Web development; Quality or Quantity?
A web designer is the person in charge of bringing to life the pages that users can view online, but this people is not only dedicated to give an attractive appearance to the pages also have to be aware of the limitations that browsers have and the incompatibilities between them.
Browsers are programs that let you view the information contained in a website, these programs interpret the HTML code that is written in the web page and presents it on screen, allowing the user to interact with its contents and navigate to other parts of the network through links or hyperlinks. (Definición ABC, 2009)
Currently there are approximately twenty browsers; Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Netscape or Konqueror Navegator are most popular. (Servicios y recursos para tener éxito en Internet, 2010)
All browsers, regardless of the company regardless of the company that has created them or operating system for which browsers has been designed, must meet certain rules and a series of international standards. These standards are ‘spelling’ rules which, like every language, HTML code must comply. (Maestros del web, 2004)
If browsers respect the standards, when designers begin to write the code of a website, they do not have to worry about with which browser the end user opens the web because in all of them behaves the same way, the problem comes when the most used browser is the least respect these rules.
The Essay on Asp Net Code Page Server
Arkansas State Police should not cringe at the catchy title. ASP is short for Active Server Pages. It is an ultra flexible programming language used in web applications. ASP runs off direction of a dynamic link library file (DLL) within the Windows (c) system file bank. All files with the asp extension are automatically filtered through this DLL. ASP allows alteration of script from a web page on ...
Nowaday there is a clear difference in popularity among all browsers. Internet explorer has approximately 60% of Internet users (La guía del Geek, 2010) and based on this superiority over the others has failed to meet certain international standards that make designers should consider before begin to program their website, for which type of browser they want to do their web , for Internet Explorer or others.
In this point is where the conflict begins.
There are many reasons why designers should develop their code for other browsers and not for Internet Explorer, as many of the others offer faster, more privacy, comply with international standards, its code is open, etc. Other browsers such as Firefox have all the advantages of open source software: they are free, has a large community of support for troubleshooting, has been translated into many more languages, can be installed on many more operating systems, is being updated and continuously improvement … (Tensai web, 2007)
But aside from all the programming differences between browsers, there is a second important point to consider, 60% of users worldwide use Internet Explorer and in some Latin American countries is more than 90%. (Amatta, 2008)
But Internet Explorer also has some advantages over the others, its use is very simple, it looks nicer than other browsers and mainly, was one of the first browsers to came to light, so that many users are still faithful.
Also a good reason which explain us the massive use may be because this browser is installed on Windows, which is the most installed operative system when you go to buy a computer and in the store do not let you choose the operative system, and with this way Microsoft takes over the market (Clemente D. 2005)
But then, if Internet Explorer is not as advantageous as other browsers Why so successful? What are the reasons why end users opt for this browser? And the problem that concerns us as designers, for what browser should we write the web code? Is Better the quality in the code or is more important the number of users accessing your site, even if others cannot view it correctly?
This is the dilemma that many web developers have to face before starting to work and many of them choose to the most popular browser because after all the purpose of any website is to be used and viewed by the largest many people as possible. And if most users choose this browser and it is so successful there must be some reason and … if something works well why change it?
The Essay on The Internet And World Wide Web Defined
Christopher L. Isaacs 1010 – Technical Writing Extended Definition 00 March 6th The “Internet” and “World Wide Web” Defined In recent years the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) have become more and more popular as an information resource. Many people believe that the WWW is the same as the Internet. This is untrue. The Internet was designed in the late 60’s as a way for a few military computers ...
Sometimes, web developers consider option to set the page twice, one for Internet Explorer and another for other browsers (Amatta, 2008) but Why do twice the work, if there is already legislation that regulates this type of case? Is it necessary to undergo to the dominance of large companies which control the market, in this case Microsoft, in order to gain a foothold?
In short, if a developer wants to do a clean code, standard, and to serve for the future is going to have trouble if make pages for Internet Explorer because, if you want to see something correctly in that browser you will have to apply many tricks and special codes that no other browser understands, also there are huge differences in programming CSS styles between Internet Explorer and the rest who do that sometimes, the web is displayed in a manner completely different at this first and in the others, or what is worse, not be displayed. (Tensai web, 2007)
What should the designers do when they have to write the code of their pages? What is right?
Designers, when creating quality code that follows the standards and is recognized by the vast majority of browsers, risk not work properly on Internet Explorer and that therefore, most users when they access to their website, cannot see properly the website, or, in the other hand, designers can make the web site based on code created by a company like Microsoft, which is not a quality code, but which controls almost the entire sector. Is this a vicious circle? is this a loop that cannot get out?
At this point, each developer, before beginning to make your website must assess what they prefer; to do a quality job or the number of users that have access to it?
References
Amatta (2008), 5 ventajas de Firefox y 5 de Internet Explorer,
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Clemente, D. (2005), DanielClemente.com, ¿Aun usas IE?, http://www.danielclemente.com/navega/popup.html,
The Term Paper on Internet History Web Network Computers
INTRODUCTION The Internet is perhaps today's most influential technological advance. Significant events in history contributing to the development of the Internet can be traced back to as early as 1844. Here is a timeline of some significant events in history contributing to the development of the Internet: 1844 Telegraph 1858 First Atlantic Cable from North America to Europe 1867 Typewriter 1876 ...
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Definicion ABC (2009), Definicion de navegador,
http://www.definicionabc.com/tecnologia/navegador.php
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La guía del Geek (2010), Internet Explorer deja de perder usuarios durante Junio, http://alt1040.com/2010/07/internet-explorer-deja-de-perder-usuarios-durante-junio
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Maestros del web (2004), Estándares Web,
http://www.maestrosdelweb.com/editorial/estandaresweb/
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Servicios y recursos para tener éxito en Internet (2010), ¿Qué es un navegador, explorador o buscador?,
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Tensai web (2007), Firefox vs Internet Explorer, ¿cuál es la diferencia?, http://tensaiweb.info/blog/firefox-vs-explorer-cual-es-la-diferencia/
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