posted over 3 years agoInternet Explorer and Untrue Assumptions

As most anyone who has tried to design and develop for the web will tell you, Internet Explorer does not have a good reputation among web designers, primarily for its lack of standards compliance and its incompatibility with emerging web innovations. Internet explorer users are definitely losing out on new and intended experiences.

As much as I appreciate Microsoft taking steps toward developing a much more compliant browser with the introduction of Internet explorer 8, there are still many established and emerging standards that Microsoft fails to recognize.

A lot of this is caused by how the company that develops Internet Explorer makes many untrue assumptions.

Untrue Assumptions

Untrue assumptions often come out of mid-air. They are often used to convince a person that what is being assumed is actually true. And they are often used as a method to ignore glaring facts that prove their own fallacy.

A basic example of this is reflected by the Windows Update description for Internet Explorer 8:

Internet Explorer 8 is the latest version of the familiar Web browser that you are most comfortable using.

That I “am most comfortable using”? NOT TRUE. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Internet Explorer is probably the browser I am LEAST comfortable using. For numerous reasons which I won’t go into yet. Read some more UNTRUE assumptions that are made by the company.

My suggestion is that the IE development team (and especially the marketing team) need to stop making untrue assumptions and become a bit more understanding and, dare I say, humble, about their own product.

A True Assumption

I recently saw a great example of a very humble assumption.

…almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world.

You can’t go wrong with that, and you know what? It’s TRUE.