What is browser support?

There are a number of web browsers available today (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox being the most common). Each of these browsers uses a different rendering engine, meaning they all interpret the HTML and CSS files that make up the website slightly differently. Thankfully the W3C has defined a set of Standards which web developers should work to and to which web browsers should conform.

Unfortunately a number of web browsers, particularly the older versions of Internet Explorer, do not conform to these standards, which mean they do not always render websites in the manner defined in the standards specification.

Our browser support policy

We support all browsers with a global market share of more than 10%, any browsers predicted to gain more than a 10% market share, and any browsers that conform to the W3C standards. That currently covers all of the following browsers:

• Internet Explorer 8 (>10%)
• Firefox 3.6 (>10%)
• Google Chrome All Versions (>10% and conforms to all standards)
• Internet Explorer 9 (<10% but expected to increase, and conforms to most standards)
• Firefox 6+ (<10% but conforms to most standards)

Why not support all browsers?

Writing code (HTML and CSS) to conform to multiple standards and work woth both the old rendering systems of IE6 and IE7 and with the new standards conformant rendering engines is difficult and very time consuming. By removing support for the non standards compliant browsers, the amount of time spent developing the site is dramatically reduced. There is a general consensus in the developing community that supporting Internet Explorer 6 and 7 adds 60%-100% development time to a website. For you as the customer, this would mean 60%-100% extra cost!

From a technical perspective, the code required for the older browsers can reduce performance in newer browsers. We believe that the majority of your visitors should not be penalised to accomodate a very small number of users on old systems (consider that IE6 was released in 2001, over 10 years ago!).

A large number of websites have dropped support for IE6 in recent years, notably including Google (Gmail, Youtube) and Facebook, and even Microsoft no longer advocate its use.

What will users on unsupported browsers see?

In the vast majority of cases, the user will still be able to view the content of the website. Commonly the layout will be a little different from the intended design, particularly with the positioning of elements on the page. If there are advanced features on your site (e.g. an interactive brochure or a live chat feature) these may be unavailable to the user.

A message will be presented to the user explaining that the site is not optimised for their browser and that they should upgrade to a newer browser for the best browsing experience. This will usually include links to the free downloads of the top browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari and the latest version of Internet Explorer.

What are HTML5 and CSS3?

HTML5 and CSS3 are the new specifications of HTML and CSS- the code that makes up websites. They provide a huge number of new features, such as playing video without the Flash plugin (so they are viewable on mobile devices such as the iPhone where flash isn't available). The majority of improvements aren't amazing in their own right, but combined they allow web developers to create websites and web applications that vastly improve user experience.

What if a lot of my users are using older browsers?

We do offer support for older browsers if necessary, but naturally this will be reflected in the cost of the project. If you are unsure what level of browser support will be appropriate for your site, we can offer free advice during the consultancy phase before we build your site. We can gather data about your existing users and find the right balance between browser support, user experience and cost.