What's this cross-browser stuff anyway?
by Robyn Harton
Some web designers, such as us at Robyn A Harton Creative,
offer cross-browser compatible web design. That's all
fine
and good, but if you're left wondering just what cross-browser
compatibility is, it's not all that impressive.
Simply put, cross-browser compatibility is when a web
page
is designed so that it will show up properly in many different
types of web browsers, like Internet Explorer and Netscape.
You might ask, "Isn't a web page a web page?"
and, "Don't
all browsers do the same stuff?"
The answer is yes and no. Confusing? It can be.
In their attempt to get you to choose their browser,
the
companies that make browsers create theirs to be a bit
"better" or different than the competition.
This causes issues
in the way each browser, and each version of each browser
views a web page. So yes, a web page is a web page, but
no,
all browsers don't do the same stuff with that web page.
Because each browser and each version of each browser
presents the same web page code differently, it creates
a
challenge for the web site designer and owner. A web page
can
either be designed to look good in one version of one
browser or it can be designed to look good in many versions
of many browsers, be cross-browser compatible.
The advantage of making web pages and sites cross-browser
compatible is that they will look good to many more people
who visit the site. This is particularly important if
you
have a site where you want to sell your products and services.
It would be bad for only people with one particular browser
version to be able to purchase your products or services.
The downside of making web pages and sites cross-browser
compatible is that you don't get as many bells and whistles.
Many of the newer technologies and codes don't work well
or
at all on older browsers that are still in use. So web
pages
that are designed to be cross-browser compatible may not
be
able to have all the newest fancy tricks.
The advantage of virtually all visitors being able to
view a
web page far outweighs the disadvantage of not being able
to
use the fanciest new technologies. So whenever possible,
make sure your web pages are designed to be cross-browser
compatible.
