Chris Erice

All Fired Up

Posted 25 April 2006, 18:23 in Business Technology 1 Comment

Entrepreneur Magazine in an article this month asks if companies should be redesigning their sites to the web standards-compliant Mozilla Firefox browser?

The short answer: absolutely yes! Why you ask? Because there have been over 140 million downloads, and about 40 to 50 million people use Mozilla Firefox as their browser on a daily basis.

Pacific Wings, a new airline in Hawaii, started marketing their company a few months ago. Their TV ads were impressive enough to warrant a visit to their website. Unfortunately, I was greeted with a message stating that my browser of choice was not compatible with their website. This website is also not compatible with Netscape and Safari. It means that all households with a Mac would not be able to book airline tickets with this company.

It boggles my mind why any company, in 2006 I might add, would develop a website to cater to a specific browsing audience. Doing so blocks potential revenue stream from audiences that use different computing platforms or prefer using alternative web browsers.

Companies who are due for a new website should be aware that there are alternative web browsers, and should not block potential business by catering to a single browsing audience. Search for web developers that understands how to create standards compliant websites set by W3C. Doing so will ensure that your potential customers are able to view your website without any problems. Otherwise a TV commercial or marketing campaign like Pacific Wings will not reach its fullest potential, sending marketing dollars down the drain.

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