[Laszlo-dev] Dealing with unsupported HTML/CSS features in DHTML

[Raju Bitter]

I got a good comment on my last blog post showing the CSS text-shadow  
features.
http://openfuture.rajubitter.com/2009/08/25/openlaszlo-dhtml-css-3-demo-to-flash-or-not-to-flash-is-no-question/

A guy called Mike said: "Also, I’ve rarely encountered a cross- 
platform issue with the Flash Player, which is one of the many reasons  
that developers use it. The DHTML/CSS version above doesn’t display  
for me in IE7 (I just get the spinning “Powered by…”) but the Flash  
below it does."

I thought about that and came to the conclusion - that even for demos  
showing the features of HTML 5 and newer CSS standards - I don't want  
IE users to only see the spinning "Powered by...".

I added some code to the demo I built, and now - based on the browser  
version - you'll see the following message if you access the  
application with an old browser or IE:
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That's a much more positive way of informing the user that his current  
browser doesn't support the features required for this app. But I'd be  
interested in your oppionion, how should we handle unsupported  
browsers for DHTML demo apps, especially in future releases of  
OpenLaszlo? I thought of a class where you can register which  
capabilities your application needs for the full user experience, with  
a rating for importance: some features could be left out, and the  
application doesn't look as good. Some other features might be  
required, and then the user will have to access the app with a  
different browser.

For technically interested folks we could have an info button on the  
warning message, giving more information about what feature is not  
supported in the current browser.

Of course, all of this is not for consumer facing applications in  
production, more for the OpenLaszlo demos and docs. In production, I'd  
just check the browser and capabilities, and then deliver an SWF  
version for the older browsers.