Surely the main consideration for any web designer is to make sure that the
page is accessible to the target audience.
E.G.
The internal department pages I write can be written for the latest MS &
Netscape browsers because I know that's what people within the Uni are
using. The staff-only pages can make use of plug-ins because staff can
install these, but plug-in bits would be no good for the students. Equally,
on pages that need to be viewed internationally, I always make sure that I
keep file sizes down (below 30K) if possible because of modem speeds, which
isn't necessary for internal pages because of the network. If I'm writing
pages for diabled staff or students, then I take that into account with the
design; etc. etc.
It should always be possible to identify your target audience, otherwise it
suggests that your site isn't well researched. If this audience is very
wide, and you want your site to be accessible to them all, then you have no
choice but to keep things simple, see
http://www.tlc-systems.com/webtips.shtml for a few tips.
As for writing for a particular browser, this is just something we have to
live with. I would suggest that you write 'optimised for xxx' or 'best
viewed with xxx' which is a way of saying to the surfer 'this page may look
a bit crummy in your browser, blame the hardware and software developers for
competing against each other and making life difficult for all of us'.
Helen
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