Web Design Essentials
A defining moment in my (and probably every web designers) life was discovering
that the web page I'd spent hours laying out to perfection looked great
in one browser but when I tried it in another browser it looked like someone
had thrown it in the dishwasher and stuck it back on the screen. Different
browsers display pages differently. Different versions of the same browser
display pages differently. Different browsers on different platforms display
pages differently and on and on and on. Not to mention different screen
resolutions.....
Designing a web page to adapt nicely to these changing conditions is one
of the biggest challenges (& nightmares) in web design.
Since most web surfers are used to the one browser at the one resolution
you may not be aware that these differences exist and if you are getting
a site done I think it is very important that you know the different ways
your site will appear to people.
Whether you are using me as a designer, someone else, or designing some
or all of the site yourself here are some things you should know... |
| Browser usage statistics |
| It is impossible to design for all browsers
so knowing the most commonly used browsers is very important. On
a regular basis I collect the figures for browsers used by visitors
to the sites I have designed and compile a usage table. |
| Last updated
: 25th June 2003 |
| Browser |
Usage |
| Internet Explorer
6.x |
47.0% |
| Internet Explorer
5.x |
34.7% |
| Internet Explorer
4.x |
0.3% |
| Netscape
7.x |
0.7% |
| Netscape
6.x |
1.15% |
| Netscape
4.x |
1.05% |
| Opera |
1.8% |
| Other |
13.3% |
|
