Would it be possible to have a generic browser that isnt controlled by any vendor, but perhaps contributed to by all of them, which could be used as a dev standard? It doesn't even have to be available to users, just devs. Vendors could still develop their browsers any way they want, but when output diverges from this kit, they would at least know it. As a dev you could use this as your test kit and know that if it works here, it works everywhere.
I could see problems with this being backwards compatible, but at the point where the major vendors sign on, all future releases would compatible (and eventually all releases as older versions are retired).
I suppose that perhaps though this is already accomplished by Chrome, but it seems less than ideal for many reasons.
Vendor browsers will miss features compared to it, and have extra features, and do some things a bit different. Developers wouldn't consider it "the dev standard" since it wouldn't be used by many people, and what matters is that your users can use what you meant them to use.
It's possible, but there's no financial incentive for them to do so, so it's incredibly unlikely. Open source browsers already exist, but because a company wouldn't earn money from contributing, they won't do it.
It's also unlikely that businesses will start building websites for different browsers. Chrome is currently the industry standard, and to maximize viewers while minimizing development cost, developing for Chrome will capture most of the market share.
Hmm. Maybe they should take some of their own medicine?
Safari might have user numbers behind it but it also has a huge pile of rendering oddities and half-implemented standards. They're not keeping pace with other browsers.
Last I tried, IE still does not have a fully compatible CSS grid and doesn't handle HTTP 2 server push at all.
Is it because they don't have enough smart programmers to implement those things? Or they can't update their software? Even though every few weeks or months there are full updates that they push at will.
I can't believe people still haven't figured out at this point that MS is doing it deliberately, just like they have been all these years. Because every time the web becomes more powerful and compatible, it weakens MS's position.
But on the other hand... boy am I glad I switched from web dev to primarily back-end work. Building and maintaining complex software that works reliably in one environment is enough of a challenge as it is... without all the extra variables of an ever-changing landscape of browsers and devices, with varying levels of feature support, all of which you have zero control over.
IMO being a front-end dev is borderline masochistic :)
Some of us just like the challenge.
https://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2017/10/30/microsoft-engine...
If there are small design issues on a minority browser it's not bad. And more than small issues are very unusual these days anyway.
