Our web design team for our external sites does all sorts of stuff to make those sites accessible. 

This is for the IT department for the lab as a whole (~6,500-7,000 mostly technical staff/researchers). So we have standard loads and software distribution tools as well as policies (both written and enacted in code) on what people can use. With that said, we're not as rigid as some of our peers because of our research mission. I'm on a team to recommend what we'll say is standard and supported, and what we'll support.

Sounds like a few groups use the 2 previous versions guidance.  I think we also have FireFox Extended Release around. 

Christina

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Tod Olson
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 10:43 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Default, preferred, or supported "enterprise" browser?

Could you say something more about the scope of your question? Are you concerned about what browsers are deployed on staff machines, or about which browsers are supported by the applications you deploy for staff or public use?

Our campus supported web browser policy is here, for applications that we deploy: https://webservices.uchicago.edu/services/supported_browser_policy/. I notice Edge is not included, but I'm uncertain how recently this has been updated.

Within the Library, we periodically look at our web logs to gather what we can about actual use: trends in browsers, mobile use of different sites and applications, that sort of thing. We diverge somewhat from the global web stats in some ways, e.g. more Safari than the global average, less mobile on some sites than others.

One practical question is who is the audience for any site/application, and who is building it? If your concern is about what browsers you support for public-facing applications that you build or buy, you probably want to target a broader array of web browsers. If you are talking about applications that are staff-facing, maybe broad browser support isn't as important and you can declare there are fewer options. But it would depend on the particulars.

-Tod

Tod Olson <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Systems Librarian
Interim Director for Integrated Library Systems University of Chicago Library

On Oct 16, 2018, at 8:31 AM, Pikas, Christina K. <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

Someone just forwarded me an article about Edge (https://gizmodo.com/9-reasons-it-might-be-time-to-switch-to-microsoft-edge-1829704122/amp ) ... maybe it's not as bad as I thought?  I think the era of an enterprise browser is over, but then all the grinchy IT departments that put the fear of using anything besides IE into people... sigh.

Thanks all for feedback - any addition is  definitely welcome!
Christina

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> On Behalf Of Patricia Farnan
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2018 8:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Default, preferred, or supported "enterprise" browser?

I recently read a very good (and relatable) rant on another mailing list which began with the words: "A pox on all web browsers..." It was about the experimental code & changing feature sets that you find with most browsers.

In that discussion, someone said that Safari is probably the best, except it also has problems when encountering Microsoft-centric websites. Of course that's not helpful when your library only has Windows machines.

We have to constantly troubleshoot for various browsers interacting with various databases, websites etc. And of course it sometimes depends on which operating systems the person is using which browser (and which version) with.

Our IT dept also mandated IE back in the day, but they now know that's not a real solution. It's ironic though when you have some services that ONLY work with IE ... while most services/platforms work better with any other browser than IE.

Thanks,

Patricia Farnan  | Application Administrator, Discovery Services University Library  | St Teresa's Library

Telephone: +61 8 9433 0707 | Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kate Deibel
Sent: Monday, 15 October 2018 11:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Default, preferred, or supported "enterprise" browser?

I can say that from the web accessibility perspective, the recommended testing suite is Firefox for the browser and NVDA as the screen reader (plus keyboard navigation testing in general). This is due to FF and NVDA sticking the closest generally to the W3C specifications.

Katherine Deibel | PhD
Inclusion & Accessibility Librarian
Syracuse University Libraries
T 315.443.7178
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
222 Waverly Ave., Syracuse, NY 13244
Syracuse University

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Pikas, Christina K.
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2018 11:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Default, preferred, or supported "enterprise" browser?

Hi All,
In the olden days, my IT department more or less mandated IE as the only supported browser. Everything had to work on IE and you could install others but you were on your own. So then more and more people wanted Macs and they weren't super supported until the director said he wanted a Mac.

Anyway, years later, some of our tools work best on FF.  Full SharePoint functionality requires a browser that is essentially dead. We have an enterprise video streaming tool that keeps promising to offer something other than Flash... sigh.

Do you all support the major browsers equally? FF, Chrome, Edge, Safari? Do you primarily support one browser but allow others?

If you are in an environment that has some tools that need one browser and other tools that need another browser, how do you communicate that? Do you alter the environment such that links open in the appropriate browser (can be done in Chrome, I think?)

Thanks in advance for any assistance,

Christina

------
Christina K. Pikas, BS, MLS, PhD
Librarian
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Baltimore: 443.778.4812
D.C.: 240.228.4812
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

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