Browsers

[Mutant]

Which browsers do you support? And which browsers do your players use? I've found the percentages are quite different between people playing pbbgs, and the "general" populace.

I only support modern browsers (i.e. IE8+, and recent versions of FF, Chrome, Opera, Safari). This might skew my stats, but I most of my player base use either FF or Chrome, with a few using Opera, and hardly anyone using IE or Safari. As my game is Javascript heavy, I'm not surprised to see the better performing browsers being more popular.

Anyone else have anything drastically different?

[133794m3r]

I write standards compliant code, and thus I make sure that it works perfectly in gecko first, then i check to see if there's anything amiss in webkit and add some conditional css. And if you're using javascript, just make sure that you don't deviate from things too much. That's why I'm using jquery since it allows me to use ajax in any browser.

As far as support goes with me actually testing in, I only test in Firefox, and Chromium. Opera's numbers are way too low for me to worry about testing in it. But I do make sure that I don't overuse javascript so that it becomes unplayable by people on older hardware/ie. As far as mobile users go? I don't support them at all nor do i test it. If their screen is big enough, then they're supported, if not oh well. Most of the UI can be handled via clicks so thus a tablet user should be able to play it fine but as far as smartphones I don't have a version of it yet, and I won't until I see data that makes me feel otherwise.

I also outright block all versions of IE lower than 8. Anyone attempting to come to the site with any lower version will be redirected to a page telling them to upgrade. The reason's very simple and I doubt anyone would seriously care about those people who are still using ie6 in this day and age.

Also about people playing in IE. Remember IE is the default browser in work place enviroments. So thus those market shares are everyone not just consumers. They're lumping in those companies that have a few hundred thousand people using IE in their statistics. I doubt your numbers will ever really change. For most people it'll always be majority FF, second Chrome, Third IE, fourth opera/safari.

[Chris]

You are losing 6% of visitors, more than 80% of IE users use IE8+ (year 2011, data from a game IE6 compatible).

[DV8]

I dev in Chrome, check it in FF, which usually works just fine and patch it in IE8+. I'm nowhere near even thinking about tweaking it for specific browsers.

[Mutant]

I also outright block all versions of IE lower than 8. Anyone attempting to come to the site with any lower version will be redirected to a page telling them to upgrade. The reason's very simple and I doubt anyone would seriously care about those people who are still using ie6 in this day and age.

I don't block IE6/7 users, but I do give them a warning to say they aren't supported. They can at least log into the game (even if it's somewhat broken)... and decide whether they need a new browser just for my game.

[andrewjbaker]

With Fleeting Fantasy being an HTML5 game... anything less than IE9 can arse off. :p

[DV8]

With Fleeting Fantasy being an HTML5 game... anything less than IE9 can arse off. :p

Like!

[Marek]

It's not always the user's fault that they're using an archaic browser.

Blocking players is seldom a good idea. They will get upset and never return to your game.

The best option is a warning and a suggestion to get a new browser, while allowing them to play. Even if the game doesn't display correctly, at least they still have a chance of getting interested and eventually getting a new browser.

Suppose a loyal player is away from home and logs in from a net cafe that only has IE6. If you block them, it's a slap in the face. I wouldn't want to be treated that way.

[133794m3r]

It's not always the user's fault that they're using an archaic browser.

Blocking players is seldom a good idea. They will get upset and never return to your game.

The best option is a warning and a suggestion to get a new browser, while allowing them to play. Even if the game doesn't display correctly, at least they still have a chance of getting interested and eventually getting a new browser.

Suppose a loyal player is away from home and logs in from a net cafe that only has IE6. If you block them, it's a slap in the face. I wouldn't want to be treated that way.

IE6 is one of the least used browsers out there. The number of people who still code ie6 compatible sites is getting ever lower. Which would you rather have? Being outright blocked? Or would you rather, try to login, and find out that nothing works at all?  I'm sure that you'd rather not be blocked but look at the owner of the site. If the person first tries to login via ie6, they will think that the game sucks. They'll proudly proclaim to everyone that the game sucks, and that the person who made it had no idea what (s)he was doing. I'd rather just outright block them, and then tell them to use a different browser, than for them to try to play and have it barely work. This way I don't have to deal with people who proclaim that my game is coded poorly just because they're using an out of date browser.

[Nox]

...and if you clearly state that you don't guarantee any functionality in respective browser but allow him to proceed if he acknowledges that, it would be ok, right?

[Mutant]

They'll proudly proclaim to everyone that the game sucks, and that the person who made it had no idea what (s)he was doing.

This is going to happen anyway, no matter what you do (at least once your game becomes popular enough). I'd rather take a positive view of people logging in.. they may have a crap browser, but like someone said, it might not be their fault. So long as you're clear when they log in (or better yet, when they first visit your site) that you don't support their browser, any reasonable person won't complain. And if they're not reasonable, then who knows what they'll complain about.

[Chris]

any reasonable person won't complain. And if they're not reasonable, then who knows what they'll complain about.

Yeah, there is a point where you have to stop worrying about unreasonable complains. Those people will find a reason to complain, if they can not complain about the browser compatibility, they will find another reason

I would not block any browser, there are plenty of situations when a dedicated player has to use it temporarily (work, internet cafee, friends house, etc).

[Freyr]

Since the official release of HTML5, I'm only using it.
I do however, warn a user that's browser is incompatible with the document. I don't see this as a problem to the whole game's image.
Just as there a laws for people, there are laws for scripts. If they played FEAR 2 on a WinME computer with 56MB RAM, they can't expect the game to run at 120FPS. The same goes for websites.

Google is a very good player at this. They're method is to try and be compatible, but they don't waste their time trying to support every browser on earth. They provide a simple message, and if possible, redirect them to a proper page that will educate them on why, and how.

[Chris]

Google is a very good player at this. They're method is to try and be compatible, but they don't waste their time trying to support every browser on earth. They provide a simple message, and if possible, redirect them to a proper page that will educate them on why, and how.

They seem to still support IE6... They only warn that some functions might not work, but overall you can use it with google services (and they display ALTERNATIVE version of the website just for that browser). So it's more like they wrote a simplified version of their services for IE6, not that they dumped that browser.