Not all browsers are created equal!

Gone are the days where your choice of browser to surf the internet was restricted to the likes of Navigator and Internet Explorer.  Some of the more commonly used browsers these days include:

• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla FireFox
• Opera
• Safari
• Google Chrome

Web Standards

In an effort to create a more standardised approach to creating websites, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) have developed various specifications and guidelines.  There is an effort by browser developers to incorporate these specifications into their browsers to ensure they will display content the way website developers intend them to be displayed and to ensure consistency of experience for those using the web.

In an ideal world, websites would display the same on all browsers, leaving the end user with the choice of browser based on which interface they feel most comfortable with or which browser features they find useful.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  Unless there are allowances made for the differences that exist between older browsers (particularly older versions of Internet Explorer like version 6.x), then there can be marked differences in how you will view the same website in different browsers.

Testing, testing and more testing...

Often, the only real way to be sure that your website will display consistently across all browsers is to test them in as many different browsers and browser versions as possible. 

There are various ways to approach testing but often the most successful way is to develop the site using the most standards compliant browser first, then go back and test and fix problems in less compliant browsers.  Currently, Internet Explorer 6.x is widely used, yet is rated as poor when it comes to standards compliance.  This is in part due to a huge improvement in browser technology over this time - Internet Explorer 6 first appeared out in 2001!

Reusing Structural Frameworks

Often as developers, when we find a few basic templates that display consistently across most browsers (or have a few very minor differences), then we will use these as a framework to build other sites.  This doesn`t mean that your website will look like a cookie cutout of other ones, it just means starting from a solid foundation.

In short, your wonderful website designs need to be tested across browsers - if your developer only uses one browser you should ask why!  Note: Its best to avoid those 'best viewed in Internet Explorer x' tags at the bottom of the page!

The Future?

As browsers develop they generally get more standards compliant.  With this improvement comes the ability to do more exciting things with website design. The difficulty lies in deciding when to ignore older browsers that might not support the new 'bells and whistle' approach.