Which browsers do we support?

As standard we build our sites to work in these browsers:

Firefox 2+, Internet Explorer 6+, Safari 3+, Opera 9+

While a majority of people still use Internet Explorer, which is on their PC as standard, there are a host of useful alternatives available that have slowly been chipping away at Microsoft’s market share.

As web designers, it’s our job to ensure your website is accessible to as many people as possible. Problems, however, can arise as different browsers work in different ways – sometimes with unexpected results.

The browser as a translator

The best way to think of a browser is as a translator – much like a human interpreter. It translates raw computer language into what we see on our screens – viewable, working websites. Like any translator though, the interpretation can sometimes be different depending on the translator.

Inevitably, this means different people using different browsers on different computers can see slightly different versions of the same website. Or, even worse, a website can work perfectly for some people but not for others simply because they’re using a different browser or an older version of the same browser.

With each browser comes additional development and testing time to ensure the site is compatible and works as expected.

The most popular browsers

Usage statistics for browsers can vary depending on the source, but they all tell the same story. Here are the numbers for August 2008 from w3counter.com:

1. Internet Explorer 6.0          29.91%
2. Internet Explorer 7.0          28.55%
3. Firefox 2.0                           21.20%
4. Firefox 3.0                           7.41%
5. Firefox 1.5                           2.31%
6. Safari 3.0                             1.14%
7. Opera 9.2                            1.00%
8. Safari 2.0                             0.66%
9. Opera 9.5                            0.55%
10.  Firefox 1.0                        0.48%

As you can see, Internet Explorer is by far and away the market leader but browsers such as Firefox are making up ground.

Is it time to drop Internet Explorer 6?
The big question for many web design agencies is how much longer they should support IE6?

The major problem with IE6 is that it’s old, outdated and has serious security flaws. Modern websites such as Facebook and Google’s GMail are forced to run dumb-downed versions of their sites which miss much of the functionality which makes the user experience so easy and enjoyable.

Some agencies such as 37signals have already openly said they’re going to drop support altogether, stating: “Continued support of IE6 means we can’t optimize our interfaces or provide an enhanced customer experience in our apps. Supporting IE6 means slower progress, less progress, and, in some places, no progress.”

Most agencies however (including Webexpectations) take a more pragmatic and less radical approach. Even though we all agree it’s time to ditch IE6, with such as big market share it simply isn’t feasible. So, for the time being, IE6 is here to stay despite its major flaws.

Are the browser stats misleading?
There is speculation the browser stats are misleading – most internet ‘bots (tiny programmes that automatically scan the web, indexing pages) are designed to mask their appearance as IE6. This inevitably means that IE6 gets a massive and unrealistic boost in the browser usage statistics and, in-turn, appears to be far more popular than it really is.

Why support Opera and Safari?
With such a small market share (1% to 2%) you might wonder why support browsers such as Opera and Safari?

Firstly both browsers are ‘standards compliant’. As a general rule this means that if you build your site to work with Firefox (another standards compliant browser) it will work in Safari and Opera.

Secondly, the browser standards have been developed simply to minimise the differences in translation that I mentioned earlier. With more and more products such as mobiles, Blackberrys, PDAs and the like including browsers as standard operating equipment, ensuring your site is standards compliant is the best way of guaranteeing your site will work across so many devices.

Finally, new browsers such as Google’s Chrome, launched only last week, are based on the same framework as Safari, meaning if your site works in Safari it’s likely to perform in Google Chrome too (which may or may not carve itself a decent market share in the future).