Monthly Archives: October 2010

Are You Cross Browser Functional?

Are you a die hard Internet Explorer fan? Well it’s not a monopoly anymore. There are many to choose nowaday and you might want to pick a favorite. But, must importantly when designing your virtual presence make sure your site is compatible across the board.

The Popular Web Browsers

According to recent data averages regarding the most used web browsers (available here on Wikipedia), the most frequently used web browsers are as followed:

Internet Explorer (just under 60% use a version of IE)
Firefox (about 30% I love it, less viruses and crashes)
Safari (about 4% of web users choose the Apple Safari browser, still not for me)
Chrome (again, about 4% are using Google’s latest web browser offering)
Opera (hmm getting about 2% market share on a good day)
Netscape Navigator (wow still some of you out there!)
Take those rounded and averaged percentages with a grain of salt, but all in all, this list is fairly representative of how the breakdown actually looks. The other thing that’s very important to note here is that IE is losing market share to long time standby Firefox, and even Firefox appears to be losing some ground as increasingly popular browsers like Apple’s Safari and Google’s new Chrome browser gain ground.

So My point is?

It’s not ok to design a site that functions well in just one browser. It’s unfortunate that I come across so many dealership websites that seem to fall apart in other browsers. In many cases if your site is failing capability you’re inventory is not viewable, or I can’t click on anything- Period! If you ignore this you are choosing to alienate your carshoppers that are accustomed to their browers. Just think of it this way, you’re basically keeping the door closed on a percentage of people that come to your store.
In the internet world not only are your car shoppers constantly evolving but the browers are is well. You must make sure you have a professional company building your virtual dealership that knows there stuff and can ensure you have cross browser functionality. It is your business afterall!

Yours,
A.D