Browsers 5BrowsersA Variety ofBrowsersWeb Design in a Nutshell, eMatter Editionhorrified to see their site design (which works perfectly in all the major browsers)
once it’s been run through the AOL system and spit out in one of their browsers.
The difference is partly due to AOL’s reliance on proxy servers and image
compression techniques. Their image compression is known to have problems
displaying JPEG graphics, resulting in blotchy and color-streaked images (see
Chapter 15,JPEG Format, for more information). Problems have also been noted
in the display of background images.
In addition, some technologies, such as Java and Cascading Style Sheets are not
available to users with Windows 3.0 (approximately 40% of AOL’s audience). Java-
Script (and many other features) will not work for AOL’s Macintosh users
(approximately 8%).
Fortunately, AOL publishes a site specifically for web developers who want their
sites to be accessible and attractive for AOL users. Of particular use is the browser
chart, which provides a specific listing of each of its browsers (by release and plat-
form), the technologies and features supported, and a breakdown in percentage of
users for each browser.
AOL’s web developer’s site can be found athttp://webmaster.info.aol.com/.
WebTV
WebTV brings web surfing to the living room with a set-top box, an ordinary tele-
vision, and a remote control (an optional keyboard is also available). WebTV uses
its own specialized browser for viewing web pages. It does a respectable job of
parsing standard HTML 3.2, but is unable to display frames, Java, JavaScript,
ActiveX, or any format that requires a plug-in (except Shockwave Flash and
RealAudio 3.0, which are built in). They have also created many new proprietary
HTML tags for use only with WebTV.
Because WebTV displays web pages on televisions, it introduces new concerns
regarding color and screen real estate. This unique browsing environment is
discussed further in Chapter 2,Designing for a Variety of Displays.
WebTV publishes a developers’ resource called “Primetime,” where you can find
specific information regarding developing sites for WebTV, including a list of the
WebTV proprietary tags. WebTV Primetime can be found athttp://www.webtv.net/
primetime/.
A search for “WebTV” on Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) retrieves a number of
other useful WebTV resources.
Opera
Opera is a lean and mean little browser created by Opera Software in Oslo,
Norway. It is currently only available for the Windows platform, although a Mac
version is in the works. As this book goes to press, Opera costs $35 (that’s $
more than Navigator or Internet Explorer), but it boasts extremely quick down-
load times and a small minimal disk requirement (just under 1.2 MB). Opera is
respected for its exact compliance with HTML standards. Sloppy tagging that gets