
You say Launch Early, but what about browser compatibility? - dawie

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imp
I would fix the FF bugs ASAP. You'll have to do it eventually so put that at
the top of your to-do list. The fixes probably aren't that hard. Thanks to
firebug you could probably pin-point the bugs really fast.

It's probably better to put off the launch for a few days to avoid making a
really bad impression to potential users.

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dawie
Easier said that done. My app relies heavily on AJAX and has lots of
Javascript...

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imp
I feel for you. When I wrote my first AJAX program, there was a lot of
javascript controlling the UI. It was almost complete before I looked at it in
IE for the first time. Two days and 10,000 alert boxes later I had it working.

It's a necessary evil. No one enjoys it, but if you don't make the fixes
you'll prevent a lot of people (including myself, a FF user) from ever even
trying your website. If I try it once and it completely breaks, I'm never
going to come back.

If there are one or two non-critical features that are creating all of the
bugs, then perhaps remove them initially and add them once you've fixed the
compatibility bugs.

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dawie
My app is close to ready to be launched, but it only works in IE. Is it ok to
launch with it working in IE only? Do you think I should let users know that
it only works in IE?

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cwilbur
As someone who doesn't use IE, I'm more impressed by a site saying "This site
is only compatible with IE right now - we're working on it, though!" than with
a site that is obviously broken and incompatible. And if you don't intend to
ever make it work in the other browsers, say so up front.

And users will figure out very quickly that it only works in IE; better to be
up-front about it.

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gyro_robo
One thing to remember is if it works in Firefox, it works on every platform.
Windows people can still use your site even if they need to click another icon
first...

IE-only means you lose all the Mac people, all the Linux people, and probably
turn off the majority of the more clued-in Windows people.

Early adopters -- your target audience I assume -- don't tend to use IE.

