This issue is most evident when developing web pages that are public facing, which for us here at Zipporah, is the vast majority of solutions we develop. Whilst you can state to a client when developing an internal website which browsers you will support, when developing a web page aimed toward the public, you have to accept the fact that many different browsers may be used, and more than this, many different versions of a single browser (Internet Explorer 7,8,9,10 I'm looking at you) may be used. Each different version can have its own quirks ("features") which need to be factored in when carrying out development and testing, keeping us developers on our toes by requiring smart development by making the code efficient whilst managing these different quirks. It can also increase the volume of testing required, to ensure that us developers have captured these issues.
Of course there needs to be a limit on how far this browser support will go, even when developing public facing web sites, it will inevitably still result in a larger umbrella of support being required.
For the most part, cross-browser compatibility seems to be a trend that has become more of a focus for the major browsers out there. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox in recent years have begun to adopt a rapid release approach to upgrading their browsers. These releases can occur within several weeks of each other and are carried out automatically, helping to quickly quash any bugs found and also prevent users from clinging on to older versions. As the remaining old browsers, such as IE 6, begin to fade out we should start to see less of these issues occurring. However, the ever increasing usage of tablet PC's and smartphones can introduce issues of their own and we as web developers, as ever must endeavour to keep up with these trends in cutting-edge technology in order to survive. See Jonathan's blog on Mobile Development for more on how Zipporah is keeping up with these trends.
Nick Masefield
Web Developer
