The Retrobrowser site is devoted to the following principles:
- to offer a sense of perspective to the relatively short history of the world wide web.
- to counteract the destructive behaviour that some current browser manufacturers have towards the Web in general.
- to allow web designers an effective means to preview their HTML at the lowest possible common denominator.
- to counteract the infantile "best viewed with" mentality on numerous Web pages.
- all babies must eat.
- 1. to offer a sense of perspective to the relatively short history of the world wide web.
Like most technologies (except the automotive industry, but that's rather scandalous to discuss), the rate at which the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, grows is rapid. The browsers represented here span 1993 to summer 1995, prior to the popularity surge of the Internet. Albeit that this was only at least 2 years ago, the computer industry's growth has been exponential over ever since; most software even six months old now is obtuse. The Retrobrowser site dedicates to displaying the infancy of the browsers of yesterminute.
- 2. to counteract the destructive behaviour that some current browser manufacturers have towards the Web in general.
These following statements are admittedly retaliatory, but I'll admit that these issues rouse my quills.
Since one of the computer industry's mantras is "advancement through technology", possessing the latest and greatest tools can only be a good thing. One consequence from this is that on the Web, since each browser company wants its advancement to become the standard, the variance in "new" markup compatability between different browsers is substantial, even to a point of unintended behaviour such as content not appearing properly or browser/operating system instability. However, predicting what one's page will look like "out there" becomes more complicated as browser manufacturers try to provide support for their own proprietary markup (as a competitive "edge", although the last time I checked, the last industry that attempted to push instable, untolerable and unpredictable behaviour with their products went belly-up).
This practice is very self-defeating; instead of attempting to communicate to as many people as possible, they fragment and isolate the online community into an almost clan-like mentality. Perhaps the strongest benefit of having a retrobrowser is that it was developed at a time prior to the corporate attack on the Internet, when the standards were actually followed. A retrobrowser will filter out most nonconforming markup (by doing what any good browser does and ignore what it doesn't understand) and present what it understands.
Another consequence of "advancement through technology" is that in order to support more features, the browser s should possess more, and as a result, the size of the browser becomes clunky and cumbersome. The current Netscape Communicator Preview is available for as little as six megabytes and as much as ten. Given that statistics for the end of 1996 state that over 70% of the people who do use the Web navigate at speeds lower than 14.4 kilobytes per second, meaning becoming up to date may require hours to download. Thankfully, a retrobrowser is considerably smaller; the largest retrobrowser download should be roughly two megabytes. The smallest (thus far) is Netscape 0.9, which comes in at 350 kilobytes.
- 3. to allow web designers an effective means to preview their HTML at the lowest possible common denominator.
Even with a standardized language such as HTML, the presentation of a web designer's markup varies considerably between the various Web browsers available. Most designers try to equip themselves with as many tools possible in order to properly predict their markup's presentation online. Due to the wide variance of browsers available and what subsets of "current" HTML is supported, web designers need to know whether their site will appear acceptable on as many possible systems and configurations as eartly possible. What a retrobrowser will do is allow the markup to be stripped to a more basic comprehension. Fortunately, since HTML is backwards-compatible, the core of your markup should be preserved, so that the core of your message will be communicated no matter what browser acts as the medium (the McLuhanist in me will also tell you that since the medium is the message, be prepared to understand what your markup is turning your statements into, but if you're already lost, then this has been another sackful of wrenches into your clockwork). Thus, if your site appears fine on one or more, this will guarantee that the site should appear as good or even better on a more recent browser. One result of this is a wider audience, which is a goal every web author should ascribe to. If you want to be heard, don't you want to communicate as many people as possible?
- 4. to counteract the infantile "best viewed with" mentality on numerous Web pages.
The frequent Web traveller may notice a peculiar tendency for Web designers to emblazon their own site with their favourite browser, and exclaim that you as well ought to use that browser to view the current page. This follows the "advancement" philosophy (depending if the author has updated the page so that it does, in fact, mention and make ready the most current browser. Many authors don't, so you may occasionally come across that a site is best viewed with a retrobrowser, where you can either consider the author kitschy or lazy (or both)) but the statement introduces a smirk to the reader's face. "Does it mean that since I'm viewing your site with another browser, then that's the reason or excuse that your site isn't readable? Thanks for the warning. While you're at it, you might as well tell me what size monitor to use, how wide I should make my browser window, what fonts to view your page with and which music to play in the background whilst surfing or what deodorant to where whilst clicking."
Since one feature of HTML is that it is hardware and software independent, it doesn't matter what browser is used to explore the Web with. With a retrobrowser onboard, you are under no obligation to use what browser other people say to use. I personally don't care what browser you use to see this (although an antique will bring a smile to my face). Neither should you.
All suggestions are . Please. Contributors will be recognized. Babies will eat.
