AN OVERVIEW OF SOME POPULAR BROWSERS

This section describes the most popular browsers currently on the web. They’re in no way the only browsers available, and if the browser you’re using isn’t listed here, don’t feel that you have to used one of these. Whichever browser you have is fine as long as it works for you.

MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER

fig 1.4

 Microsoft’s   browser, Microsoft internet explorer, is included with Microsoft windows. It was also included with the Mac OS, but has since been discontinued. You can still install and use other browsers if you want, but if you’re not picky, you don’t need to do anything more.

NOTE

If you’re serious about web design, you should install all the popular browsers on your system and use them to view your pages after you ’we published them. That way, you can make sure that everything is working properly. Even if you don’t use a particular browser on a day-to-day basis, your site will be visited by people who do.  If you are

interested in checking cross-browser compatibility issues, you should start with Microsoft internet explorer and Mozilla firefox, and perhaps included opera as well.

Microsoft internet explorer has become the most widely used web browser, in large park due to the fact that it has been tightly integrated with the latest versions of windows. As of January 2006, internet explorer makes up more than 80% of the overall browser market. Figure 1.4 shows internet explorer running under windows XP.

FIGURE 1.4 Microsoft internet explorer (windows XP)