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Digital Hit's Browser & Design Info

You're probably reading this page because you clicked on a lil' graphic that looked something like this:

As a matter of fact, it looked exactly like that.

You may also be wondering why you saw that graphic in the first place. There are a number of reasons why you could see it. I'll list them below and then address each one:


  1. You're one of about 9% of the people that visits DigitalHit.com using an older browser.
  2. You're surfing the site with some versions of a handheld device, like a Palm Pilot or a web-enabled phone.
  3. You're surfing the site with a newer browser, but you have your CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) option turned off.
  4. Aliens are forcing you to see it that way.

Now to address these:

  1. Short answer: The page that you saw the graphic on was redesigned as part of a move to a more accessible way of coding our web pages. As the graphic says, the redesigned pages will look much better (styles and colors and bears, oh my!) in newer browsers that support current standards, but (and this is a big but) the information is accessible to all browsers and gadgets, including those that aid people with various disabilities.

    Longer answer: The older versions of many browsers were cobbled together with a mix of standards and proprietary methods. It's like the old joke that asks, "What's an elephant? A horse designed by a committee."

    Web designers had to learn how to code to the quirks of these browsers and that's why you used to see many web sites displaying notices like "Best viewed with Internet Explorer" or "Optimised for Netscape". It's as if the television networks told you that you could only watch Friends with an RCA television while The West Wing could only be seen with a round Panasonic TV powered by hamsters.

    Groups like the Web Standards Project pushed hard for the browser manufacturers to make their software support the W3C standards. We are now at the point where the latest versions of the various browsers are now darn close to supporting all the standards. That means that web designers can start coding their pages to fully separate style ("make the left side of the page blue, indent all the paragraphs and make the font Times New Roman") from content ("And the winner of the Best Actor award is...")

    These changes still ensure the presentation of the site looks the same in newer browsers. Removing all the old behind-the-scenes gobbledygook has made it much easier for the info to be accessed by people with disabilities or those using phones and other gadgets. Those folks don't need all the bells and whistles. They need the information. If a simple redesign can help a blind visitor with a screen reader join the web community while still keeping the styling for our sighted visitors, I see no reason not to do it. Also less "gobbledygook" means that the pages load faster, saving you time.

    Should you or can you upgrade your browser? We'll have more on that after this list.
  2. If you're surfing with a PDA or phone, your system probably doesn't support the "bells and whistles." But you still get the "meat and potatoes."
  3. If you're using a browser that's version 5.x or above and you saw the graphic, look under the options or preferences menu and see if you can turn on stylesheets.
  4. Just be glad that's all the aliens are doing.

Okay, now on to the upgrade questions:

We'll slowly be moving all of our site to this new design method. We hope that you'll understand the reasons and benefits and support this move.

Ian Evans - Webmaster