_________________________________ Are You Cross-Browser Compatible? Matt Benya _________________________________ Note: If this shows in your browser, simply click "File" in your browser and select "Save As" and make sure that file type is text (.txt) Links in this article do not show as active because this is a text file. Why text (.txt) format? Text files are much easier to download, don't require much disk space, and easier to print. ======================================================== THE CENTER FOR INTERNET MARKETING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION http://bizinfo.manila.ph ======================================================== Hi, This is Ave Ramel, the Coach of the Center for Internet Marketing Research and Education, exponent of internet marketing since 1999. This article was evaluated by your Coach and made available for The Center's archive for new subscribers. After mastering this article, proceed to our Internet Marketing Knowledge Base at http://bizinfo.manila.ph/knowledge-base As a favor, please forward this article to all your friends you want to help and who would like to earn income from the Net. Cheers, Ave Ramel, Coach P.S. Start your home business online with this global opportunity - the world's first instant powdered green iced tea P.P.S. You can do your business in 32 countries using the internet. Proceed now to http://freeonlineschool.manila.ph/resensa ================ YOUR NEXT STEPS: ================ Internet Marketing Services: 1. Get Coached - personalized coaching, at your most convenient time and place Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/coaching 2. Hire A Retainer-Consultant for your corporation or marketing campaigns Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/consultancy 3. Add one profit center to your company minus the overhead costs - your own internet marketing arm. Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/outsourcing Available on the Web: 1. Internet Marketing Knowledge Base - the archive contains selected and annotated articles, lessons, and ebooks, including secrets, tips and tricks, categorized into the following general subjects: - Advertising - Affiliate Programs - Beginner and Web Design - Customer Relations Management - E-mail Marketing - Sales Conversion - Search Engine Marketing - Search Engine Optimization - Strategy and Tactics - Web Promotions This includes The Net Marketing Review (newsletter) containing researches, latest updates, and strategies that are analyzed and tested by The Center. Proceed now and download free stuffs like this article at http://bizinfo.manila.ph/knowledge-base 2. Do-It-Yourself for ... Beginners or Newbies Intermediate Students Advanced Students Professionals Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/school 3. Proceed to your Coach's Weblog located at http://aredconsult.blogspot.com and discover secrets, tips, and tricks _________________________________ Are You Cross-Browser Compatible? By Matt Benya _________________________________ The question of cross browser compatibility is a common topic among Web developers. Should you or should you not make your website cross-browser accommodating? The answer is yes and especially if you are an e-business. As Ripley would say, "believe it or not" but at the time of this article slightly more than 20% of Internet users use a browser other than Internet Explorer. This information comes from W3Schools.com, which has been keeping tabs on browser usage since January 2002. ==================== How Do You Shape Up? =================== Use of alternative browsers has only been going up, they are no longer a niche community made up of "techies" and anti-Microsoft advocates, they are your everyday user, your potential customers. If you haven't done so already I would suggest that you look at your website in some of the other common browsers available. These include: Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/download.html): This is currently the top browser after IE6 and it is one of the most feature rich browsers available today. I would personally suggest looking into Firefox Mozilla's next generation browser as opposed to the entire Mozilla suite due to its end user friendliness and feature rich environment. Opera (http://www.opera.com): The Opera browser has been making its way up the competitive ladder of the browser arena since 2000 when Opera Software ASA released Opera 5. Though it is frëe to download and use, if you want to access some of the browser's features you are required to pay a small registration fee. Netscape (http://channels.netscape.com): Since Netscape provided the code base for Mozilla in 1998 when they made the source code for their flag ship product Netscape Communicator open-source there is little difference between the two browsers. Still it doesn't hurt to see how things shape up between the two, and since they are ultimately two different browsers checking them both is not a bad idea. Additionally there are programs available that can test your site for you in different browsers and screen resolutions and return their findings. One such program is Browser Photo (http://www.netmechanic.com) from NetMechanic. ================ What Can You Do? ================ Okay so lets say that our site www.ihaveanerror.com comes up with a couple of errors that cause it to render incorrectly when we look at it in some of the alternative browsers. How are we going to fix the problem? Well the first thing we want to do is stay away from any propriety html tags a certain browser type might offer. These tags will only work properly in the browser they are designed for and may cause trouble for you in others. An example of a proprietary tag would be in Internet Explorer. Another thing you should make a habit of is to validate