Browser-specific Web Sites. Good or Bad - Essay Example

Browser-specific web browser Introduction According to Welling & Thomson (20082009), browser specific web-sitesare designed to use specific tags, style-sheet, and scripts for visitors who wish to use the browser. Nowadays, there are several browser specific websites like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox among others. It is very important that any user wishing to use a particular browser must be well aware of how that particular browser interprets the HTML information of the web page. The browser specific design techniques differ and individual users’ are left to choose which browsers they prefer.
The development of browser specific websites has come a long way from when Netscape and Internet Explorer who were the major players in the market. During this development, the various browsers developed HTML tags that could only work with a particular browser. The browser specific elements like the HTML tag are specific to individual browsers. For instance, the Netscape blink set of tags specifically apply to Netscape. Other social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Google + etcetera are designed to be browser specific sites. Setting up the web sites to be viewed using particular web browsers leads to both merits and demerits. (Negrino & Smith, 2009)
According to Manian, (2012), the merits resulting from browser specific sites are as follows. Firstly they are good for companies that employ a standard browser and thus the time and cost incurred in designing the website will be much lower. Secondly, they provide rewards and incentives at different locations. They can also be used to generate badges that people unlock when writing something detailed at a given place. Another merit is that, people who work with recycling can be heard directly by the audience. More so, have the benefits of sharing experiences or opinions about news and events. It personalizes and localizes recycling. One may draft posts and publish them later.
It has irregular and spread out updates. Securing the web browser eliminates computer problems which are always caused by spyware being installed without the users’ knowledge to intruders taking control of the computer. In addition, it enhances access to cloud services is properly managed and audited in spite of whether the employees are working within or outside the corporate firewall. Browser specific websites hold up conformity reporting and forensics by giving the option to capture a screen-shot of browser content and create a visual audit trail of interactions with managed applications. Lastly, it enables the efficiency of a single sign out across a wide of devices.
Meloni, (2004) asserts that, the browser specific websites are problematic in that browser specific scripts or tags do not work in other websites especially if the script employed uses objects not listed in the Document Object Model of that specific websites. Another disadvantage is that using browser specific cascading style-sheet may cause problems to other browsers such as IE hacks. There is a higher probability that potential customers who may want to use your website will be turned away if they cannot use your website.
Moreover, the maintenance cost involved is quite high as the browsers change regularly. The browser specific scripts need dedication to writing. Another demerit is that it has the possibility to be time consuming that is keeping up with present proceedings for exactness. Another thing is that the browser specific scripts resemble writing a short webpage for every new post. It is not easy to administer as compared to shorter tweets. Lastly, internet users encounter common problem concerning pages are messed up and not aligned for instance you open up Firefox browser and find everything looks well but when you open up Internet explorer the pages gets jumbled up.
Conclusion
A lot of considerations have to be done when using the web specific browsers. It majorly depends on what you want to achieve in your website. It is clearly seen what it amounts to, by the above effects.
References
Manian, D. (2012). HTML5 Boilerplate Web Development. Birmingham: Packt Pub.
Meloni, J. C. (2004). PHP 5 fast & easy web development (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson
Course Technology.
Negrino, T., & Smith, D. (2009). Styling web pages with CSS. Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit.
Welling, L., & Thomson, L. (20082009). PHP and MySQL Web development (4th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. Read More