The Internet remains easier for Explorer

Posted on 23 Jun 2005 at 17:53

New research indicates that despite the rise in popularity of alternative browsers to Internet Explorer, many websites are specifically designed to be viewed in IE and as many as 10 per cent are inaccessible using the alternatives.

Perhaps one of the more heinous acts of incompatibility rests with www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk. The government site actually blocks attempts to search its database of opportunities by non-IE browsers, although it is unclear how exactly this relates to the unemployment rate.

The Odeon cinema chain also let's down non-IE browsers when the user tries to navigate past the splash page.

A number of other major sites were found to have Internet Explorer specific coding, which makes alternative access difficult. British American Tobacco and Lloyds TSB's insurance.co.uk were typical of this.

'When webmasters design first for Internet Explorer and not standards-compliant browsers, they so often end up restricting user access to the website which has detrimental affects for a company. Surprisingly, after all these years, users of standards-compliant browsers are still faced with sites that do not support their browser or with a link suggesting they download Internet Explorer, a browser they had presumably chosen not to use,' said Deri Jones, CEO of SciVisum, the company conducting the research.

However, it should be remembered that much of the proprietary and non-standard engineering that went into Internet Explorer such as ActiveX controls were implemented to allow developers to add snazzy features into their websites that they wanted. At a time when IE ruled the cyberworld, it was security problems caused by this rather than usability that grabbed most attention. And this kick-started the exodus from Internet Explorer. Now alternative browsers are gaining in popularity, mainly because they are more secure as they simply don't support these extra technologies. And so more and more of us experience the incompatibilities browsing IE-optimised websites.

'Companies who value their brand need to address browser issues immediately. This means ensuring all international standards - such as CSS2, which is intended to help web developers separate content from presentation and to make sites more accessible to those with disabilities - are adhered to,' said Jones.

It will be interesting to see whether websites react quickly to this challenge, and whether if not, users stick with the devil they know in Internet Explorer.

Author: Matt Whipp