steve

Firefox's popularity repeats Microsoft's dominating mistakes all over again (Download Squad)

Jun 13th 2007 11:49AM Here's a summary: The web is supposed to be usable by any device that conforms to the X/HTML standard, potentially enhanced by standard CSS and Javascript. We also tolerate plugins like Flash when they are provided as an optional replacement to the original standards-based page.

The old IE and, to some extent, the new IE, is condemmed because it did not follow the standards. Worse, since it enjoyed a monopoly on the web, developers had to ignore the standards too. Thus, the web was only usable in IE. Other devices were out of luck.

Firefox changed this by adhering to standards and gaining enough market share that most sites are now written to work in Firefox as well, which implies that they are largely standards-compliant. Thus, while there is obviously much more that needs to be done, the web is now more usable by any device.

The risk stated is that Firefox wil cause the same problem IE did, that of making the web usable in only one device. It won't do this by forcing developers to write error-filled pages that can't be viewed outside of Firefox. Rather, the fear is that it will encourage them to substitute standard web pages for sites that only function if you are running the appropriate software locally, such as a toolbar or a Firefox extension. Cell phones, screen readers, and others can't compete in that world.