SEO Blog

Search Engine Optimisation - IE7 Hack problems - October 25th, 2006

In the past many web developers and search engine optimisation professionals have utilised Internet Explorer CSS hacks to correct a websites design when viewed in IE.

As you are probably aware Microsoft are currently working on the latest version of Internet Explorer (IE 7). In IE7 Microsoft have introduced tabbing systems similar to those in Mozilla Firefox, CSS functionality has been cleaned up and parser bugs removed amongst many other fixes These IE errors have been fixed in IE7, and we are starting to see the first round of sites and pages breaking due to the CSS fixes we have made!

In order for your websites to display properly in IE7 these existing CSS hacks in your pages will need to be cleaned up. To achieve this enter the following code after previous CSS entries in the head section of your HTML document:

<!–[if IE 7]>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style_name.css" type="text/css" />
<![endif]–>

Simply create a stylesheet designed for IE7 with all old CSS hacks removed and reference it in the above line of Jscript, which can only be read by Internet Explorer 7. This ensures that IE7 reads the new CSS file and the site is displayed correctly.

As Microsoft’s IE browser has the largest market share designing sites to be compatible with IE7 is a must for all web developers and search engine optimisation professionals.

Paul Spreadbury
SEO Programmer

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Which Browser? - October 24th, 2006

With the release of Firefox 2.0 today, there is bound to be some debate as to how good the browser really is and how it compares to the recently released IE7. IE is currently the most popular browser, with a market share of around 80% of internet users. However, this popularity does not mean that it is superior to firefox - in fact, the opposite is true. Historically, IE has had many problems displaying HTML and CSS correctly, as it does not support some commonly used attributes. Although IE7 has rectified many of these problems, it still has a long way to go. Firefox’s tabbed browsing has also been adopted by IE7, which is a vast improvement over using multiple windows.

Although IE7 seems to be a big improvement over previous versions, its lack of extensions is another reason why firefox still has the edge. IE7 does support extensions, although they are controlled by Microsoft. This means that the number and diversity of the extensions will not match firefox’s.

There will be many people out there who feel that IE is better than firefox. However, most advanced internet users will agree that firefox is a more user friendly and comprehensive browser and it will be for the foreseeable future.

Dave Stewart
SEO Consultant

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