Mozilla bemoans alphabet boost for Safari

 

Gallery

Posted on 16 Oct 2009 at 12:42

Mozilla is taking issue with Microsoft’s new browser ballot, which presents Windows users with a choice of internet software to install, because the list is in alphabetical order.

The Firefox maker is concerned that Microsoft has chosen to show the top five browsers alphabetically by developer name. That puts Apple’s Safari first, followed by Google Chrome, Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox and then Opera. A further dozen or so browsers are listed if the user scrolls.

“Windows users presented with the current design will tend to make only two choices: IE because they are familiar with it, or Safari because it is the first item,” writes Jenny Boriss, a Firefox user experience designer, in a blog posting.

The browser ballot is Microsoft’s solution to EU concerns about the company using its Windows monopoly to foist IE onto users. Earlier this month the European Commission said it was happy with the ballot proposal, particularly since Microsoft has committed to ensuring that “nothing in the design and implementation of the Ballot Screen and the presentation of competing web browsers will express a bias for a Microsoft web browser or any other web browser”.

Boriss, in common with other Mozilla developers, does not believe this will be case.

“The disproportionate advantage to Safari is what really makes this design poor,” she says.

“Frankly, Safari is a good browser for Apple computers, but Apple hasn’t put much effort to make it competitive on Windows. It’s just not their priority. So, by listing Safari first, the ballot is presenting as the recommended item the browser that is least likely to be the one the user wants. This leads to users having a bad experience using the web, and ultimately hurts the user and the market.”

Boriss proposes two alternative approaches—randomising the order in which browsers are listed or listing them by market share, but with IE at the end—but you suspect that Mozilla, and for that matter Opera which brought the original complaint to the EU, won’t be happy unless they’re first in the list.

Author: Simon Aughton