Browser Compatibility Problems Still Persist
– posted July 12th, 2006 by Laurence Veale One comment
Some websites are still designed only for Internet Explorer. When viewing them in other browsers like Firefox or Safari (on an Apple Mac), their design falls over. At best these sites can look a bit odd, at worst; they can’t be used at all.
Even with web standards being widely adopted over the last two years or so, browser compatibility issues are still around. Where these problems were previously dismissed as only affecting a tiny proportion of site visitors, now they can’t be ignored.
Firefox usage at around 12%
According to recent statistics from OneStat, Firefox’s share of the browser market in the US is over 15% and globally, 12%. However, one exception is Germany, where Firefox accounts for a whopping 40%. Analysing the metrics from our site, we see that over 19% of visitors use Firefox. The message is loud and clear, you can no longer afford to design just for Internet Explorer.
Case Study: Cork City Council
Looking at a real world example, the Cork City Council website recently scored highly in a benchmarking exercise we performed for another client. It’s an exemplary site, but only if you’re using Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, using the site in Firefox is next to impossible.
Above, Cork City Council site viewed in Firefox
Above, Cork City Council site viewed in Internet Explorer
However, they are aware of the problem as outlined by a message in the footer of their homepage
Due to browser compatibility issues at present, this site will only operate correctly by using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater
Let’s hope they’ll get it fixed soon.
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Categories Design
One comment so far
1. Eoghan McCabe on Jul 12th, 2006 - 16:34
Hi Guys,
I like your blog. The topics are interesting and to the point. Keep ‘em coming.
The Cork City Council site is pretty typical of a big-budget, public sector, Irish web site. Although the degree to which it falls over is extraordinarily bad!
You’re saying that web standards are being widely adopted. Are they? The big boys of our industry still spit-out chunky (code-wise) sites with table-based layouts all the time! Web standards are not really a concern of theirs. They’re part of the 1990’s industry, the place the Golden Spider came from!
Notice that Cork City Council won a Golden Spider Award in December 2005! Hardly back in the day.
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