by Lizzie Flynn

Created on: July 11, 2007

I just opened a business website and couldn't read the content. All the lines bled into each other and the text was gibberish. I immediately closed the window. Why? Because it was obvious that this website, trying to sell me something, wasn't optimize for all browsers. In other words, it wasn't Firefox friendly.

I use Mozilla Firefox. It's an open-source web browser based on the popular Netscape Navigator. It's free to download and amazingly customizable. I have a web-developer tool, Greasemonkey, and right-click enable on my browser. Creating a website that is Firefox friendly is infinitely easier than you think. By concentrating your design simply on Internet Explorer users you are most certainly losing valuable clicks. When you optimize for Firefox, you are also optimizing for Safari- a Mac browser- and Opera, another open-source platform. All of these are popular and all should be considered when designing a web site.

A full 77% of my own sites users are using Firefox. This is up from 30% six months ago. As Firefox is used more among the general public, they learn the different ways to utilize and customize it, then more people use it. Refusing update your site to welcome Firefox, Safari, and Opera users is, effectively, closing the door to those consumers. How far would a brick and mortar business get if they closed their doors to 77% of their potential customers?

The good thing is that it's easy to make sure that your site is compliant for all web browsers. It's harder to make it readable only to Internet Explorer. When I happen upon a commercial website that doesn't render in my Firefox browser I have no choice but to click the "x". If they don't care enough about my business to make sure their page renders in my browser, then why should I care enough to patronize their showroom?

This is something that you should consider when creating a web page or paying someone to create a web page for you. Yes, Internet Explorer comes bundled with the most popular Operating System ever. But it is slowly becoming obsolete when compared to the usability, functionality and personality of Mozilla Firefox. Therefore, the first browser your site should be tested on is Mozilla. If it doesn't render there you need to rework it or rethink your idea of an online business.

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