B is for Browser

If you're online reading this page then you're most likely using Internet Explorer (IE) to do it. If not IE, then Mozilla Firefox or perhaps the Nordic player, Opera.

A few years ago, back in the early years of internet history, there were two big players, IE and Netscape Navigator. Then Microsoft bundled IE with its Windows operating system and Netscape faded away.

The alternative browser torch has been taken up by Firefox, but Netscape is still around as Netscape Browser (Netscape 8). The Netscape website even gives you access to its previous versions in its archive section. And Netscape 7 is worth looking at. It includes a web authoring tool, called Composer, which is entirely adequate for building a simple site.

From the standpoint of web design, the thing to remember is this: How your website is displayed to your readers / visitors will depend on which browser they're using. Each has its quirks and idiosyncracies.

So as you build your pages you need to be constantly checking how they are displaying on a variety of browsers.

Today 80% plus of people are using IE, but it might not remain so. Firefox is keen to make a big dent in the IE usership.

Opera, the Nordic offering, is also a very fine browser.

That said, IE 7 beta (the trial version of the next generation of IE) is now out. Microsoft will not easily give up its market dominance.