anyway?

Besides, I'm doing this for free and you're reading it for free. What incentive, other than my own good will, do I have to ensure this site works properly in all browsers that access it? You don't stipulate to your friends how they should arrange their house so that when you visit, things are arranged properly to suit you. You use their toilet that may not be as clean as yours and their living room may be a mess and their kids may not pick up their toys; but do you specify that before you enjoy their company they must make everything comfortable for you, which may (or may not, if you're a tired parent like me) include cleaning the house and picking up all foreign objects from the floor?

See, there I go again. Not being a good host. Pardon so much. I'm sorry if my LBW offends you. Please, come into my house, sit and stay for a visit. I only ask that you accept me as I am and not as you'd like me to be.