Build it and they will come, but will they stay or come back?
In the past couple of days I’ve run across several blogs that aren’t displaying well in Internet Explorer (IE). I’m still using version 6 since our local Tucson MLS isn’t compatible with IE 7 (yet).
I know a lot of blogger’s hate IE. But you can’t refute that more than 80% of all people viewing the web are still using it as their browser. Yes, some prefer Firefox, other Opera, and that is your preference and you can argue superiority till the cows come home. It doesn’t matter. What matters most is what are my readers using to view my blog.
The point is this:
- You put a lot of work into your blog.
- You spend time writing and formating your posts.
- You edit the images you want people to see.
- You set the navigation and layout so it is easy for readers to find what they want.
- You tweak your blog so it looks just the way you want it.
Then you look at it in your favorite browser after you publish and if you like the way it looks you go on about your business.
What do you think your readers think when they come to read your blog and find:
- The navigation has disappeared from the screen.
- The post is running behind the navigation and they can’t read the end of each line.
- The images aren’t appearing in all of your posts.
- The layout is scrambled badly.
Here are a couple of examples from popular blogs that are currently running a muck in IE 6
Maureen Francis The Scoop on Michigan Real Estate
As it appears in Firefox
As it appears in IE 6 notice the image is gone from the post.
Jim Duncan Real Central VA
This one is fixed. It had the right navigation over the post.
Jim worked on this a couple of days back. He had inserted code from mybloglog into his right navigation. The width of the code settings pushed the right nav over top the post. Jim had to change the width setting to put the right nav back where it belonged.
Yes, it take some extra time to see how your blog appears in a different browser, but as this post demonstrates it is worth the time it takes.
For those of us that come back again and again to a blog, we know it wasn’t always like this and we will be back. What about first time readers? Do you think they will come back? Maybe.
No matter your feelings about IE, it a reality we bloggers must live with. I suggest these two things.
- At least check how your blog appears in IE after you post or make changes to your blog. You don’t have to make it your home browers.
- If you find anyones blog that you read regularly and it appears to have an issue of formatting in a browser. Leave them an email or comment stating the issue and the browser you are using.
It is hard work to keep a blog up and running. This is one step we don’t want to leave out of the process.
P.S. My apologies to Maureen. I didn’t want you to fix these before I could get the screen captures I needed for this post. In the future if I see something I promise I’ll let you know.
P.S.S. Wouldn’t you know it, I published, then found a typo and when I saved good old Wordpress editor blew out the formatting on the blog. I had to leave for an appointment, so I took the post down to draft mode till I could fix it. Then I see Mary and Maureen both had visited the blog. Good old RSS and backlinks. I removed the offending close div tag and all appears to be well. I better check it in Firefox.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.Yeah Right !
