Things to Look for when Designing for Different Browsers and Platforms


1. Screen Resolution
Take into consideration factors such as the size of the browser, scroll bars. e.t.c Although there is no standard resolution, the democratic choice for most designers is 800 *600; the idea being that anything more less could incur the wrath of the browser audience since they will be forced to keep scrolling back and forth on the screen and end up losing valuable time.



2. Color Limitations

Some colours work on certain browsers , while they may not work others. For instance, "FCDE " look good on certain browsers but downright on others. Your best bet will be to choose colors that are duplicate of others such as "FF: and :CC"



3.Frames

It must be noted that browsers dislike frames like the plague. The reason that they shrink the screen forcing, the viewer to scroll back and forth. Even further the vertical bar on frames of most websites take up valuable area, meaning that the viewer cannot read certain portions of content. Also, because of the constricted nature of frames, search engines find it extremely difficult indexing websites. If you feel a strong urge to design with frames be sure to design in resolutions such as 640 x480.


4. Javascript Availability

Although a lot of people use browsers that support Javascript, such as Netscape and Internet Explorer, a small percentage of the viewership also use browsers that do not support Javascript. In fact, these people actually disable Javascript on their browsers. This also goes for viewers who use handheld devices such as mobile phones.


The best solution is to make the site work without Javascript. The visitor to your website should be able to read your site without the influence of Javascript. One way to get around the Javascript problem is to use a combination of Javascript and server side scripts (like PHP).


Good Luck!