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I recently attended a presentation at a meeting of local Web developers.

Shocking. I know. (I don't do things like this often, partly because — like Groucho Marx — I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would accept people like me as a member.)

Ba da bing!

Seriously, though...

One of the topics covered was how different browsers (and even different versions of the same browsers) render Web pages differently — and what Web designers should do about this.

You probably don't really know or care about this problem — except, perhaps, for occasional encounters with Web pages that say this...

The folks who built the site you were trying to visit have directed you to this page because your browser does not support accepted web standards. Or you may have followed a link to this page in order to learn more about upgrading your browser.

You probably don't know we Web developers have been fighting against browsers that don't fully support Web standards — and going through gyrations to accommodate the variations — for years.

Most of us (nSiteful included) have taken the "degrade gracefully" approach: designing sites which render properly in browsers that support Web standards and which don't "fall apart" in those that don't.

With the passage of time (and pressure placed on the browser makers by The Web Standards Project and others), things have gotten somewhat better. To whit, today's noncompliant browsers are still better than yesterday's "Netscape 4.x". But the problem hasn't gone away, and it won't any time soon.

We try our best to make each Web site look the same in all major browsers (sometimes spending hours trying to line up the background graphics that show up as rounded corners in sidebar boxes), but cross-browser perfection is not within our grasps.

So you can imagine my interest was piqued when the post-presentation discussion (we're back at the meeting of local Web developers, in case I got you confused) turned to this age-old (or at least decade-old) question:

How can I make sure this Web design displays as it should?

The first answer — and the nods and yeas it invited — disappointed me:

Just instruct your visitors to download the newest version of the browser; with high-speed Internet connections, it's easier than ever.

I couldn't disagree more.

I and my fellow Web designer might spend 16 hours a day at our computers. We might download and install software upgrades and demos and browser plugins ten times a week or more. We might think nothing of rebooting our computers multiple times in the course of a workday. (Actually, I hate that.)

But we're not typical Web surfers.

Typical Web surfers (like most of nSiteful's clients) have better things to do than upgrade browsers. In fact, I can't tell you how many of my clients still ask, "What's a browser?" when I ask them what browser they're using. Some of you couldn't upgrade your browsers even if you wanted to because of IT standards at your places of business.

There's another reason I disagree with the idea that Web designers should dictate which browsers you should use: Democracy.

The Web is an extremely democratic phenomenon, and I'd like it to stay that way.

Sometimes I like to be able to turn off JavaScript when visiting a Web site. Sometimes I like to disable style rules (usually to turn off annoying color schemes). Sometimes I like to make the text on a Web site larger (you knew you could do that, right?) for readability. In other words, I like to be in control of my Web surfing experience; and I bet you do, too.

There's a name for Web sites that look exactly like the designer intended in every browser and on every computer platform: Flash.

And don't get me started on all-Flash Web sites...

PS: I have a feeling that if any of my fellow/lady local Web designers read this blog entry, my fear of belonging might be moot.