War of Browsers - And how it is effecting the websites

So a few years back the only real browser designers and web developers really worried about was Internet Explorer. Now even though IE is still the majority, there is too much competition. Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome. So now designers like me and webmasters like you have to worry about all these 4 browsers. Now it doesn’t end here. These 4 have their versions. Like IE 6, 7, and 8. Firefox 2 and 3. I mean all of them are still widely used, so which one should you design for. Features that work on newer versions, does not work on older versions. So how exactly do you make it compatible, or how do you go about it?

Know your users and their preferences

It is pretty simple. Monitor your users and see which browsers they are using. And then determine your priorities. I can assure you that if you are running a webmaster related blog, most likely your users are using Firefox. But you can check this simply head over to AWStats, or your stat tracker. Then find the browser area. In AWStats simply just scroll down and there will be a screen that will look like the picture attatched here.

Know your Competitors

Your service will not be the best if your competitor is offering something that you don’t have. So always check your competitor’s website. See how many browsers are they compatible with. If they are all bad, then check one of the better websites around. Your customers will compare you to sites like amazon and others because they use those so often. So make sure that you got this area covered.

Well now by evaluating the two you should already know which browsers you want your site compatible with. I suggest you make it compatible with ALL BROWSERS. Even though it is tough and a pain in the $%@ but it is worth your while. Remember your customers and users are worth more then a few more bucks. So now lets focus on what do you want to deliver.

Your goal is to deliver Quality

Your goal is to provide your users with the best experience when they visit your website. So that means you need to ensure quality and consistent web experience for your users. In order to do that you need to consider three aspects. Look (visual), Functional, and the Performance.

Consistent Look

So does your website look good? Is it eye-catching? Well forget all that make sure if it looks right in all browsers. Make sure whether the graphics is aligned and look same across all the browsers. Check to see if the text is rendering correctly. Make sure that your web applications, JavaScript, and everything else is showing up correctly and in the right spot. It might sound easy to just look in all browsers and make sure the site look alright, but to get the site to be compatible with all browsers is tedious. So a slight difference and you will be in trouble!

Functionality

It can happen that in some browsers java script is not working. Something else might not work and your users are just waiting. Or heck the site is not showing correctly, so they can’t get to the right destination. You are losing a user there. So make sure that your site works right. If you have a contact form, make sure it works. If you have a shopping cart then make sure it functions right.

Performance

Don’t confuse performance with functionality. Now that you have everything working right make sure that it is doing it in most efficient way. So make sure that site load time is reasonable across all browsers. Make sure that your website can be seen by the users in all browsers without errors. Make sure that your site works at all geographical locations.

Test Compatibility

Even though now your website is all settled down, you need to stay cautious about the new updates that comes out with each browser. So always keep testing because these browsers war can impact designers, developers, Support team, IT personals, marketing departments and overall your site. So always keep testing. Make sure there is a contact page on your site so your users can report a problem to you because they are most likely to catch it then you would.

Above were the ways you could go about this problem, but there are too many dead ends. Where you would have to pick one over the other. Some of the possible situations are below with the decision that I would make.

JavaScript Problem

See old browsers load JavaScript in a serial order. So they would open one file by one file. Which can take them time. So what smart developers started doing was that they would put all the JavaScript in one big file and then have the browser load that. Which made the site work faster. But you see that new browsers can load multiple JavaScript files at once. So if you put one big file, it will actually make your site load slower. So what do you do about it?

Balkhis Pick: First of all, I would analyze my user’s preference. Most likely they are using IE 7 and above. And they are using FF, so I would go with the newer method. Unless you are targeting some old folks (No offense meant) because I know that most elderly people don’t upgrade their computers, your best bet is to go with the newer method.

Look Problem

Sometimes it is a killer when you can’t get your design / images to align right in all browsers. Due to different css presentation layers in each browser it becomes a problem. As older versions are not as up to date, but people still use them. Or heck even get very modern style designs that use transparent pngs to work in older versions of browsers like IE 6.

Balkhis Pick: For the first problem. I think a designer can almost always fix it. But sometimes it is harder than others. But it is always possible. The second issue, I wouldn’t worry so much about. And just target the audience. If majority uses FF and you can sacrifice the older IE versions then go ahead with that change.

I think those are the two major concerns that I have faced. I would definitely like to hear your opinions. What do you think about this whole issue. And how does this browser war has affected you and your site.