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Comment by fnando | Hacker News Reader

> Sorry, our editor is optimized for Chrome

Internet Explorer all over again. ‍️

Worst thing is it all seems to work fine in Safari as soon as I change my user agent string to Chrome, so it doesn't even seem to using any Chrome specific features…

Hey sorry about that! Could an Electron app work for you instead? We have some betas at https://documentation.pagedraw.io/electron/

My Mac won't open it, is it because I need to change some preference or because its an unregistered app?

You can open it by right-clicking and then clicking "Open" instead of the regular double click, because it's an unregistered app.

A highly specialized Web app doesn’t need to support more than one browser. If you’re a Firefox user, consider it as though it said “please download the Spotify app to use our service on your machine.”

Then why is it a web app? What happened to open standards? Why not just make it a standalone application, following your logic?

You’re right, it’s not a web app. It is a stand-alone application built on top of Chrome the way that other apps are built on Qt or WPF.

Right, and I'm saying I fundamentally disagree with this vendor-locking approach. Qt doesn't lock me into a particular environment and is cross-platform. It's a view framework, not an entire browser. Huge difference.

If your product is useful enough people will install what they need to, like Photoshop and Excel.

I agree also its an early iteration of the product. I think you would prefer to get a working version out there earlier and get feedback about the product rather than wait a month and get it right in every browser.

And inevitable considering the pace of technology. Nothing is perfect, and IMO, its best to just get on the with it.

If you just get on with it, you're contributing to make Chrome a monopoly, and that will in turn slow down the pace of technology. Google/Chrome won't act differently from Microsoft/IE6. There's no reason to invest in improving a browser if there's no one left to compete against you.

Yup and closed tab. Either make your product work in the major browsers or don't make it at all. Not acceptable here.

>> Either make your product work in the major browsers or don't make it at all. Not acceptable here.

I don't agree. Especially for a startup trying to get an MVP out the door.

If your product is aimed at a technically oriented audience then its a reasonable assumption that they have Chrome installed.

That is how the IE only path started, getting MVP out of the door by supporting IE 5.

Those are the same arguments that Microsoft attempted to make as IE was pushed to the masses, and that was a disaster for the web and everyone involved.

If you don't learn the history of technology, you will be doomed to repeat it.

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