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As a self trained individual for both web designs and developing, not only does I need to advance my skills further, I still have to take note of what’s the visitors see when they viewing the website. It’s hard to manage cause everyday, there are much newer and advance browser in the making. Currently as we know now, the four recognize browser on the net are Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, Opera and Safari. And I’m quite sure web designers/developer uses IE7 for beta testing web projects. But not me.
Although I’ve read from somewhere that IE8 is in the making, I’ve chosen to halt upgrading my IE to version 7. I don’t see any purpose in using IE7 for the start. What I have currently installed on my PC, believe it or not, is IE6.
From the way I sees it, IE6 is a basic of all basic when requires to do beta testings for web projects.
Why does I say so?
Well, here’s a theoretical fact which I came out with a few years back.
Internet Explorer 6 is a build-in application to Windows XP. Although when running IE6 have taken quite a sum of memories from our PC, it does not take much as what IE7 took. The so-called ‘better browser experience’ when viewing in IE7, does not really make much difference. What we saw using IE7 is frankly similar to what we get while using IE6.
What about IE6 and Firefox?
Truthfully, I love Firefox. Although it does not take up much memory as what IE6 did, there’s a few things I have consider when it comes to beta testing in Firefox. Firefox able to render quite a number of JQuery and Ajax scripts but some scripting will not work on IE6. In a sense, what we can see from Firefox, some of it, we won’t see it on IE6.
So which browser is good in beta testing web sites?
By right, IE7 but because of the large usage in memory wasted just for the sake of beta testing, so IE6 is the winner. But hey, I’m not finished yet.
Let’s count the majority of the browser used by the visitors.
As based on the monthly stats for DSDexigns, I’ve noticed that 72% of the visitors are using Internet Explorer (I assumed it’s IE7 cause majority of XP users have SP2 installed with IE7), 24% is Mozilla Firefox while the balance are assumed to be Opera/Safari/ect.
On a rough measurement, most corporates companies and offices are using IE7 then Firefox. How can I be sure of this? Well… most company, especially corporates, preferred to have all it’s PC upgraded to the latest service pack for reliability and security purposes. So that means having to install IE7 too is a ’so-called must’ for em’. Once upgraded, they normally enable a function that disable installation. Most probably to avoid the PC from being messed up by the employee.
The number for home users using IE7 and Firefox may vary. Some PC home users choose to use a much more ‘cooler’ web browser, like Opera and Safari. I assumed they want have a feeling of being unique and difference from others while browsing the internet… haha. Anyway, when we come to a point where SP2 is a so-called ‘Must installed patch as recommended by Microsoft’, who would not do it. So when SP2 is around, there is a 95% possibility that they will install IE7 too.
But what if there are still people like me and a few of my partners who choose to use IE6 instead? If we do a beta testing of web projects using IE7, would it perfectly load for those who are still using IE6? I don’t think so.
So now, with the facts and stats written above, are you convinced that the best browser to use for for beta testing web development project is Internet Explorer 6? |
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