Dave Hyatt's Safari Weblog
One of the best things about using and following the developments of open source web browsers like Mozilla, Phoenix, Chimera, and now Safari, is that you can easily find information online - often times written by the developers themselves - about documented bugs, suggested workarounds, and insights into the mind of the developer (and team). While the average Joe may not grasp what in the world they're talking about (DOM levels, Unicode, WebCore), they're still a fascinating read. Comparable, in my mind, to an architect sketching a work on stage in front of a live audience; describing each detail, and discussing the overall picture.
This is the antithesis of overtly-corporate, secretive development cycles (as employed by Microsoft) that only allow web developers (and the general public) to see what's under the hood when the final product ships. Imagine, for example, how much better IE 6 could have been if more developers offered feedback - now we're stuck with it.
The weblog I've most enjoyed reading recently has been Surfin' Safari by David Hyatt - yes, that David Hyatt, the same developer who launched Chimera, was hired by Apple, and for months was the main reason why everyone assumed Apple would base their own web browser (if they released one) on the Gecko rendering engine.
For web developers like myself, resources like Hyatt's are a god-send. Since Safari was released a week ago, I have received numerous emails from readers noticing little CSS quirks in my site's layout when rendered by Safari. While some have offered multiple ways to work around the issues by taking advantage of bugs in the application, Hyatt steps up and offers his own proposal. Not only that, but he addresses float positioning (which my site uses), and notes that they're working on fixing the problem.
In any other development environment, web developers would never know if, when, or how a company was planning on fixing issues with their product, unless of course you happened to have friendly internal contacts. Here, myself (and many others) can devote our energy to other projects, for we know that the Safari team is working on a solution - the right way - instead of placing the responsibility on the web developer and creating an atmosphere of uncertainty.
The only odd, misleading part of the equation is that Hyatt's Safari page is hosted by the Mozilla project, when it should really be hosted by Apple. Not because Hyatt is employed by Apple, but because the time for corporations to accept the weblog as a powerful, community building vehicle has clearly come, and scuttling their employees out to build their own (like Macromedia) is not good enough. Allowing certain employees to write online - openly - about their employer and their products is clearly a bold, confident step, but the suits shouldn't be afraid of weblogs. They should clearly define the parameters of what is and what's not acceptable (like, say, someone griping about crappy coffee, future products, or what a loon Steve Jobs was at the Christmas Party), embrace the medium, and build a thriving community of readers (not to mention traffic).
In a related, refreshing quote of humility, Mike Shaver of the Mozilla project admits in this news.com piece that if he was in Apple's shoes, he might have made the same decision (to use KHTML instead of Gecko).
Comments
All great points, however what Apple is doing in welcoming feedback is no different than what other companies (and I guess it includes Microsoft as well) are doing when releasing beta software in public. I've been a member of several beta programs, and many companies are really eager to receive input way before their products are finalized. In the case of Safari, Apple has to work with the community to make sure its browser is a reference when it comes to web standards. But, as David Hyatt clearly writes in his weblog, he's not going to discuss Safari's upcoming features, and here you go about the limits of corporate blogging: competition.
Anyway, I agree that corporations should look to weblogs closely. But when the suits are already scared to death by email, what do you know?
Posted by: François at January 14, 2003 12:22 PM
"The only odd, misleading part of the equation is that Hyatt’s Safari page is hosted by the Mozilla project, when it should really be hosted by Apple. "
Hi Todd, I've read somewhere in the last week that Dave already had been blogging at Mozilla, then went a bit quiet during development before reviving his journal after last week's announcements. It can be easier to use an existing address and set of contacts than to set up a new system, I imagine, and I'd guess integration across companies will evolve with time..
Posted by: John Dowdell at January 14, 2003 3:11 PM
That cnet article is one ugly piece of journalism, and I feel its nessesary to point out the backlash to the article by just those people it's claiming to represent... Here's the mozillazine wrapup which includes links to all of the authors "sources". Worth reading yourself but lets just noone liked being quoted out of context. While not quoted in the article Chris Blizzard also responds.
[and yes, as John mentions, Dave's weblog has been going for some time as a quick look of his archives show... back to 04/2002]
Posted by: Chris at January 14, 2003 7:57 PM
