Those of us who are “of a certain age” may remember an album called Tubular Bells. This was one of the great vinyl albums of the 70′s/80′s and featured instrumentalist Mike Oldfield playing just about every instrument on it and not much else. Although the master of ceremonies (Vivian Stanshall) who introduced each instrument in turn also became a cult figure at the time.
The album was fantastic, I was completely addicted as were an awful lot of other people at the time but the thing that really captured my imagination was the humorous comment in the small print on the back of the album. This was the part where albums usually stated that they were recorded in “stereo” and so should be played on “stereo” equipment, although Mono equipment would do at a pinch. The message on the back of the album simply said
“This stereo record cannot be played on old tin boxes no matter what they are fitted with. If you are in possession of such equipment please hand it into the nearest police station.”
Unfortunately web browsers don’t come with such a warning.
Your web browser is the thing that you use to view the Internet, so invariably most computer users will spend an awful lot of time using it, but are you using an old tin box to visit your favourite websites and web-based applications?
The most popular Internet browser out there is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer with version 8 being the most popular, and 9 the most modern. The problem is that these are also the browsers that cause most problems!
To make matters worse many users are stuck with version 7 or even 6! The majority of modern websites no longer support, or in other words “no longer work well with” version 6 and more, ourselves included are extending that limitation to include version 7.
As the technologies and tools that developers use to create websites and applications continue to evolve, your old browser doesn’t, unless of course you upgrade to a later version. So our advice is clear, make sure you or using the latest possible version of your browser of choice. We further extend that advice to suggest that the modern browsers from Mozilla or Google (Chrome) will significantly enhance your web experience by making it quicker, cleaner and more reliable.
Both of these browsers are available free of charge, click on the links to download them!
It may speed up your day and avoid the need to visit your local police station with your old browser!