Blog Archive

Will my website work in Netscape? - Feb 24, 2009 8:40AM - By: Chad Halvorson

Umm... no.

With the features brought to us by web 2.0 browsers, we designers have become spoiled—and I guess then so have our clients. There are far less limitations to what we can and cannot do on the creative front with design. However, the embrace of these new capabilities by modern browsers come with the responsibility to make sure our sweet new idea works with the big three: Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari—and if you want to get down to versions: IE 6,7,8, FF 2,3. It's also our responsibility to communicate this repertoire of compatible browsers to our clients—make sure they know what browsers their site is going to work with.

With a took-kit of tricks, hacks and techniques we can pull off all the major design challenges that have plagued us in the past. IE6 of course is the hardest of browser versions to comply with our visions of better internet. When it comes to IE6, my position is usually this: make sure it works, looks non distracting and maintains the clients brand. Beyond that there is definitely wiggle room. The user base for IE6 is plummeting more and more every day—which is great. A world without IE6 will eliminate 20% of the work spent on browser compatibility for it. If you want to keep tabs on browser stats, click here.