Cross-browser compatible! That's one project requirement I know I'll dread near the deadline. It's been years since people started standardizing the web. It's been great to see how websites have flourished with all that puff that makes them stand out from one another. Really. As  a web developer, I really know what I'm talking about. CSS, for example, is one field where standards really matter. It's nice to know that browser follow the box model, and that display modes are implemented correctly and render OK in all (major) browsers. Safe for IE, of course. Ever since I started doing stuff for the web, I've had a problem with Microsoft Internet Explorer, MSIE or just IE. Up to version 8, standards are poorly supported, the box model is all screwed up, and I'll cut this here as this post is not meant to bash IE. If you think I have an unjustified grudge with IE, try to fathom the idea of twenty pixels being interpreted as forty pixels. Yes, that's how much IE loves web developers. One thing I'm good at is coding in dynamic languages. My flavor of choice: ECMAScript. Nowadays, you can do the same thing, using the same script in different browsers. Naturally, some browsers tend to think they're special, and they don't provide the same API that all the other browser do, and which are specified in the ECMA standard. Of course, IE is the problem child here, causing Javascript developers to come up with unthinkable hacks to make things work in IE. Opera came up with a great solution to this problem: support the standard AND the IE API. This means that pages which are 'optimized' for IE, will no longer break in Opera. Add that to the many reasons for which I love Opera. I've spent countless hours developing hacks to make divs align nice in IE, to make transparent PNG`s render correctly in IE6, to addEventListener`s so that they work in IE. I've also learned the different way in which browsers work in quirks mode, and why they go into quicks more. I've learned how to lazy-load stylesheets to iframes in different browsers... and a whole bunch more — just because some other developers could not follow the standards. It's not just me, google anti ie and you'll get close to thirty million results. That has to count for something. So, here's my new idea: to hell with cross-browser compatibility. I've given up, and I just make things work in all browsers, not work the same in all browsers. My thinking behind this is: if someone chooses to ignore all the pleas for mercy coming from web developers that say IE is a tough cookie, let them experience just as much as IE has to offer. At the end of the day, people choose browsers based on browser experience, right? They don't just stick to what they use because it was... there. So, if browser experience sets browsers apart, let's give the user the experience they deserve. Google did this with its product, gmail. Yahoo has divided browsers into classes, based on their features, Microsoft does this too, but they're doing it wrong, obviously. So why not the regular developers? IE does not handle :hover correctly? Then no nice effects for the menu! No thumbnail highlighting on mouse over. If it doesn't know, let's make the users upgrade. I've pondered long and hard about why people using IE don't upgrade, and I'll post about it soon. Say you're going hiking in the mountains. Do you buy the cheapest boots you can find, or do you at least try to find the boots you think are fit for the task? - If you just read that and thought: I use IE because I think it's good enough for me, I hate you. At least make sure you've tried out the major browsers, so you can make an informed decision: Opera, FireFox, Safari, Chrome, IE.