By Eddy R.
10/05/99

Have you ever seen web pages that look different when viewed with different browsers? For instance, a web page might look very neat in Internet Explorer but will look awful in Netscape Navigator.

The reason why web pages look different in browsers is because of the way browsers interpret the HTML found in such pages. Since consistency is a must in web building, web builders must make sure that the web pages they create have a consistent look when viewed with different browsers.

Though there isn't a best way to accomplish consistency (at least until companies that create browsers decide to implement standards the way they ought to be implemented), web builders can make sure that the web pages they create look the way they are intended to look by constantly checking their pages for browser compatibility and making the necessary changes to accomplish a consistent look.

As a rule of thumb, every web builder should check their pages for compatibility at least in both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator - the two most popular browsers. Other browsers web builders can use are Opera and NeoPlanet.

Checking for browser compatibility can derive in many benefits. For instance, your site's audience might consider your site as being the work of a professional (because it has a consistent look in different browsers), and best of all, your site's traffic might increase.