The
Big and the Small
There are 100's of browsers out there for you to use,
but most of you will choose Microsoft's Internet Explorer, or
less likely Netscape's Navigator. That's not to say that these
are the only good browsers, but between them they've captured
the largest part of the market.
The problem for Webmasters and designers is that browsers tend
to interpret some elements of web pages for display in their
own slightly different way. As browsers are updated and new
versions released visitors with older versions can experience
a clumsy and misfunctional site. What percentage of traffic
are you prepared to loose in order to be able to use a certain
site feature?
By monitoring which browsers are being used to view your site
the choice as to which browsers are to be excluded or compromised
is an informed one with a measured risk.
Which Platform?
There's another factor though that we have to consider, since
though most of us will be thinking "PC", we'd then
be excluding several million Apple Mac visitors, plus the ever
growing WebTV sector. Has your site been tested in some of these
everyday setups? is it relevant to your site?
The world held its breath when WAP was announced, but the mobile
platform will become a further variable in the evolving world
of the Internet. |
