Web Browser Compatibility

When I provide tech support through my business site I am surprised at how many people do not know what a web browser is or even what software, or a program, is. The thing is, these things don't come with many (or any!) instructions and they seldom even have their name displayed on them. You are left pretty much on your own to figure it all out.

Well, just in case you don't know, a program is that thing you run on your computer when you want to do something. You probably use an e-mail program of some sort when you write, send, retrieve, or read, email. You probably use a word processor program when you write a letter or some other document. You use an accounting program if you keep your business books online. And you use a web browser program to view websites on the Internet. In fact, you are likely using a web browser program to view this website and read this article right now.

It might come as a surprise to you that there are many different web browser program (or just "web browsers") available. Most people use a web browser called Internet Explorer. This is because it is a program made by Microsoft and it comes included at no additional charge with all versions of Windows. It's not really free. The price is built into the cost of Windows. And Windows isn't really free either. If it came with your computer the cost was included in the price of that system. If you run the Windows operating system on your computer then you will most likely have, and probably use, Internet Explorer as your web browser unless you have deliberately chosen to install and use a different one.

Many people, though, do choose to use one of the other available web browsers. The most popular one of these other choices is called Firefox. There are others too. A couple of names are Mozilla, Opera, and Safari.

Now, although all web browsers are designed for the same purpose, to view web pages on the Internet, they are not all created equal. Some do extra things, have extra features, and some actually do the same things in a different, and sometimes better, way. Not all web browsers follow the common Internet standards for displaying HTML code or other functions. The result is that the same web page may look different on various browsers, or some features of the page may not work or display at all, on various web browsers. And just because Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most prolific browser in current usage doesn't mean it is the best or that it follows the correct standards. There are many good reasons to consider another browser.

This is what we mean by browser compatibility -- how well any given page will display or work in any one particular web browser as compared with any other web browser.

There are two important things to consider in this regard:

1) You want to choose a browser that will work best with the widest possible range of variations in web pages on the Internet. Some people believe Firefox is the best choice for this.

2) If you code your own web pages or listing templates you want to use coding practices that will work flawlessly in the widest possible selection of web browsers.

There are websites and software tools that will let you check for compatibility and sites that can teach you the best coding practices to use.