WASHINGTON DC – CSS Masters and web designers know and understand how difficult it is to make a website look and behave properly across all of the major web browsers. It is important for website owners and business professionals to know that if you look at your website from a dozen different computers or mobile devices, it will likely look a dozen different ways.
Firefox versus Internet Explorer
The primary difference between Firefox by Mozilla and Internet Explorer (IE6, IE7, IE8) by Microsoft is that Firefox was built according to commonly accepted standards defined by the community of open source software professionals. Whereas Internet Explorer, IE6, IE7 and IE8 was built using closed, proprietary software developed by Microsoft in an effort to create a monopoly and control the market. Microsoft deviates from industry standards and as a result, not all websites look and perform properly on computers that use Microsoft internet browsers.
Firefox takes a bite out of Microsoft
The good news is that consumers are choosing industry standard Firefox over any other web browser on the market.
Firefox vs IE8 vs IE7 vs IE6 vs Safari vs Chrome
| Web/Internet Browser |
Percentage of Use |
|---|---|
|
Firefox
|
44%
|
|
IE8
|
17%
|
|
IE7
|
13%
|
|
Safari
|
12%
|
|
IE6
|
7%
|
|
Chrome
|
4%
|
|
Opera
|
1%
|
IE6 rapidly losing support
There is a good reason why many top companies such as YouTube and inQbation are abandoning their support for Microsoft’s IE6 – it is simply too much work to make a website perform properly under IE6 and in the meantime, more and more people are abandoning IE6 as their preferred browser.
The following companies are no longer supporting IE6:
So, moral of the story is … don’t waste time developing for IE6. Invest your time developing your website to standard and focus first and foremost on Firefox compatibility. Mozilla’s Firefox has proven to be the industry standard.
