Why you should upgrade your web browser

Monday, January 16th, 2012

At Album we pretty much live and breathe the web. We know that’s not quite normal, though. In fact, most people don’t even know what kind of web browser they use. They just know which icon to click to get from point A (their desktop) to point B (their email, the news, Facebook, etc.). As common as this might be, it’s important to be aware of the software you use to browse the web and whether you’re running the latest version.

The internet is a fast-paced and innovative platform, but adoption of the latest technologies is often stifled because such a large portion of users are still using old, incompatible browsers. It’s a situation where everyone loses – the outdated users because they’re missing out on a better online experience, and the up-to-date users because web developers are hesitant to utilize new features if only a fraction of their visitors can take advantage. With that said, let’s take a look at some of the specific reasons why everyone who uses the internet should upgrade their web browser.

Security

We’re all concerned about the security of our computers and personal information. Every time a new version of a web browser is released, its primary purpose is usually to fix security holes and bugs that existed in the previous version. Continuing to use an outdated version makes you a target for attackers who know how to exploit those weaknesses in the software.

User Features

Aside from security, new releases of web browsers introduce a ton of convenient new features for users. For example, a big change between Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 was the addition of tabbed browsing. Safari 5 introduced a new Reader mode which strips away all the distracting ads on a web page and just focuses on the page’s text. These features make browsing the web so much more enjoyable!

Technical Features

The part that really makes web developers want to cry is older browsers’ lack of support for HTML5 and CSS3. While these terms mean nothing to the average person, they do impact how websites look and behave. Did you know users of Internet Explorer often don’t get the full experience of a website because their browser doesn’t yet support modern design techniques? It’s true! Microsoft has even launched a campaign to get people to stop using Internet Explorer 6 – a browser they created! – because it doesn’t support today’s web standards. Another fun fact: There are more people browsing the web on mobile devices than there are people using Internet Explorer 6 & 7 combined! There comes a point where web developers stop testing older browsers for compatibility at all because the small number of users makes it difficult to justify spending time troubleshooting issues.

Performance

Put simply, old browsers are as slow as molasses! Upgrading from an aging browser like Internet Explorer 7 to something new like Chrome 16 can feel like switching to a whole new computer. It starts much quicker when you first open it and pages load a ton faster while you’re surfing the web. Who wouldn’t want that?

Recommendations

Ready to upgrade now that you know all you can gain from a modern web browser? Great! The question is, which one should you use? Everyone has their own opinion when it comes to which browser is best, but pretty much everyone agrees on one thing: Don’t use Internet Explorer! It might come bundled with Windows, but IE is far behind Apple’s Safari 5, Mozilla’s Firefox 9, and Google’s Chrome 16. You can’t go wrong with any of these three, especially since they’re free to download for both Macs and PCs.

No Comments | Tags: internet usage
Posted by Anthony in Web Technology

State of the Web

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Before we can even start talking about what’s happening with the web right now, we need to cover a couple of things. First, Apple was right. We are not being biased or anything, but when the now recently resigned CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, suggested we are entering the Post-PC era at D8 in June 2010, he was right. The Internet now is getting accessed by millions of devices that are not PCs. Smartphones, feature phones, tablets, watches, TVs, video game consoles and much more. And the platitude of reasons to access the web is even greater.

The second thing we have to mention, is that one fundamental truth of the web hasn’t changed at all since it was conceived: Content is King. The web is fundamentally a content delivery system. It doesn’t matter if you are reading a web page on a marketing site, checking out your friends status on Facebook or even streaming a movie from Netflix. The main star of the web is and has always been content.

So, why mention these 2 points and how does this help explain the web today?

We are gonna need a bigger boat arm!

The web is a great delivery system.  And now more than ever we have a multitude of devices and channels from which you can deliver your content to your consumers – expanding even more the reach of your message and your company’s online arms. That’s the first challenge of the web in 2011: The different sizes and different capabilities of all these web accessible devices.

Dealing with so many new devices has created a new set of problems and the response to them is called “media queries“. You might have heard about flexible, responsive or adaptive designs. But no matter what technique you apply or what you call it, the beauty of this is you can design your site to fit the screen, and progressively enhance it to make sure it works with all the newest features that all the different browsers allow.

We, at Album, for instance are taking full advantage of media queries on a new site we are designing that has specific features available only for the iPad (This strategy pays off since we know our client’s franchisees will all have iPads, and we can target that specific audience and make their experience even better because of that).

The other thing that is just growing and making its way across the web is content strategy. Because if “Content is King”, content strategy is what can make or break a website. You need both a content strategy and a good understanding of the devices that are available today to be able to deliver your content to the largest audience possible.

And talking about reaching even more people, one of the key things that defines the web right now is the number of new channels available for you to deliver your content. Besides your website, your blog, your Facebook page (which more and more companies favor over their webpages) and Twitter accounts, there is now Google+ accounts (soon to open to businesses), Foursquare, Instagram, and many more. The size of these social channels is so massive right now, that most old media channels, like TV channels and newspapers, have incorporated some use of them. Making them an indispensable part of any content delivery strategy.

That’s it. The web right now is accessed from all sorts of devices, with different sizes, software, and resolutions, and it has more popular platforms and sites than ever. Where do we go from here? In our opinion the Post-PC era Internet will continue to move from your desktop to your pocket, and mobile devices will pretty soon overtake your living room and replace the way you watch consume TV (if it hasn’t done that already).

No Comments | Tags: internet trends, internet usage, media
Posted by Michel in Web Technology

State of the Internet

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

When creating an Internet marketing campaign, you need to know who is online, where they are going, what sites they visit most frequently, what attracts them to certain pages, what types of ads are they clicking on, how do they gather information, etc.

There are various sources of information that helps divide the demographic information and usage habits to better understand what is happening. However, there aren’t many things that are more understandable and fun (for the lack of a better word) than infographics and videos. Below you can see some useful ones that I located for you Album Admirers. Enjoy!

No Comments | Tags: demographic info, Internet marketing, internet trends, internet usage, site visits
Posted by Paulina in Market Research

‘Augmented (Hyper)Reality’ by Keiichi

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Keiichi has an interesting look at what the future may look like. Advertisement’s on every panel. Instant recipes accessed with a virtual keyboard. Virtual displays for all your products, and content levels on each. Event alerts for mediocre activities like your water is done boiling and your running low on milk. You can connect to millions of people by simply changing your view. Pretty amazing all the detail for what looks to be a low budget animation filmed in his kitchen.

Mike Judge has a different take on the future, what do you think?

Found via Kitsune Noir.

No Comments | Tags: internet trends, internet usage, retail
Posted by Nick in Web Technology

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