In a web design, browser compatibility is important so that most if not all users will be able to connect to your website. The reality is that users use different browsers and old versions of some browsers still do exist in older and almost antiquated computers. A good web design should satisfy the specifications of at least the 5 most popular browsers.

Here are some simple steps of checking browser compatibility:

1. Download Firefox and install.
2. Update Internet Explorer.
3. Download IE Tester and install (for testing different versions of IE).
4. Download Chrome and install.
5. Download Safari and install.
(This will cover most of your bases)

Most general visitors to your website will still be coming via one of the versions of Internet Explorer. A lot of web design companies and web developers that I know will use Firefox for example. It is just so good for developing and designing, with some really cool addons that help the process along. Then there are Google Chrome, Safari for the Mac, and Opera. As a general rule of thumb, if your website design displays well in Firefox, it will probably be just about fine in Chrome, Safari and others.

The exception in most cas
es is Internet Explorer, which has some funny quirks (it's well-loved by the web design community, honestly...). Recently, some big hitters in the online world including Facebook announced they would be ceasing support for Internet Explorer Version 6 for example. It's just become too costly for them to make their websites work in older versions of IE with all its foibles.

Testing for Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera can be done easily enough from any PC, as you can download the browsers for free. Internet Explorer however is a different kettle of fish. The problem is, it ships with most PC's that are sold with the Windows operating system, and as that has been the dominating force in terms of OS's since the Stone Age, this means any old PC in an office environment is probably running some older version of Internet Explorer.

It's often a major hassle for larger businesses to upgrade their software, so consequently, a large percentage of your visitors will still be using an out of date, ugly and old version of IE. This is where IE Tester comes in handy, do a quick search on Google, download it free, and you'll be able to see how your website looks in different versions of IE (the other workarounds involve using separate machines with different versions of IE installed, or installing Virtual Machines on your PC - IE Tester is easier, trust me.