The dreaded browser upgrade msg dilemma

What to say and what not to say?

[Reflection]

So what to tell those pesky users who either wont/cant/dont know how to upgrade their old browser?

I am going to put a message in my footer which is only displayed in my basic vanilla style sheet. There are no page redirects or browser upgrade pages involved just a short message to make the users aware of why the page is so dull and what they can do about it. The question is how?

I was thinking something along the lines of "In order to fully enjoy widgets.com you may wish to upgrade to a standards compliant web browser."

I would also like to fit in something that says all of the site content is still available to them.

Another thing to consider is do you tell them where they can get a new browser? Do you give them a list of links with mozilla,microsoft,netscape,opera etc?

So what do you folks do to let your old browser users know why your CSS designed sites look so drab in their browser? Or do you do anything at all?

Interested to get some feedback from the CSS folks.

[DrDoc]

In order to fully enjoy widgets.com you may wish to upgrade to a standards compliant web browser.

This is just as bad as all other 'best viewed in' statements. It's unprofessional, and annoying.

Instead, I would recommend including a brief statement in your FAQ section or your customer service page.

For example, on one of my sites I included this statement on the FAQ page:

"Why does Widgets.com look so ugly in my browser?"
Old browsers were not built for the level of technology offered today. The problem lies in the old browser, not in our Web site. For more information, please read the technical statement (link on bottom of this page).

Then, on that technical page you can include a message similar to what A List Apart [alistapart.com] did on their Web site.

[claus]

Personally i would opt for a statement along the lines of "this site follows standards for HTML 4 and CSS1" or whatever - no recommendation about browser shift.

There's (at least) two sides to the standards and css equation:

1) Accessibility: all browsers should be able to render the content, although some will render something in an undesired fashion.

2) Graceful decay: making sure that browsers that do not get all the bells and whistles still get the basic content, and that it still looks... well okay, if not better.

You've obviously gone a long way along point two, assuring that there are separate stylesheets for different browsers. This is a lot of work, and, imho your responsibility as a web developer/designer stops there. If other people wish to view your pages using outdated browsers, then by all means let them do so.

There are other, more important arguments than design and layout, ie. security concerns that should be able to convince users to update. If they still do not update, they might just enjoy the experience or perhaps have no real alternatives. In such a situation, waving the update flag is sort of like waving the red cloth in front of the bull.

/claus

[jdancing]

These are people who like doing things the old fashioned way. Do not cater to those with outdated browsers or they will never switch over.

If you are selling something, I find it hard to believe those that are too afraid, stubborn, or incompetent to upgrade their browser will supply a credit card online.

[choster]

Some of us must contend with corporate IT departments who are averse to installing anything not at least a half version old for fear of system-crashing bugs, undiscovered virus exploits, incompatibility with special in-house software, or the second coming of Christ. No amount of lecturing is going to change those users' situation, you're just going to annoy them by reminding them every day how powerless they are. Someone like my parents, who buy plenty online but only log on three or four times in a month, aren't going to take too kindly to someome telling them to download an upgrade for three or four hours just so the borders will render in the right shade of blue.

People on fourth-generation browsers should be accustomed to sites looking a little funny now and then. There's no need for you to apologize for them, and no need for them to be lectured about it. At the most, put a little icon or link in the footer "About Web Standards..." with some explanatory text about your goals for accessibility, your desire to make the site available on multiple platforms, your understanding of the need to make pages load faster. Even saying "use a modern browser" is insulting language, particularly for a Mozilla user such as myself who gets that message in a popup entirely too often.

[mat_bastian]

I think the Modern version of mozilla blocks popups. ;)

[mat_bastian]

"...put a little icon or link in the footer "About Web Standards..." with some explanatory text about your goals for accessibility, your desire to make the site available on multiple platforms, your understanding of the need to make pages load faster."

I think that is a great idea.