Making websites that are accessible and look lovely on the multitude of browsers that are out there is incredibly involved. Not only do several of them react differently to padding and margins, but some of them have better CSS support than others.
What this means is that we here at Frog Box Design spend days trying to get websites looking nice for the people who are still running Internet Explorer 5.
We’re in two minds about having to build hacks into otherwise nice, neat code. On the one hand, we don’t mind doing it because many people reading this will be surfing at work where their choice of browsers is dictated by the IT guys. But by the very same token, the IT guys at every single office out there should be aware that IE5.x is riddled with bugs and security holes and makes for a VERY unsafe surfing experience. We do mind having to make sites work for old versions of IE when there are a number of newer and safer browsers out there with some fantastic features.
If you find your browser does not support the latest web standards (and by that we mean sites that appear “slightly odd” on screen, or the content doesn’t display at all – believe us, we’ve seen this happen) or even if you’ve heard the scare stories about Internet Explorer and you’d like to try a safer web surfing experience, it would be a good idea to visit Browse Happy, to learn more and find yourself a lovely new standards‑compliant browser, so that you can fully appreciate web sites that support the web standards.
We highly recommend Mozilla’s Firefox for the PC or Macs running OS X. It lets you block pop-up windows, keeps you safe from malicious bugs and lets you do “tabbed browsing”. If you’ve ever done any research on the ’Net, you’ll know how quickly your screen fills with hundreds of windows that are hard to keep track of. Tabbed browsing allows you to open different websites in tabs within the same, single window. Bliss!
Firefox is free, quick to download (even over a dial‑up connection) and easy to install and start using. Try and persuade your IT guys to help you download and install it if you don’t have administrator privileges. They should be happy to help if you explain why you want to download it and as it’s free, there really isn’t any reason for them to block your request.
Even if they do try to block it (the usual line goes along the lines of ”it’s company policy to only install and use Microsoft products”), point them to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer download page) where IE6 may be downloaded FOR FREE for goodness’ sake. This means there’s no earthly reason not to upgrade. Then get them to visit the Windows Update page to check if there are any critical patches to stop the bugs getting to you via your spanking new browser. Don’t worry if this means nothing to you, they should be shamed into doing the upgrade by the fact that a seemingly non‑techie person knows that IE6 is better than IE5.x!
If you’re browsing at home, what are you waiting for? Get over to the Firefox site and get downloading!
We can’t emphasise enough how important it is to ensure that your software is up to date. Not only does it keep you safer from the bad stuff out there, but it makes our jobs much easier!
Internet Explorer 7 is on its way. This massive overhaul of Microsoft’s browser supports (most) web standards and will help keep you secure online. Unless you’re a web developer, enthusiast, [or] IT professional
, it’s probably best to keep using Firefox or any of the other standards-compliant browsers for now. We’ll keep you informed once a final release version of IE7 is available.