Baseline: customized views

[captainbrosset]

caniuse.com offers a way to input your own google analytics data in order to see what your own support matrix looks like:

• https://caniuse.com/ciu/settings#usage
• https://www.stefanjudis.com/today-i-learned/you-can-import-google-analytics-stats-in-caniuse-com/

I tend to agree that there's value in a single Baseline definition, and there's a lot of discussion on the repo about whatt that definition should be (#174). But I also strongly believe that a lot of developers really need something that's customized to their needs.

Sure, we can make Baseline more representative of most of the scenarios out there, but it will always be arbitrary, and therefore will never map to actual market needs.
The Safari case has been discussed already in length elsewhere on the repo, but I can bring another anecdote: a friend of mine works at a place where they distribute an Electron-based app. Some of their partners are stuck with Chromium 89 and won't upgrade.
Baseline, for them, will never make any sense when they visit MDN pages.

I don't think this means Baseline has no value. I see a lot of educational value here. But I do believe it means Baseline is incomplete and should also offer customized views. Something that lets users put in their GA data. Or their own server logs. Or their browserlist configs.

To me, it should be evident, when looking at an MDN page that has the Baseline badge, that this is according to a definition only. It should link to that definition. And it should offer a way to customize the data based on your own support target.

[romainmenke]

Or their browserlist configs.

I wanted this for our frontend team, so I created it as a browser extension : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/support-context/dcbelpbochjfadialnomdpnndkmmlpfo

Because it is configurable, it is also easier to switch contexts between a project targeting old browser versions and something else targeting more modern versions. Developers simply change their setting to match the project.

It is flawed in many ways, but it's more practical for us than the current Baseline definition.