OCTOBER 2007
Browser Wars!
Did you know that there are numerous web browsers, all FREE, for viewing the World Wide Web? If you've been using Internet Explorer for as long as you can remember, it may be time to explore other possibilities. But why should you even consider changing?
From a designer's point of view, it has to do with how good a job the browser does of displaying the page as it is intended to be seen. Unfortunately, not all browsers are created equal. And although Internet Explorer (IE) has the majority market share, it does a less than perfect job of adhering to what we call "Web Standards," even the latest release of IE—version 7.
There is an international organization called the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that sets the standards for how browsers should display HTML (hypertext markup language) and the newer XHTML (extensible hypertext markup language). It is the browser developers' job to produce software that will render the page according to the Standards, considering that the underlying page code is written to the Standards, of course.
Another reason to consider changing, or at least upgrading, is that older browser versions don't have the capability of correctly displaying web pages written to the new standards. This means that if you have an old browser, you may not be seeing the page as intended, as well as you may not have access to features that new browsers incorporate, such as pop-up blocking and site security. (See browser companies' web sites for specific feature sets, as well as system requirements.)
Some browsers that do a very good job of adhering to Web standards and faithfully reproducing the page as designed are:
Firefox (for Windows,
Mac & Linux) (latest - v.2.0.0.7)
Netscape (for Windows, Mac & Linux) (latest
- v.9 )
Opera (for Windows and Mac) (latest -v.9)
Safari (originally for
Macintosh, Apple has recently released a Windows version, too)
Flock (Windows, Mac, & Linux) "the Social Web
Browser"
Or, if you would like to upgrade to the newest version of Internet Explorer - version 7, visit Microsoft.
To learn more about browsers, try this page: http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/12browser.htm.
To learn more about the W3C, go to http://www.w3.org.
West Design's recommendation—if you're using an older browser and your system will support the newest version— UPGRADE!