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Health & Fitness

Seeing the Web through Browser-Colored Glasses

Interviewing web designers for your business website? Learn enough about how the web works so you're hiring a pro, not a newbie. Read on for brief browser stories to discuss with your web designer.

The average computer user doesn’t give a lot of thought to what browser they have, but as Internet Explorer 10 started rolling out, people suddenly started thinking about browsers. That’s because many websites stopped working the way they used to, whether they were built on Joomla, WordPress or another platform.

Last fall, coincidentally about the time IE10 launched, folks were talking about the Casey Anthony trial. News services reported that when the Florida sheriff’s office examined the Anthony computer, they only looked at Internet Explorer, missing some suggestive searches made using Firefox. (news story) While Chrome may be the most-used browser world-wide, Internet Explorer is the most popular choice in North America. It’s not surprising that they went straight to IE during their investigation.

Lots of folks don’t realize that there are different browsers available. Nor do they understand what happens when a browser gets upgraded. Web designers have to check how their clients’ sites appear in over 600 combinations of browsers and operating systems.

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A friend recently gave us an earful about browser problems. Where he works, employees are required to regularly fill out an evaluation form online. Unfortunately, the employer’s web “expert” created the form to be used with an older version of Internet Explorer – and it simply doesn’t work in the current version of IE. He has to uninstall his current browser and re-install the older version on a regular basis in order to meet the requirement.

An expert web developer always builds sites with backwards-compatibility and cross-browser compatibility in mind. The client, who may have only one computer on her desk and who may use only one kind of browser, might not even realize that her new site has been tested and tweaked to work on multiple browsers as well as on multiple screen sizes.

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If you’re wondering how to see what your website looks like on different browsers, you can check for free at emulator websites. If your site doesn’t look right after you run the test, talk to your web expert.

You are the expert in your field. No one expects you to be a programming wiz as well. Let your web expert handle the problems of browsers, screen size and all the other details that go into creating a good-looking and hard-working website. Keep in mind that budget-priced site designers may be less detail-oriented in order to keep their costs down. Ask specific questions when you are soliciting quotes for your next web project so you know the level of service you are getting.

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