MOZILLA'S vice president of engineering, Mike Shaver has added his two cents to the ongoing Google Chrome Frame flame war.
So far Google has said its speedy website plug-in improves IE8 rendering speeds over nine-fold, Microsoft said that it makes its browser less secure, and Google responded with a sort of amused snort.
Now in a blog post Shaver, who naturally is a Firefox evangelist since that's his job, said that using Chrome Frame with Internet Exploder 8 actually reduces the user's positive experience of using the application as opposed to improving it. We know, what a shocker.
"Running Chrome Frame within IE makes many of the browser application's features non-functional, or less effective", Shaver said. "These include private browsing mode or their other security controls, features like accelerators or add-ons that operate on the content area, or even accessibility support."
He added that this could tend to confuse users and compromise their web browser security, saying, "As a side-effect, the user's understanding of the web's security model and the behaviour of their browser is seriously hindered by delegating the choice of software to the developers of individual sites they visit."
Because Frame-friendly sites come attached with an associated tag, Shaver explained that it would be better if website visitors were encouraged to install the plug-in as or when they needed it.
"It would be better for the web if developers who want to use the Chrome Frame snippet simply told users that their site worked better in Chrome, and instructed them on how to install it," he concluded.
Sounds fair to us.