In the initial stages of website design designers look into browser consumption and which browsers are in favour with the targeted web users. This helps designers to use the relevant code to ensure their pages look good and function well within each browser’s interface.
It can be a real challenge to keep track of what the browser market is doing. Firefox 5, Chrome 12, and Opera 11.5 were all released last month with more updates expected in the near future. Updates are also hard to track down with many browsers set to auto-update and others set to never update or to receive updates manually. This can make website design harder than ever and a lot of testing at the development stage is often required.
The big news for anyone involved in website design is that July has seen the usage of Google Chrome rise above the 20% mark for the very first time. Microsoft IE is still currently the big daddy of the browser world, but with Google firmly on their heels things could be changing in a big way which will impact website design and development.
This June saw Google Chrome 11 topple Firefox 3.6 to become the world’s second favoured browser. However, the release of Google 12 has caused a split in Google’s user-base and Firefox 4.0 has now regained its second place position.
It’s not all good news for Mozilla though; Firefox experienced a drop of almost 1% in its user-base in June which was three times that of IE and one of the biggest declines Firefox has experienced in its lifetime. The reasons are not clear. Whilst Firefox 4 and 5 have been well received they have not stopped Google’s popularity or progress. Maybe the updates and changes were a little on the radical side for some. Those involved in the website design game have certainly been scratching their heads wondering which browser is going to give Microsoft a run for their money.
When it comes to good website design it pays to keep on top of the latest browser developments including updates and new releases. This will ensure the correct coding and formatting of pages is carried out and that the user experience is uniform across all major browsers including IE, Chrome, Firefox and Opera.
