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This
section contains important information that you should
understand if you are considering a website, designing
your own website, or are searching for an experienced
web designer to design your site for you.
To use America Online as an example: AOL has approx.
32 million subscribers between it's Dial-Up and High
Speed internet services. If your browser is only optimized
for Internet Explorer that is 32 million potential customers
who might not be able to view your web site. |
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How
many of the Internet Browsers listed below do you recognize? |
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What
is a Web Browser? |
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A
Web browser is a program used to view, download, upload,
surf or otherwise access documents (pages) on the World
Wide Web.
Browsers
can be text-based meaning they do not show graphics
or images but most however are text and graphical based.
Browsers read "marked up" or coded pages (usually
HTML but not always) that reside on servers and interpret
the coding into what we see "rendered" as
a Web page.
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Maxthon, Mozilla, Mozilla
Firefox, Netscape Navigator, and Opera, are examples
of popular Web browsers. |
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Pronounced
WIZ-zee-wig, this term is short for "what you see
is what you get."
A WYSIWYG application is one that enables you to see
on the display screen exactly what will appear when
the document is viewed. WYSIWYG is especially popular
for desktop publishing and website design. The two most
well known WYSIWYG applications are Microsoft Front
Page and Macromedia Dreamweaver. |
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What
is Browser Optimization? |
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Browser
Optimization is creating your website for multiple types
of Web browsers--to provide trouble-free access to the
widest possible audience.
The
World Wide Web is a multi-platform, non-browser specific
medium. It should not matter whether people browse your
Web pages using Netscape, Explorer, Opera, Lynx, WebTV,
NetPhonic's Web-On-Call, Mobile Telephones, or Personal
Digital Assistants (PDAs, or palmtops, the little computers
with screens the size of a credit card).
Each
browser ought to render your informational Web pages
without problems. If a Web page is designed properly,
blind individuals, or anyone using text-to-voice or
Braille displays, can easily listen to and review your
work.
To keep it simple: Your website should look the same
no matter what you view it with. |
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Examples
of GOOD Browser Optimization? |
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Using
the North Fork IT Services site as an example here is
what this web site looks like in the five browsers pictured
above. |
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Please
click on the picture to view it in a larger window.
A new window will open with each example so that you
can compare them. |
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Examples
of BAD Browser Optimization
- Using Microsoft FrontPage. |
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If
the person designing your website uses the WYSIWYG
Microsoft FrontPage. and does not specifically
program it to be read by other browsers your website
will only be viewable with Internet Explorer.
This means that your site will appear "broken"
to users who choose another Browser.
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Click
the pictures below for an example of the North Fork
IT Services site as it would look when designed in Microsoft
FrontPage. for Internet Explorer. This
will open the example in a new window so that you can
compare. These are full versions of these screens and
may take up to 30 second to load if you are using dial-up. |
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As
you can see from the examples, while the site looks
great using Internet Explorer, it looks terrible with
the other browsers. |
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The
best and easiest way to avoid this trap of web design: |
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When
designing your own site or researching a web designer
be sure to ask them which Internet Browsers they preview
and test the sites they design in before final upload.
Professional designers test in at least three of the
six browsers pictured above. North Fork IT Services
tests in all six to ensure that your website will be
seamless across the internet. |
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