Is Your Web Site Browser Friendly?

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by Curtis Stevens

In June 1999, a potential customer informed us that our online order form was not viewable on his browser. We used Internet Explore 4.0 to redesign our web site and it looked perfect to us. This puzzled us for a long time and we finally figure out why he was having problems with the form on his browser. He was using Netscape 4.5 to view our web site.

We had made a little error in the HTML form table and it created a form that had blank boxes when you were using Netscape. You could not type anything in the boxes. This little error caused problems for our customers and who knows how many sales we lost because of this mistake. Having little mistakes like we did can mean the difference between a flood or very few sales.

Have you seen your web site through the major two browsers to see if it was compatible with both of them? It is very easy to do. You do not have to download ten different browsers to view what other people might see. The major two browsers take up the majority of all online users. These wonderful browsers are Netscape 4.5 and Internet Explore 4.0. If you have access to AOL, use that too.

All you have to do is make sure your web site is compatible with these two browsers and your site should look fine in any other browser. We recommend only concentrating on these two browsers because only a very small percentage of people use any other type of browser.

To get started, it only takes a few clicks of the mouse. First I would download Internet Explore 4.0 and Netscape 4.5 if you do not already have them. If you have time or space on your computer, you might want to download the new IE 5.0 or Netscape 4.61. These two browsers are more up to date and you might enjoy using the new versions. All four of these browsers are free.

To get a copy of Netscape 4.5 or the new 4.61, please go here:

netscape.com/computing/download

To get a copy of Internet Explore 4.0 or the new 5.0, please go here:

microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/

Once you have downloaded these two browsers, look at your entire web site through both of them. Your web site might look fine in one browser, but might not look so great in the other one.

Both browsers handle HTML differently, but your web site should look almost exactly the same in both browsers. Make sure to check your order forms because if the customer can not order, how can you make any money? We also recommend testing out your order forms.

Building a web site takes time and can be frustrating, but we all make mistakes sometimes. Take a few minutes and fill out all of your forms on your web site and test them out to see if they work properly. This way you know they are working and if you are not receiving many orders, you know that is not the problem.

The majority of people online today will not order if your form is not secure. A secure server will make your order form secure and keep your customer's information safe. If you are not using a secure form, ask your web host for one and get it setup. This will create trust between you and the customer while increasing your sales at the same time.