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Ask HN: Forcing browser updates on users

1 points by Chris_X ↗ HN
I was about to download Wunderlist on a new computer and upon visiting their website, I was notified that Firefox is out of date. I couldn't access anything else on the site without updating.

This got me thinking- forcing the latest browser version could make things a lot easier in terms of cross browser compatibility, but it could annoy some users. Perhaps I have some extensions that are not compatible with the latest updates, so I don't want to be forced into updating.

Then again, a simple notification could be fine, leaving the choice to update up to the user.

What do you think of this practice?

What are some of the things you do to minimize the number of browsers you need to support?

3 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 23.1 ms ] thread
lifeisstillgood
from HTML5Boilerplate.com

        <!--[if lt IE 7]>
            <p class="chromeframe">You are using an <strong>outdated</strong> browser. Please <a href="http://browsehappy.com/">upgrade your browser</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/chromeframe/?redirect=true">activate Google Chrome Frame</a> to improve your experience.</p>
        <![endif]-->
StormyMorning
I get notified by firefox when there is a newer version available. It is an option (selected by default I believe) in the advanced section of the Tools -> Options dialog. It will even warn you if updating will disable any of your add-ons. I think your version of firefox may just have gone well past its use by date.
octatone2
Hey Chris,

On wunderlist.com we support back to FF16, anything older will trigger the upgrade your browser screen. Our reasoning for this is that the ESR for firefox is currently at FF17. It didn't make sense for us to try support (by support I mean try and get a modern web app to run on it) a version so out of date that even mozilla is not supporting it. It also helps get users out of old version that don't auto-update, or in the case of FF, a version that will never receive security updates.

If you are just looking for the download links for the native apps, you can always go to http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist which doesn't have the browser restrictions, and update screens that are present in the web app.