Definition of Browser Compatibility

Web browsers are used to translate HTML documents and portray them as formatted webpages. However, not all web browsers have the same capacity. Therefore, browser compatibility comes into play when browsing the Internet. Each browser uses its own set of rules to translate HTML documents, creating differences in webpage displays and presentations. Specifically, not all browsers have kept up with technology and they do not understand all of the language that is placed on the Web. Information that a browser cannot translate is simply ignored and omitted from the page presentation.

Browser-specific HTML tags and attributes have added to the problem. The older the version of a browser is, the more difficulty it will have translating certain webpages for viewing. Upgrading their browser is not something that web users do on a regular basis, further complicating the problem. In particular, older browsers do not support CSS or Cascading Style Sheets.

External links:

• Detailed browser compatibility tutorial
• A list of different browser features
• Browser useage statistics