Answer: Not the S&P 500. Not the consumer price index. Not the prime interest rate or inflation. Not the unemployment rate or inflation.

They know they have job security when a new internet browser is released.

With new browser releases, websites break because the browsers often interprets code differently than its earlier version. Problems are minimized when browser makers follow the standards everyone uses to develop.

There is a little organization called the W3C. This organization’s job is to create standards for the web. All browser vendors need to do is follow their guidelines, which are standard and reasonable, and there wouldn’t be a problem.

But what would a world without rogue browser makers look like for web developers?

Well, for starters, we wouldn’t have that much to do. Most of our time is spent hacking at code for browser compatibility. So, we might end up spending more time on usability design, or even making sites more engaging and polished.

Also, without rogue browser makers, our jobs would become more trivialized than they already are. I have sat in meetings where people tell me that their thirteen year old cousin’s neighbor can make a “home page.” Followed by, why should I pay you to do it? My typical answer to such rubbish wouldn't be that meaningful anymore: "Oh yeah? Maybe! but can that zit-popping lank make it work across platforms, browsers and browser versions?" Never mind strategic web communications marketing, strategy, and advertising … ok, ok, that’s a rant for another day.

So, why would a browser maker go completely out of their way to ignore standards? Because they want developers coding to their platform, and through this, capturing more of the market.

There is nothing new about browser wars. These wars are almost as old as the image tag. First there was Mosaic, then Netscape. Some time after Netscape captured the market, Microsoft came out with Microsoft Internet Explorer and in no time at all completely cannibalized Netscape’s slice of the pie. Then, Microsoft was the only big player for a while until FireFox joined the fight.

FireFox has gained a lot of ground with web users and developers - Mac, PC and Linux alike. Why? They follow standards. Go figure!

So, thank you Microsoft for releasing a new browser that doesn’t follow standards. Thank you for breaking the web. And thank you for making sure that web designers stay in business.

Now, how do we explain to our clients that their sites are broken because Microsoft is sloppy and greedy?

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posted by Andres Zapata @ 5:38 PM