Martin Crockett

Browse (Un)happy

Annoyance of the month: yet another self-promoting WordPress link - this time, on the dashboard of WordPress 2.1.

I just spotted this mini-banner on the bottom of the WordPress admin dashboard promoting a number of alternative browsers to Internet Explorer whilst using IE7.

(Ironically, I use Safari, Camino or Firefox most of the time so it’s the first time I’ve noticed this.)

All of the “case studies” link through to their page write-up on Firefox…which feature a nice AdSense link. Funny that.

The alleged “case studies” feature some poor excuses for reasons to switch browser - none of which appear to be written in light of last year’s IE7 release. In fact, most of the reasons “why” date from…2004.

I object to yet more underhand tactics by WordPress.

• If you are going to present a case, at least get the facts relevant and up-to-date.
• Monetise your software - but don’t make it trashy.

How to remove the Browsehappy link:

Open up wp-admin/admin-functions.php

Find these lines:

function browse_happy() {
$getit = __( 'WordPress recommends a better browser' );
echo '

‘;
}
if ( strstr( $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], ‘MSIE’ ))
add_action( ‘admin_footer’, ‘browse_happy’ );


Delete those lines.

See also:
Wordpress Attacks IE at browsehappy.com with 2.5 year old articles. [via Digg.com]