Choosing Browser Support

As a web developer preparing to build websites, there are a lot of factors that come to play in deciding your course of action. Among the decisions you make is what browsers your site will support. The fact of the internet is that there are many browsers out there that come from competing companies, and all of them have their own way of presenting the same material; and almost all of them work with scripting languages in their own ways.

The safest thing to do is to make your site in basic HTML and ignore its look and interactivity. Of course, it's also a boring recipe that probably won't bring in a lot of return visitors unless it is for a text-based audience.

The next safest way, and that chosen by most corporate web sites, is to create a version of your site that works for each browser. In this system, the server detects what browser is being used to visit the site and then serves out all the files just for that browser. That is the best system. It's also very expensive in terms of time.

The most efficient route is to determine the browsers that accommodate the most users and then build your functions around those browsers. You can also aim at total browser support, but start at the most common browsers and work your way down the list.

The main problem for the web designers (the one designing the look and feel) is the fact that different browsers render the same tags and styles differently from one another. But style is the least of your worries in browser support. It's the functionality that your site is all about--what does it do for your clients and visitors?--and it is functionality that causes the most problems.

Most functionality in web pages is handled by JavaScript (or Microsoft's version called Jscript). The biggest problem comes down to the fact that different browsers refer to the same objects in different ways; don't always recognize the same functions; and don't always support the same objects in the Document Object Model (DOM--essentially the DNA of your web page).

If you get lucky, you can build most of your basic scripts to work well in multiple browsers. Once you get to the point that the functions are too complex, and they start to break in various browsers, then it's time to make your decision--who are you going to support.

Perhaps you have a website that tailors simply to a group of people all using the same browser. Fine, go for that browser! But in all likelihood, your site is something that you want everyone from all over the world using. Why else would you be on the World Wide Web?

Now I know many people over the years that equate Bill Gates to Satan and Microsoft to Hell. Such sentiments aside--Microsoft Internet Explorer is the most prolific and successful browser on the web for several years now. If you're going to build a website, your site has to at least work in Internet Explorer. You simply cannot get away with a message that pops up and says, "Sorry, but this site does not work in Internet Explorer" unless you want to turn your back on sixty to eighty percent of the people on the Net.

The next browser in line for support used to be Netscape Navigator. Such is no longer the case. A new kid is on the block called Firefox. This browser is pretty impressive, and it has moved in as the number-two browser to support.

I personally don't see a use in supporting more browsers beyond all these unless you are independently wealthy or the person funding your project is exceptionally wealthy. Supporting Internet Explorer and Firefox will accommodate almost all the visitors your site is likely to have.

A useful website to see current browser trends is http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp ... however you must remember that this site's stats are skewed from average users since the people visiting this site most are web developers who visit often and test in multiple browsers (which this page points out).