In order to reduce the workload for a startup that I'm working on (mostly by myself), I'm considering declining to support several major browsers.
When loading the app, I'm thinking of having a screen that detects the browser type and either warns the user that the app is probably not going to work that well or simply does not allow the user to use the application with the unsupported browser.
Not sure if this is obvious, but the reason to block the user from using the unsupported browser (as opposed to just a warning) is because often the application will seem to work in the unsupported browser, but little things will be broken - such as a button inexplicably being missing from the page.
I'd like to support:
* Chrome - (I develop in Chrome, so everything de facto works on Chrome)
* Safari - (Doesn't give me many problems and probably runs better on iOS devices)
Decline support for
* Firefox - (often runs the app too slow)
* Internet Explorer - (too many small annoying bugs)
* Opera - (small user base)
Here is a demo of the app: Demo.EnterpriseJazz.com
- As you can see, the application is large and complex. Going through and fixing bugs for each major browser is something that would take a lot of my time that could be spent on other things that might help the startup along more.
I know this is not a clear-cut issue, but any thoughts?
IMO, I would recommend you to support both Firefox and Chrome.
Let me give you an example, I had never heard of Polarr Editor. Then one fine day as I browsed the Chrome store I found it to be pretty good. It even has a web version for both Chrome and Firefox. But it lacks so much exposure.
Same goes for webflow.
Why lose consumers?
Conclusion, There are some Apps in the Chrome web store exclusive to Chrome that suffer from the inexposure to Firefox.
Most developers use both Chrome and FF alternatively as they wish. And FF's share of users is more tech oriented.
1% of web browser share equivalents around 1 million users or more.
Now, the math is self-explanatory.
Hope it helps.