Merlee Designs Blog

All browsers are NOT created equal

Know the differences

Learn the advantages

Which browser to choose?

Resolution…huh?

Merlee Designs tries their very best to make sure that all of our websites and applications run on as many browsers as is possible.

However, this is indeed a daunting task, and not all browsers are created equal…and no matter what you do, there are some browsers that just don’t function up to today’s standards. This means, that no matter how well we design and program, due to the changes in standards and coding ability, some browsers are just too old to render the code properly.

For a browser to be “standards compliant” means that they must pass a certain testing scenario to make sure that they render (display) code as it is meant to be, and as the designer/programmer intended. There is a organization, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. The W3C often sets the standards by which the web functions.

Currently, the most standards compliant browser is Safari (Apple), which has been compliant since 2005. Firefox is the next closest, and with it’s upcoming version 3 has been tested as passing the “Acid2″ test. While version 2 of Firefox is not perfect, it is incredibly close, and to date we have not had any problems with using Firefox at all.

Internet Explorer, which is by far the most common browser and holds approximately 70% of the browser share, is also by far the least standards compliant browser available. IE7 has made great strides in being better able to handle code and specifically CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), but it is still bad enough that a completely separate stylesheet has to be created for IE browsers.

Add to this problem, the fact that the majority of IE users are still using IE6. IE6 is immensely buggy and has major difficulties in displaying a web page properly when using CSS.

A small note about display resolution (for your monitor): Minimum display should be 1024×1280 pixels.

Therefore, our recommendations for browsers are below:

• For All Windows Users: Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 7
• For Mac Users: Safari or Firefox
• For Linux Users: Firefox or Opera

I posted a new article on my Articles page called “Does Your Business Need A Website?” for those business owners who are not sure whether they are ready to make the move to online, particularly in the E-commerce arena. The article discusses the latest trends in internet shopping, statistics on internet usage, and some demographics.

I think the average brick-and-mortar store owner will be surprised at how much retail selling is actually going on online. Even though I do a significant portion of my shopping over the internet, I was excited to see the dramatic results of these numbers. The rise in internet shopping and internet use in general over the last few years is staggering.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that creating an E-commerce presence is a significant investment, especially if one is to do it right. However, when compared to the cost of opening another physical location, or simply in terms of the sheer reach of your market when you go online, the investment is definitely worthwhile.

You can view the article here, and please don’t hesitate to let me know of any comments you may have.