This does not affect 2% of users, but 2% of sessions. Some people use more than one browser and will switch if need be. I suggest the switch to UTF-8 is done quickly, and that the support for the minority browsers is added later by someone who feels it is worth the effort. This somewhat peripheral issue should not impede development of the Wikipedia.
Russell
Daniel Mayer wrote:
Brion wrote:
Another possibility is simply to 'blacklist' known problem browsers by printing a notice/link to better browsers on the edit page warning that they may have problems, as we now have a warning on long pages that some browsers may have problems. (Though in that case we aren't checking specific browsers.)
Those types of messages are not at all welcoming. I get pretty pissed when I go to a website that informs me that I need to upgrade or change my browser. And I /really/ get annoyed when those websites make suggestions on which browser I should use. I already have a browser that I am very comfortable with thank-you-very-much. And yes I upgrade often. But many people don't because they either don't know how, have a dial-up account that can't handle more than a couple meg download or they have an outdated OS or computer equipment.
We shouldn't be telling those people that they have to upgrade to use Wikipedia if they can use Wikipedia just fine without UTF-8. The benefits simply do not seem to be at all compelling enough to justify the negatives (at least for en.wikipedia). But if you can figure out a way to have UTF-8 without the associated problems, then great.
--- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
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