Browsers used to not auto-update.
There's no reason to "respect" backwards compatibility in an inherently online product that auto-updates.
There's nothing ideological here, it's just about being practical.
There's no reason to "respect" backwards compatibility in an inherently online product that auto-updates.
There's nothing ideological here, it's just about being practical.
And neither Firefox nor Chrome self-updated beyond a certain point on my few years old Android tablet, which is still generally very usable for browsing and YouTube.
And the browser on one of my phones stopped updating, once the OS stopped getting upgrades, for about 2 years before I stopped using that phone (because there was nothing as good as it to upgrade to).
Non-latest browsers are a small percentage of users, but it's a myth some site designers believe that all Chrome, Firefox and Safari installs auto-update to latest versions except where the user decided for themselves to block updates.
To the owner of devices in generally great shape, that work fine with alnost all sites, sites designed with the bleeding-edge assunption can feel a bit "unnecessarily buy a new version of the exact same electronics with your copious spare cash and litter some e-waste landfill to view our content today!".
Site designer's choice of course.
But it's a myth that the current mainstrean browsers stay up to date by default for everyone who doesn't disable it. Some users can't update. This should particularly be in the awareness of designers wanting sites to be readable by people without much disposable income, or some accessibility issues.
So users in that situation should not be punished by web devs who only support the bleeding edge browser versions.
When 90% of users are on the newest version within a couple weeks, that's not "bleeding edge". It's mainstream.
You're also opening yourself up to security vulnerabilities as you browse.
If you turn off auto update, it's up to you to accept the consequences of both security risks and of sites breaking.
you say that like I am the only person who does this.
> When 90% of users are on the newest version within a couple weeks, that's not "bleeding edge".
[citation needed]
Essentially, yes: https://caniuse.com/usage-table