I'm watching in growing frustration as Justin, with the best of intentions, ties himself in knots in a hopeless quest to satisfy the demand that this site should work as well when viewed through Netscape Navigator 4.7 as it does through modern browsers. It's impossible, for the simple reason that Navigator 4.7 is an obsolete piece of crap. The only way to make the site's appearance acceptable (good is impossible) for "The Nag" is to arbitrarily freeze the site's use of technology at 1998 levels, and deprive the majority that uses more modern browsers access to and enjoyment of a state-of-the-art Web experience. This is unfair to the majority, and unfair to Justin. A further consequence would be to make this site non-compliant with recognized international technical standards, because Navigator 4.7 doesn't comply with the standards.

For a long time people have clung to the Nag for two reasons: 1) Lack of a UNIX/Linux version of IE; and 2) anti-Microsoft sentiment. Both objections have been rendered moot by the release of the open-source Mozilla browser (mozilla.org). It does a good job of supporting the technical standards, installs and runs smoothly, and all-around is at least the equal of MSIE 5.5. (Important note: Netscape tried to package the Mozilla browser as "Netscape 6" and, as usual, failed miserably. Get the pure Mozilla version and stay away from Netscape.) There is no longer any defensible reason to cling to Navigator 4.7.

Navigator 4.7 users who've avoided using IE may not be aware of how far the technology has advanced since Netscape took to the sidelines three years ago. You don't need to fear stylesheets and JavaScript; they were a problem for you only because the Nag did them so badly. You needn't suffer through frequent crashes brought on by the Nag's inability to handle perfectly reasonable HTML; those ad popups aren't to blame-I've looked at their HTML and they're doing things correctly. The Web is a much nicer place than Nag4 would have you believe.

I've never understood why the Microsoft-haters who complain of being treated badly by Microsoft could accept the same shabby treatment from Netscape. Netscape abandoned you three years ago, and made only a superficial effort to maintain their browser. Their parent company, AOL, won't even use Navigator-they use MSIE5. Reuters reported last month that Netscape is getting out of the browser business to focus on "portals", which is a dot-com codeword for "dead meat". Netscape President Jim Bankoff: "six months from now, you won't consider Netscape to be a browser company." (I had to laugh, since few people in the business have considered Netscape to be a browser company for quite some time.) Bottom line: Even Netscape doesn't support Navigator-why should Justin?

(The ironies abound. Just now I was looking for documentation on Netscape's site, using Nag4.7 because it refused to talk to MSIE5, and at the top of each page is the official Netscape position on Nag4.7: "It is recommended that you upgrade to a more Standards compliant browser such as Netscape 6 [Mozilla]". If you won't listen to me, will you listen to Netscape? [e.g. http://developer.netscape.com/evangelism/docs/articles/])

I urge Justin to draw a line in the sand and take the reasonable and defensible position-the high ground-that this site will comply with all recognized technical standards. This properly puts the onus where it belongs, on browser vendors to conform to the standards. That puts Justin squarely on the side of the angels, in the company of the World Wide Web Consortium, ECMA, ISO, ANSI, and all other international standards organizations; Netscape itself, as noted above; mozilla.org and all other devotees of "open source" software; and the majority of the community of professional Web designers. As one of those, I can tell you for a fact that my industry is fast losing patience with demands that we continue to waste millions of man-hours each year trying to salvage Nag 4.7. It's not our problem any more, and we're beginning to draw a line in the sand too. What's going on here is a microcosm of the entire Web.

Or, to put it on a more personal level: Please, give Justin a break! He's trying hard to please you, but he's on a Quixotic quest. Justin is literally working night and day-I get emails from him timestamped at 4AM! Let him get some sleep! Instead of demanding that he limit his creativity to 1998 levels and devote his time to salvaging the Nag, work with him, get the free Mozilla browser, and let him spread his wings and quite possibly amaze and delight you with what he can do with modern technology. You'll benefit from pulling the rotten tooth of Nagivator 4.7, and with the familiar pain gone, this site and the Web in general will instantly become more pleasant and enjoyable. If not for Justin's sake, do it for your own sake! You deserve better than the Nag.

--Robert