The School for Champions is an educational website that shows you how to achieve your dreams.

School for Champions

SfC Home

Web Design

Explanation of designing pages for the most popular web browsers - Strategies to Succeed in Web Design. Also refer to Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator, Opera, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions

Web Pages on Different Browsers

by Ron Kurtus (revised 21 November 2006)

Web designers must be aware of the differences in the appearance of their pages on the different Internet browsers. Although there aren't as many problems as there were a few years ago, when features in Netscape would not work in Internet Exploers and vice versa, you still should make sure your pages look good in the major browsers. Thus, it is good to know the popularity of the various browsers to help you in your design.

Questions you may have include:

  • What are the statistics for Internet Explorer?
  • What are the statistics for Firefox / Mozilla
  • What about the other browsers?

This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.

Internet Explorer statistics

Internet Explorer (IE) is the most popular browser, but it has lost some ground to Firefox. As of October 2006, the percentages of people using IE are:

IE 7 = 3.1%

IE 6 = 54.5%

IE 5 = 3.2%

Total IE = 60.8%

Firefox / Mozilla statistics

Mozilla was renamed Firefox in 2005. (Some people also call is Foxfire). Usage of this browser is increasing, although there are some web pages that do not display correctly in Firefox. As of October 2006, the percentages of people using Firefox / Mozilla are:

Firefox = 28.8%

Mozilla = 2.4%

Total Firefox / Mozilla = 31.2%

Other browser statistics

Netscape has just about gone away, as has Opera.

Netscape versions 7 and 8 = 0.3%

Opera versions 7, 8 and 9 = 1.4%

In conclusion

Websites should be designed for Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. Since the number of people using the other browsers is negliable, it is not worth the effort to be concerned about them.

Reader Feedback and Questions

Provide an excellent product for your customers

Resources

The following resources provide information on this subject:

Websites

W3 Schools Browser Statistics - Source of our information

Web Page Design Resources

Books

Top-rated books on Website Design

Miscellaneous

Mini-quiz to check your understanding

1. Which web browsers should be your major concern?

All of them, because you never know when something new will occur

Only Microsoft products, because they rule

Internet Explorer and Firefox

2. What ever happened to Netscape?

They just couldn't keep up with the competition

Microsoft bought them and changed their name

They are secretly planning to come out with a new browser that does not require the Internet

3. Why are people moving to Firefox?

They like the cool name

They feel it is a more secure browser

No one has been able to figure that out

If you got all three correct, you are on your way to becoming a Champion in Web Design. If you had problems, you had better look over the material again.

What do you think?

Do you have any questions, comments, or opinions on this subject? If so, send an email with your feedback. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to establish a link from your website to pages in this site. Send this link to yourself or a friend.

Students and researchers

The Web address of this page is
www.school-for-champions.com/web/diffbrow.htm. Please include it as a reference in your report, document, or thesis.

Also, tell a friend about this material.

Where can you go from here?

School for Champions

Web Design topics

Web Pages on Different Browsers

The School for Champions helps you become the type of person that can be can be called a Champion.