We like to create understanding here at Lemonly. It’s our mission.

So when we talk browser support with clients, it’s crucial that they understand why we support which browsers, and why their audiences might need more support.

Which brings us to the first term you need to know.

Browser support

When making websites, we define rules that determine layout, colors, fonts and many other design characteristics. The browser can read those rules, and if it knows how to interpret them, it will show the website as intended.

Sometimes browsers don’t know what a rule means, and other times one browser will interpret a rule differently than another.

For example, the image below shows which versions of Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Chrome will display a video element.

In this case, anyone using Internet Explorer 8 would not be able to see the video.

So with everything you’ve read so far being the context, let’s dive into what browser support means. Browser support entails the versions of browsers that will display a site correctly.

There are two things to consider when deciding upon which browsers to support: Audience and Presentation.

Audience

The bottomline: You want as many people as possible to see your website in its proper form.

Using a tool like Google Analytics, clients can see which browsers their audience uses most. If 90% of site visitors are using an iPhone 4 to see your site, you’ll want your site to look best on an iPhone 4.

Presentation

If you support older browsers, your presentation will be more limited. Things like animation show poorly, or not at all, on older browsers.

To engage viewers on the ever-distracting internet, it’s important to allow your site to use a wide array of creative tools like animation, interactivity and fresh layouts.

What Lemonly Supports By Default

With audience and presentation in mind, Lemonly supports the previous two versions of all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Microsoft Edge/Internet Explorer). Microsoft Edge is taking the place of Internet Explorer, so as more people adopt Edge, support will curtail for IE.

We also support the native browsers on the previous two operating systems of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

Globally, our baseline support currently represents 70% of internet users but when we account for our clients’ numbers, that number raises to 90-95% .

The final factor Lemonly considers when offering browser support is our developers’ time. It’s more manageable and efficient for developers to focus on modern browsers, when testing and implementing newer features.

Versions of Browsers Lemonly Supports

And If You Need More

If more browser support is needed, developers will estimate the time it will take to implement features on a project-by-project basis.

Often, browser support is an unclear topic, but clarifying difficult subjects is what Lemonly does best. Email hello@lemonly.com if you have any questions, and we look forward to building more compelling websites, tailored to fit our clients’ audiences.