your pages through the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C for short) (http://www.w3c.org). Founded in 1994 the W3C has made it its obligatïon to guide the development of the Web and create a common basis to build upon. One of the services that the W3C offers is syntax validation. This is a useful tool when you are trying to ensure that your visitors will get roughly the same experience when they visit your site. Validation is easy, select the language your site was designed in and use their frëe validation tools to track down any errors that might occur. If there is an ërror in your source code the validation system will highlight it and provide you with possible solutions for correcting it. Why should you conform your site to the World Wide Web Consortium's guidelines? The answer is that it is these guidelines that browser developers use as a basis to display pages on the Web. While browsers like Mozilla conform strictly to the W3C's guidelines, Internet Explorer is more relaxed. In fact Internet Explorer will render just about anything you throw at it. You can leave out the tags, tags, or forget to close a tag all together and IE will 9 times out of 10 be able to work with what you give it. Be leery of Microsoft's FrontPage. While Microsoft makes some of the world's most powerful and end-user friendly applications, in my opinion, FrontPage has a tendency to do things IE's way. What I mean when I say this is that FrontPage will overload a web page with a lot of overhead that is either out of place or incorrect. If you plan on using an editor of this type consider Adobe's GoLive, this application at least has the ability to built a page according to W3C standards and has a built in syntax checker that can help you ensure your site will meet their requirements. The final word, most likely not... Remember the saying "you can't please everyone"? The same holds true in the world of Internet browsers. It would be pretty much impossible to make your site render the same way on each and every browser available. This, however, is not the goal; the goal is to make your site useable by the most common browsers thus reaching the largest audience possible. If something fails horribly under certain browsers then it is a good time to rethink your design and find another way to approach the issue. If your site is known to only work under Internet Explorer and it is your desire to leave it this way, then it is good practice to let your visitors know this in advance. They will be much more likely to switch browsers (if possible) and come back to your site, if you let them know ahead of time rather than letting them walk into an unusable page or badly formatted site. Don't forget presentation is everything. ================ About The Author ================ Matt Benya is a co-owner of Primate Studios (http://www.primatestudios.com) an independent development house focusing on CGI illustration, Web design and multimedia. With 20+ years of art experience and a degree in Network administration Matt is well suited to translate your needs to the Web. ============================== Let Me Help You Get Customers: ============================== AREDCONSULT SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS I. EXECUTIVE COACHING - for busy entrepreneurs, decision-makers and marketing executives who can't spare much time away from their office operations but must immediately grasp and harness internet marketing to contribute to the company's profitability. I will come to you instead. I offer you customized lessons, varied delivery, and at your own time, place and pacing. II. WEBSITE CRITIQUE - for those who already have a website but the results didn't satisfy your expectations, especially your bottomline - profit. I offer you immediate and in-depth assessment. III. RETAINER CONSULTANCY - for those who prefer to consult an internet marketing expert anytime, similar to a retainer legal counsel, especially for those who are launching regular internet marketing campaigns. IV. INITIAL EXPERT ASSESSMENT & STRATEGY FORMULATION - for those with no website yet but seriously planning to publish one on the Web, it is better to hear from an expert first before plunging to unfamiliar field. This might save you huge sums of money. Also, from the axiom "always start with a strategy in mind" - this shall cover your strategy and tactics. V. PROJECT CONSULTANCY - includes website design, installation of website functions, and search engine optimization (SEO); database design, programming, and development; installation of ecommerce functions. VI. STAFF TRAINING - for those who intend to maintain an internet marketing team or have already an existing one, I will analyze and improve your process, update your staff's skills, and provide them with continuous online training. VII. INTERNET MARKETING PROMOTIONS - for those who want to outsource or contract out the whole internet marketing promotion processes. We will become one of your profit centers with a very cost-efficient operation. Business processes that can be outsourced include submission of your website to search engines, email campaigns, mailing list management, product upsell and cross-sell, website content build-up, weblog content, link exchange with other websites, customer relations management, etc. http://bizinfo.manila.ph/coaching http://bizinfo.manila.ph/consultancy http://bizinfo.manila.ph/outsourcing ======== CONTACT: ======== Ask Aredconsult online for any internet marketing questions: http://www.aredconsult.com/ask-aredconsult.htm E-mail: mastermind@ask-the-expert.com Production Office: Tel. # 728-9613 or leave voice mail Corporate Address: Rm. 404 Parchouse II EDSA, Guadalupe Nuevo, beside Sogo Hotel 1200 Makati City, The Philippines ***Trust in the Lord with all your heart***