Our websites reach larger audiences (2 of 3)
Browser compatibility - Everyone sees what you see?
To maximise the audience, and therefore sales, we build to Web standards and check our websites across browsers (usually five cf Yahoo!'s Graded Browser Support).
Why is this necessary?
Up to 20% of visitors…
…use non-Microsoft browsers (depending on the website)
Websites often look and work differently in different Web browsers. Differences usually give an untidy look, spoiling the impression an owner wants to leave.
Sometimes differences are so significant some visitors to a website cannot use it (example of restricted access).
The solution
We test our websites…
so our clients reach more people
Many of the differences can be eliminated with good website design and building practices, including following Web standards - our normal practice. In older browsers, our design and coding aims for graceful degradation with increasing age of the browser.
The only way to confirm the website works as intended on different browsers is to test it. This necessarily leads to cycles of recoding/redesign, and retesting.