Yahoo Pledges FireFox Compatibility and Then Takes it Back

[Brett_Tabke]

[news.zdnet.co.uk...]

Yahoo has confirmed plans to allow Firefox users to access all its products and services, many of which are currently only available through Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser.

They have alot of work to do:

267 errors [validator.w3.org] on the simple home page alone.

576 Errors [validator.w3.org] on serp pages.

Related: [webmasterworld.com...]

[toprank]

Actually, they kind of took it back:

"Yahoo said on Friday afternoon that a statement from the company’s Australian office on Tuesday, which claimed that all future products would be compatible with both the Firefox and Internet Explorer (IE) browsers, was inaccurate."

From ZDNet UK News:
[news.zdnet.co.uk...]

[bcolflesh]

Contrast Google for errors:
49 [validator.w3.org] for home page

258 [validator.w3.org] for serp page

[gliff]

Validation isn't the same thing as "works in firefox" (although, from a best practices point of view, it's the best way to make sure your pages/apps work in firefox).

[Chico_Loco]

Firefox would seem to be less tolerable of coding errors than IE, and that's a very bad thing.

The internet is vast, and not e every page out there will be perfectly coded... so being tolerable of and recovering errors is a very important feature for a browser.

That said, FireFox is better than Mozilla, which is just a hidious browser and always has been.

[aphido]

I understand that not every site is perfectly coded- but surely the only way to bring the 'Net up to some form of worldwide standard is to promote the use of browsers and coding practice that follow the W3C standards? I know that I would certainly rather design to one standard, as opposed to writing CSS hacks and the like, just because Microsoft decided to implement a proprietery system that flies in the face of the W3C.

[phantombookman]

Firefox need to make their product compatable
It is plainly ridiculous to suggest that everyone should alter their sites to work with FF.

It will obviously never happen, so if FF wishes to have a chance of going mainstream they need to play the game, whether they like the rules or not.
We are where we are!

[aphido]

No-one is suggesting that everyone should alter their sites 'just for Firefox'- that's not the issue here. The idea of web standards is to make the web accessible to all on as many platforms as possible, and a browser like Firefox simply follows the standards set out by the W3C to help this to occur.

As for Firefox not being mainstream, current usage stats reckon FF to have roughly a 20% share of the market, increasing steadily month by month. I know I wouldnt want to ignore that percentage of users for my site.