* Browser Photo helps to ensure Web sites can be seen using most browsers
With last major release of Firefox (see editorial links below) becoming the browser de jour the problems of browser compatibility have once again become significant. Actually, the issue is less a question of browser compatibility and more Web site compatibility.
With the last major release of Firefox (see editorial links below) becoming the browser de jour, the problems of browser compatibility have once again become significant.
Actually, the issue is less a question of browser compatibility and more of Web site compatibility. With Microsoft’s Internet Explorer being the dominant browser for so long, many Web sites, particularly those that relied on Microsoft tools to code up content wound up creating Web pages that aren’t rendered properly or, in some case, at all!
For example, an unclosed tag under Internet Explorer Version 5.5 on Windows is ignored and the table rendered but under Netscape Navigator Version 4, the page doesn’t display at all!
The problem of tracking site incompatibilities has also become more difficult because of the increasing popularity of the Opera browser, which has become a separate market force due to handhelds and PDAs. Today, the non-IE browser market is about 30% of all browsers, which amounts to 17,000,000 users. This means that if you want your site to be seen correctly by the largest possible market, you need to make sure your content is working right.
NetMechanic’s Browser Photo service automatically captures a given Web site using 24 combinations of browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, AOL, Opera and now FireFox and Mac’s Safari) and browser versions on both PC and Mac computers and with multiple screen sizes (800 x 600 pixels to 1024 x 768 pixels) and font sizes. As a subscriber, you log on to NetMechanic’s Web site and go to the Browser Photo section. You enter the URL of the page to test and the e-mail address for the report to be sent to. Within a few minutes, you’ll receive a message that the report is available on the NetMechanic Web site.
With the annual subscription, you can keep all of your reports in your account. Pricing for NetMechanic’s Browser Photo service is $15 for one-time page test or $150 per domain per year. Not much of a price for getting a wider audience.
