Development Standards & Compliance: The Browser Effect

What is a web browser?  Many web surfers simply know them by names like Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and maybe even Google Chrome that allows them to view web pages and other online accessible products on their computer, mobile device, etc.  Effectively, that’s it.  A browser is nothing more than a piece of software that serves as an intermediary between one computer and another (yours and the system your accessing to view the desired online product) that translates code and displays information, etc. into an easy to understand format.

In truth, the number of web browsers available is mind boggling considering its intended purpose.  Why?  More than likely this is due to the fact that most computer users nowadays use their browser more than any other application.  It’s used for communications, research, marketing, training, education, photo and file sharing, social networking, and much more.  Some are actually using browsers to access programs like word processing, spreadsheets, database, games, etc. using “cloud” technology (reserved for another blog series… stay tuned!).

It is for this reason we begin our Standards and Compliance series discussing browsers and website coding & development protocols.  At some point you’ve probably looked at a website or other online product on one browser, for example Internet Explorer, then looked at the same site or product on another computer using another browser such as Firefox and noticed variations in the way that site or product displays.  In the beginning, there were no development standards which resulted in sites that looked fine in one browser but displayed and, often times, function much differently in other browsers.

As browsers evolved, so did the advent of baseline standards, but each browser developer would create “short cut” tags that web developers could use to achieve certain display results such as blinking characters, text scrolling, etc.  Because these “short cut” tags were often produced by a single browser developer, they typically only worked on that browser.

While browsers still don’t play nice with one another, the creation of standardizations in web development such as WC3 is forcing the issue a bit and “encouraging” browser developers to comply with code standards in a more uniform fashion.  Fact is though these browsers will also be competing with one another so the ultimate responsibility for ensuring a web site displays consistently from one browser to another lies in the hands of the agency developing and coding the website.

Since many browsers have yet to fall in line with WC3 compliance, it is important for anyone looking to have a website built to consider a firm that can offer and guarantee WC3 compliance within the coding structures of the entire online product.  Already have a website?  Get it checked for compliance as soon as you can.  Our team is highly educated on WC3 compliance and, in addition, has developed other development methodologies and standards designed to best ensure cross-browser friendliness for all NetPass produced products. For a FREE no-obligation WC3 compliance evaluation, call us at 888.296.7277 or e-mail compliance@netpass.com.

Join us soon for our next Development Standards & Compliance series post where we’ll discuss how compliance impacts search engine optimization and online marketing campaign initiatives.