If you have currently upgraded your browser to Internet Explorer 8.0 from Internet Explorer 7.0, some websites that you view might not look right. If the websites you’re viewing look messed up or disorganized, that means most likely those websites were built to be compatible with older browsers.
Here is what to do about it. Below is a snapshot of the top bar of the browser. As you can see the address bar is cut off in this picture. Next to the address bar is the “Compatibility View” button or icon, which is on the left of the “Refresh” button or icon where you see an up-arrow and down-arrow. When you view a website that doesn’t look quite right, click the “Compatibility View” button. This feature will render the website as it is displayed on Internet Explorer 7.0. If you still see some problems on the appearance of the website, you might want to contact the website’s Webmaster or just contact the company owner of the website.
The majority of users view websites using Firefox and Internet Explorer 7.0. There are still a few Internet Explorer 6.0 users due to their operating system being Windows 2000. The majority of website viewers own computers running on Windows XP. According to Stat Counter Global Stat, there are 73.5% Windows XP users, 19.71% Windows Vista users, 3.95% MacOSX users, and .97% Windows 2000 users.
As it reveals on the operating systems usage trend Windows 2000 computer owners are winding down. Due to that decline we have actually stopped supporting Internet Explorer 6.0 unless a customer requires it. We optimize our websites for Firefox and Internet Explorer 7.0. We also optimize them for Safari on need basis only.
Personally the best browser is Firefox. Why is it the best? It’s because it complies with the W3C standards. It is the most compliant of all browsers. W3C sets the standards and guidelines for XHTML mark-ups and CSS stylesheets, which control the appearance of a website on a browser.
We have recently reviewed websites on Internet Explorer 8.0 since by next year the number of users will increase. It is the latest version after all. We try to keep up with the trend of browser usage. It gives us an indication with which browsers we need to make sure the websites are compatible. We put priority on Firefox and Internet Explorer 7.0 since the majority of website viewers use those browsers. Below is the latest browser statistics based on the month of May 2009.
Notice above that IE7 users are slowly decreasing, and IE6 users are diminishing. IE8 users are increasing, especially, for the month of May 2009. Firefox FX users are steadily increasing. The Chrome browser users are also climbing up. Safari and Opera users seem to stay at the same level of usage.
Those are the trends to which we try to pay attention. They are the pulse as to which browsers we need to focus on during our web design production process.
References:
W3Cschools.com
gs.statcounter.com
with regards to PC operating system, i love Windows XP and Linux`*”
there are many different operating systems but of course i would still prefer to use linux for stability *”*
As of 2010, we have officially stopped supporting Internet Explorer 6. It is a ten-year-old browser, it is not standards-compliant, and Microsoft no longer supports it. Supporting obsolete browsers like IE 6 is a huge drain on our time and increases the cost of development. The only operating system that does not allow upgrading to IE 7 or later is Windows 2000, which is also ten years old and is no longer supported by Microsoft. Windows 2000 users can still download modern browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, so there is no excuse to keep using IE 6. Clients who insist on supporting IE 6 will pay by the hour, once the standards-compliant site is finished.