Hacker News Reader

Comment by mgkimsal | Hacker News Reader

We've spent 10+ years on the web trying to educate end users that things will not be pixel perfect across webtv, ie3/4/5/6/7/8/9, netscape 2/3/4, firefox1-12, opera, chrome, safari on linux, mac, windows, on 10"-30" screens. Slowly, over time, it seemed to work.

"This rounded corner on ie7/winxp doesn't look exactly the same as the rounded corner on my iphone4!" isn't the type of complaint I hear from clients any more, but font renderings, aliasing, shape of rounded corners, etc are all things I've had to deal with in the past.

We're now entering mobile devices/tablets, which will bring with it its own version of the same stuff. It was easier to tell someone "that's netscape, this is opera - they're different, and will look a little different*" than it will be to say "this is android, and that's android, but they don't work the same".

View on HN

> "This rounded corner on ie7/winxp doesn't look exactly the same as the rounded corner on my iphone4!" isn't the type of complaint I hear from clients any more, but font renderings, aliasing, shape of rounded corners, etc are all things I've had to deal with in the past.

I hear this type of stuff all the time.

Sure it's not an issue if you think you have to support android. When in reality you just have to support the iPhone, and it doesn't have these issues.

Android support is helpful but not neccesary, like supporting IE alongside Firefox a few years ago. Sure people use IE more than any other browser (now Chrome, yes!), but that doesn't mean a lot of IE users are going to use your website in the first place.

IMHO that applies to android today, iPhone users are way more likely to buy your service in the first place so you should focus on them. No need to leave android users hanging, but clearly the platform doesn't warrant anyone's sole focus so much as basic support.

It's tough to tell if you are talking specifically about web apps for browsers or the platforms themselves. But in either case your comment is short sighted. Android has over 50% of smartphone market share, and that's only going to increase. Android support and Android versions of apps should be standard for companies and startups going forward.

I still hear this kind of stuff all the time. When dealing with clients who I am building applications for it's possible to explain the differences and have them accept those differences. However, if my clients still don't know why things look different in different browser, then it's pretty likely that most other non-technical people don't understand the differences either and I won't have the opportunity to explain things to them. Also, there are a lot of people that still don't even know what browser they use, so any explanation of browser differences is still a few conversations in the future.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com