What is this about? Web Standards.
This web site makes extensive use of modern web technologies. If you followed a link from one of my pages to this document then you may be using a browser that does not support the internet technologies used to display these pages correctly.
Although advanced technologies like CSS are used, this site is designed to be accessible to anyone who visits it with an internet device capable of understanding HTML, such devices include aural browsers, visual browsers and haptic browsers. If you are using an older browser, then upgrading to a newer version may help you to fully appreciate this page, and others that use similar technologies. A table for text browsers is included because they are often used in conjunction with screen readers or braille readers.
Where to get a new browser
If you are using an older version of a browser then a more modern version of the browser you are currently using may be a good choice. Below is a small selection of some browsers which may provide you with a better user experience.
Visual Browsers
| Browser Name | Operating System | Brief Description | Link to Product Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netscape | Windows | Popular browser (based on Mozilla) that provides a good support for web technologies. | www.netscape.com |
| Internet Explorer | Windows, Macintosh, Unix | Popular internet browser, good support for many of the web standards such as CSS. | Windows version, Macintosh version and Unix Version |
| Opera | Windows, Macintosh, Linux, QNX, OS/2, Symbian OS, Solaris | Internet browser that supports web standards, relatively small download size. | www.opera.com |
| Mozilla | Windows, Macintosh, AIX, Linux, OpenVMS, HPUX, FreeBSD | Popular browser with developers. Excellent support for web standards such as CSS. | www.mozilla.org |
| Konqueror | Linux, Unix | www.konqueror.org | |
| IBM Web Browser | OS2/Warp | http://www-4.ibm.com/software/os/warp/browser/ |
Aural Browsers
| Browser Name | Operating System | Brief Description | Link to Product Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emacspeak | Linux | Supports aural style sheets. | http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/ |
| WebSound | Windows | An extended visual WWW browser for visually impaired and blind computer users. In conjunction with a graphic tablet or a touch sensitive screen, blind users can perform an "audio-haptic exploration" of an HTML document in order to understand not only its content but also its 2D visual information (i.e the document layout). | http://websound.unige.ch |
Braille Browsers
| Browser Name | Operating System | Brief Description | Link to Product Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| BrailleSurf | Windows | Allows a simplified reading of information available on the Web. Shows this information in a text form. This information can then be displayed on a braille bar. | www.snv.jussieu.fr/inova/bs4/uk/ |
Text Browsers
| Browser Name | Operating System | Brief Description | Link to Product Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lynx | Windows, Unix, VMS, DOS, OS/2 EMX | Popular text-based browser. | lynx.browser.org |
| Links | Windows, Mac OSX, Unix, OS/2, BeOS | Text-based browser with support for HTML tables and frames. | links.sourceforge.net/ |
If you are interested in learning more about web technologies such as cascading style sheets then visit my WebDev pages. This page was inspired by the web standards project browser upgrade initiative. The web standards project pushed for greater support of the core webstandards such as HTML, CSS, ECMAScript and the Document Object Model. The browser upgrade initiative promotes the use of browsers that support these standards so that the web can be a more accessible place.