Don't Blame It On The Webmaster

---

I'm going to try here to give you some very valuable ...
Weall have a tendency to want to blame someone else when ... right or the way we think it should be.
If you take ... I'm going to try here to give you some very valuable information.
Weall have a tendency to want to blame someone else when somethingisn't right or the way we think it should be. If you take nothingelse from this article take this, before you blame the webmaster ofthe site you are viewing look at your system settings.Yes, there are some horrible web pages on the internet and no matterwhat you do you'll never be able to view them properly.
But, themajority of webmasters designing websites make sure that they areoptimized for viewing by the majority of visitors, using thebrowsers that are most common.If you use your computer to travel the vast expanse of the internetit is a MUST, for you to have your computer optimized for the bestpossible viewing experience. The job of designing websites isgetting harder and harder.
The variety of browsers and differentversions of those browsers force designers to look closely at thecontent they choose to place on their pages. One script that looksgreat on Microsoft IE 6.0 will totally scramble the page when viewedin Netscape Navigator 6.2.
There are also a number of scripts thatwill destroy a site when the viewer is using AOL's browser.What the webmasters we communicate with try to do is design theirsites to be viewed by the majority. How do they know what themajority is, you ask? Well, they can look at their domain files andsee who, what, when, why and where.I'll share with you an example: This is the traffic breakdown from 1of our sites over a 21 day period last summer.Browsers --------1.
MSIE 6.x 5,016 74.88%2. Netscape 6.x 1102 17.91%3.
MSIE 5.x 144 4.28%4. Netscape 3.x 35 1.04%5.
MSIE 3.x 27 0.80%6. WebTV 23 0.68%7.
MSIE 0.x 10 0.29%8. MSIE 2.x 3 0.08%Total 6,395 100.00%Top 10 Screen Resolutions -------------------------1.
800 by 600 pixels 5,059 81.10%2. 1024 by 768 pixels 875 11.88%3.
640 by 480 pixels 167 5.29%4. 800 by 580 pixels 20 0.63%5.
800 by 553 pixels 10 0.31%6. 1152 by 864 pixels 6 0.19%7.
640 by 461 pixels 4 0.12%8. 1280 by 1024 pixels 2 0.06%9.
1152 by 870 pixels 2 0.06%10. 767 by 553 pixels 1 0.03%Total 6,395Operating Systems -----------------1.
Windows 98 5,083 67.24%2. Windows 95 1,216 29.92%3.
Windows NT 39 1.14%4. WebTV 23 0.67%5.
Other 18 0.53%6. Windows 3.x 9 0.26%7.
Macintosh 6 0.17%8. Sun SunOS 1 0.02%Total 6,395Java Status -----------1.
Enabled 6,152 92.84%2. Unknown 182 5.36%3.
Disabled 61 1.79%Total 6,395This information tells me that most of the traffic to this site is:1. Java Enabled 92% 2.
Using either Windows 98 67% or Windows 95 29%3. Using a screen Resolutions of 800 by 600 pixels 81% or 1024 by768 pixels 11.88% 4.
Browsers being used MSIE 6.x 74.88% andNetscape 6.x 18% That makes it very easy for me to know under whatenvironment the majority of my visitors are viewing that site. Ithen design the site to be viewed by IE 6.0 or better NS 6.2 orbetter at 800 X 600 Resolution and I have no problem using JavaScript.The majority of websites are designed exactly that way.
Now, hereare a few guidelines to follow when you start your journey out intothe vast reaches of cyberspace:Use either Microsoft IE. 6.0 or better -- get it here:http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/...
or Netscape Navigator 6.2 or better -- get it here:http://help.netscape.com/products/client/communicator/index.htmlSet your screen resolution to 800x600 or better. That can be done inyour Control Panel by clicking on display and then settings.
I alsouse true color (24). With these settings you should be able to viewthe majority of sites the way they were designed to be seen.OH! one more thing ...
I don't know of a webmaster that designssites to be viewed in anything other than a maximized window. Ifyou're opening a site from a hyperlink in your e-mail you'll reallyneed to click on the maximize button at the top right of the browserwindow.I hope this will help to make your journey a bit more pleasant.
Andif you see something on a website using the above settings thatisn't right, or find a bad link or just want to tell the webmasteryou loved or hated their site, remember to tell them where youvisited them. We have over 4000 web pages and we're always gettinge-mail that just says "You have a link that gave me an errormessage" -- that really doesn't help me fix the problem.
Also, keepin mind, if 5000 people viewed a web site without problems but youhave one, the problem just might be on your end! We welcome allcomments good and bad about our sites, so don't stop sending them."Your Success Is Our Success" jbp Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .