a techie question (again)

[mmegaera]

Does WordPress.com work well with IE8? I don't want to pay the money to upgrade to Windows 7 (which is the only way I can get IE9) or switch browser brands (the last time I tried that it was a disaster), and apparently you can't just contact WordPress and ask (their contact form says it's limited to people who pay for extras, which in itself is something of a red flag to me). Looking at their help screens and googling were no help, either.

Failing that, does anyone know of a good blog hosting site that will work well with IE8? That pays for itself by some other way than charging its bloggers cash? (apparently I can't customize LJ or DW to the point that I'd need to without paying extra, and I haven't had to do that so far...).

Please, someone? Anyone?

Comments

[windtear]

I am the wrong person to ask; I use Firefox and Google Chrome exclusively, and my sole blog is on DW/LJ. But from what I have heard (this is only rumour, I most emphatically do not know for myself) Blogspot is a good host. I don't know if it is free for what you want, though.

[mmegaera]

Blogspot is what caused the problem in the first place. I've had a blog there for a couple of years, and have been more or less satisfied (there have been some small problems with uploading photos and getting the text to flow around them properly, but they were minor). However, in less than a month, they will no longer be supporting IE versions of less than 9. I can't get 9 without upgrading my OS, which I'm not ready (or willing to spend the money) to do yet.

I won't go into why I refuse to switch browswer brands again. If you want that rant, you can find it in the comments of several of my recent posts.

[annathepiper]

Whether or not Wordpress.com deals with IE 8 is actually a two-part question.

If you talk about a Wordpress blog, you can talk about it from the perspective of "you, the blogger" and what you're doing from the admin interface. Things like, say, making posts and the like. When you're doing that, you're going through the admin dashboard.

That part shouldn't care what browser you're using. It's core Wordpress functionality, independent of Wordpress.com specifically, and Wordpress code is generally good at supporting the current major browsers. IE 8 is still current enough that it matters to support it--especially given that it's the last release of IE that still works on XP and not everybody has a Win 7 box. (And I can say this speaking as a QA tester who has to still test things on IE 8 at work. We go all the way back to IE 7, in fact, in the versions of IE we have to support.)

If however you talk about the perspective of "visitor to your site", then whether your site actually looks good in IE 8 is going to depend pretty much on what theme you select to customize it. Themes are NOT core Wordpress functionality, aside from the default one that comes with Wordpress itself. (Mind you, I don't know if Wordpress.com offers default themes to its users; it may.) Most Wordpress themes though are created by people who aren't involved with the actual Wordpress code. So if you go theme-shopping for a Wordpress site, it's important to doublecheck the information about themes you're interested in and test them on browsers you're likely to be using.

If the theme you select looks good in your personal browsers, go for it. Bonus if you can get people to help doublecheck your site in browsers you don't have immediate access to.

[mmegaera]

Well, I set up a WordPress.com blog (at http://mmjustus.wordpress.com/) last night, and, aside from a little one-time warning box stating that I have a less than optimal browser, I did not have any trouble setting it up, and it looks fine, both the dashboard and the blog itself. So I guess we'll see how long this lasts before I really do have to do something about my browser (and, perforce, my OS [sigh]).

the admin dashboard. That part shouldn't care what browser you're using.

Well, that's what's chasing me away from Blogger. Their new Dashboard (and the old one is going away in less than a month) is no longer compatible with IE8. Wordpress seems to be different so far as that goes. I hope so.

[annathepiper]

*nods* Good luck! Hope it continues to work for you! 'Cause yeah, operating system upgrades are expensive. Especially if they require you to get a whole new computer that can support them. :/

[mmegaera]

That's the only good thing about this whole mess. My existing computer does seem to have the hardware guts to accommodate Windows 7. I have no idea if my netbook does, though, and I really would want them to be on the same OS.

Sigh.

Thanks!

[annathepiper]

You're welcome!