It has been reported that despite the availability of browsers like Opera and Mozilla web authors still aren't writing pages which work well with them. This is due to the vast majority of Internet users using Microsoft's product and it shows that web designers are still not making sites that conform to the variety of standards used by current browsers.
One of the latest sites to ignore users of gecko-based browsers such as Netscape 6 is the photo print shop Shutterfly, which was founded by the original Netscape co-founder (before AOL took over). There is a clear warning showing that these browsers are incompatible and from a person who promised a way around Microsoft's browser this is a punch in the face for people not wishing to use IE.
Pages written for IE often don't conform to the same standards as those used in browsers such as Opera, iCab and Mozilla and web developers are choosing to ignore the users of such applications and are focussing on developing sites for IE. This is due to surveys which have shown that between 85% and 95% of users currently use IE (several surveys have shown different results).
According to a member of the standards organisation W3C, taking to ZDNet, sites "are saying, 'We're only interested in people if they use this browser'. That's a mistake on their part. The browser is a basic utility for people, and it's about having access to information regardless of who made that information or what authoring tool they used."
Many of the problems in other browsers are due to the proprietary parts of the IE code and these are called the "legacy of Microsoft's manoeuvres to become the leader in the browser market" on Mozilla.com. AOL have recently increased their funding into Netscape and the Mozilla project and claim in the next release up to 98% of sites will work with Netscape.
News source: ZDNet
