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

Here is a link to an interesting blog post regarding the role of women in web design, and in IT in general. The comments are probably even more interesting. I must admit, I hadn’t thought of this aspect before, never really even considered it. I never felt that I was a rarity in my field, but then looking back, I suppose that I may be. In all of my corporate background, I have never worked with another female designer or developer. In IT in general, women are, or were when I was out there, few and far between.

Anyone using the high-speed internet connection that’s 5X faster using a
regular modem? I’m thinking about ditching the DSL because of high phone bills. Either going back to modem or VOIP. There are several services that claim their modem is 5X faster.

The so-called “high-speed dial-up” internet connections that state they are comparable to broadband are plainly stated…NOT. Your modem, regardless of what the provider does, it limited to the bandwidth it can handle. The provider promises 5 times the speed by compressing the data, thereby reducing the quality of the graphics among other things.

When it comes to downloads and uploads, there can be no compression, therefore no speed enhancement. You will still operate at a max of 56k. A great example: The other day, I downloaded a file that was close to 500mb. The estimated time to download over 56k was 18 hours…my download time was about 30 minutes. Also, there is no way possible to use VOIP with a dial-up connection at this point in time.

VOIP phone companies such as Vonage, require a broadband connection, such as DSL or Cable. You can use either one. By eliminating my phone company altogether and just having my cable internet bill and my Vonage bill has saved me a considerable amount of money.