Browser Compatibility

There are many different web browsers available, depending on whether you are using a PC, a MAC. a tablet, a mobile or a TV. There are usually several versions of each browser in circulation at any one time. Chrome is the most popular, which is unsurprising, given that it is developed by Google, but you cannot predict which browser a visitor may be using when they come to your website. The visitor may be staying at a hotel that only has an older version of Internet Explorer on the computer that it has available for guests to use. I am sure you can think of many other examples where you might be on an older computer when visiting a website.

If you only check your website in Chrome, you are running the risk that visitors on other browsers may not be able to use your website fully, or, in the worst cases, not at all.

We have always used Firefox as our browser for development, as we believe it is the only browser that has been consistently standards-compliant but we also check it in all of the other major browsers as well. We still check our websites in Internet Explorer 8, even though that is 10 year old.

Browser-compatibility is also a website accessibility issue as you cannot predict which browser a visitor with accessibility needs might be using. Interestingly, almost every website we have audited passes this test either completely or with very minor issues. This is actually very encouraging, if web designers made sure their websites were accessible in other areas, everyone would benefit!

If you have any concerns about whether your website has any browser compatibility issues, please get in touch with us for a free 15 minute consultation by following this link.