Posts Tagged ‘browser’

For small business website owners unfamiliar with the term “cross browser compatibility”, it may be time to learn. Simply stated, it means the html or xhtml code used to create your website is compatible and your pages will display properly regardless of the brand of browser your website visitor prefers.

The chart below compares browser usage by brand from January to December 2007. Statistics show that 55% of website visitors use the current Internet Explorer, IE7, or one of the older IE6 or IE5 browsers to view websites. That leaves another 45% of potential customers that do not use Internet Explorer to view your site.

My advice is testing your small business website in all 5. Below are the five best known browsers, and links to their offical website download page.

1. FireFox by Mozilla Download
2. Microsoft IE Download
3. Netscape Download
4. Safari Download
5. Opera Download

I suggest you get each of these free browsers and test your small business website to ensure each of your visitors has the most positive first impression possible. If graphics or text gets pushed around or out of place when comparing the view in different browsers, a design review may be in order. Feel free to contact me for advice, as well.

The team at AT&T; have put up a test site for the iPhone at iPhoneTester.com for the benefit of web developers to sample test their designs to simulate how well they display on the new Apple gizmo. For sites done in XHTML with CSS, which is my standard technique and the recommended method according to Apple, “the look” on the iPhone should be just fine.

The page features a graphic simulation of the iPhone with an open space for displaying content, and then an input box to enter your www domain name. After testing several sites, I’m satisfied the designs I’ve created don’t fall apart. They do, however, require horizontal scrolling which is not the case for laptop or desktop models. The XHTML with CSS sites I have designed are flexible and stretch to fill the screen regardless of screen size without any horizontal scrolling.

The recommended browser on the AT&T; site is Safari which some perceive as a distant 5th behind the other 4 major browsers, so it was a curious exercise and recommended standard. Sites in XHTML with CSS that do not use tables for layout tend to display very well on cell phone screens without scrolling, and I can’t help but be disappointed by any design that has a “displays best on…” disclaimer.

Have fun and try your www domain on the iPhone Display Test Website here.