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Desiging for all Browsers

Everyone likes a different browser…

Browser type

2007	IE7	IE6	IE5	Firefox	Mozilla Suite	Safari	Opera
June	19.7%	37.3%	1.5%	34.0%	1.4%	1.3%	1.8%

(Source: W3schools)

Why Should I Bother?

One of the biggest problems for web designers/developers is making your site look consistent in multiple browsers. You should never assume that your viewers/customers will have the latest PC running the latest browsers with the latest patches. Instead think of the worst case scenario. Imagine your user is on their fully kitted out windows 98 running IE5 with a dial up connection (I’m sure there will be a few people out there with that setup!)

The main goal of a web page is to inform people about something, therefore it’s always best to make your web site compatible with as many browsers as possible.

In recent years the coding of web sites has become more standardised with more web sites been coded to W3C standards and having more awareness of accessibility concerns.

What's the view from your window?

Browser resolution

2007	Higher	1024x768	800x600	640x480	Unknown
January	26%	54%	14%	0%	6%

(Source: W3schools)

In choosing the dimension for your design I would personally go for the 1024x768. With most screens now 17 to 19 inches this resolution suits most people, which the stats prove.

Testing

In this section I have outlined all the methods I currently use in testing a website.

Multiple IE

One of the most useful programs I have found is multipleIE. It lets you test IE 3/4/5/5.5/6. Of course you can test 3 and 4 but I personally wouldn’t recommend going through all the frustration of getting these to work as it’s just not worth it.

Opera