What Does the Demise of Internet Explorer Mean for the Future of Website Design?

On January 21, 2015, web developers everywhere let out a great collective sigh of relief. Why? Because that was the day Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will ship with a brand new browser, code-named “Project Spartan,” thus effectively signaling the inevitable demise of the old stalwart Internet Explorer. According to Microsoft, Spartan is designed to provide a more interoperable and reliable experience with advanced features including the ability to annotate web pages, a distraction-free reading experience and integration of Cortana for finding and doing things online faster. While this all might sound appealing to the average user, it is particularly welcome news for web developers, for whom Internet Explorer has long been regarded as the very bane of their existence. You see, each browser interprets code in different ways, and each has different versions that offer different capabilities. While Chrome, Firefox and Safari do have their differences, for the most part they have the same capabilities. However, Internet Explorer, or IE, has historically been the odd one out, notorious for causing issues for website designers due to its lack of capabilities, especially in older versions like IE7 and IE8 (which, for example, does not support such simple design elements as rounded corners and text shadows). But while web devs are raising their glasses to toast IE’s impending downfall, you’re probably left with more than a few questions. After all, since IE has been the standard Windows browser since the mid-1990s, that little blue “e” icon has become synonymous with the Internet for many everyday users. So what exactly does Microsoft’s decision to do away with Internet Explorer mean for you – and most importantly – for your website? Let’s explore (no pun intended).

The challenges of IE

On today’s Web, the various browser manufacturers have agreed on a certain set of standards that they will all obey. This is incredibly important for web designers (and, by extension, for businesses that have websites), because it means that as long as your website conforms to those agreed upon standards, it should be displayed in a fairly consistent manner no matter which browser a visitor uses to access your site. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. In the mid-to-late 1990’s, Microsoft was engaged in a heated race for market share with the other most popular browser of the day, Netscape Navigator. Instead of agreeing on a singular set of standards, these two companies tried to outdo each other by adding proprietary features to their software that would interpret and display websites differently. This created a lose-lose scenario for web designers and businesses, as it meant that you either had to develop two different versions of your site (one for each popular browser) or dictate which browser visitors should use (this is why it became commonplace to see disclaimers on sites reading something like “Best viewed in Internet Explorer 4”).  This exclusive approach is what led some companies to build the software they use to run their business for those specific platforms. Even now, almost 20 years later, companies that continue to use that software may still be dictating that their employees must use a woefully outdated browser. This is where IE begin to falter, especially in the court of public opinion. As newer browsers, such as Google’s Chrome – which now ranks as the most popular according to many studies – began to enter the market, people started using them at home. They quickly discovered that these modern browsers were not only much faster but that they also included many new features and capabilities. It didn’t take long for consumers to develop a strong preference for these newer browsers and to begin pushing back against their IT departments’ requirements that were keeping them shackled to antiquated versions of IE at the office.

Microsoft realizes the problem

You might think that Microsoft would love any scenario in which people are forced to use their browser. On the contrary, however, it has created a major PR problem for them. The same IT departments that would not allow employees make the switch to a new browser also prevented them from upgrading to newer versions of Internet Explorer. The reality is that those new versions of IE are very capable browsers that, like the others on the market today, conform to the standards that are an important part of modern web design. Microsoft wants customers to begin using these new versions of their software because the continued use of versions that were originally released 10 years ago or more has created a vey negative perception of their product in the marketplace that has tainted the Internet Explorer brand as a whole.

The struggles of web designers

While old versions of web browsers certainly pose problems for consumers, they are doubly challenging for web designers and for the companies they build sites for. Testing newly developed websites in legacy browsers to ensure reliable backwards compatibility  is a critical step in the process that requires significant time and effort, creating overhead that adds to the timeline and budget of every project. Exactly how many people are visiting your site with those outdated browsers? It depends on the nature of your business. For instance, my company works primarily with IT professionals, and our traffic numbers indicate that the majority of our audience uses newer browsers (including many on mobile devices). As a result, we don’t need to develop and test for very old browsers because our visitors simply aren’t using them. However, if your business serves a more broad base of consumers – and especially if many of your customers are likely to be older and/or less tech savvy – it is important to ensure that your site performs equally well on new and old browsers alike. A good place to start is by examining the analytics data for your site, which can tell you which browsers are being used to access your site. One of the nice things about newer browsers like Chrome and Firefox (and even current versions of IE) is that they auto-update. This means that they automatically download and install their own updates so we no longer need to worry about radically outdated versions of the software. However, older versions of IE do not do this, which is why we still struggle to support software that came out over 10 years ago. With Microsoft’s new browser – which we expect will include auto-update approach – we may hopefully have arrived at a point where even that legacy software is forced to be rewritten for the new age and we can all say a final goodbye to outdated browsers.

Better days ahead

So what does the emergence of Project Spartan mean for your business and your website? In the short term, you may not feel an immediate impact, but you likely will begin to reap the benefits in the not-too-distant future. If Microsoft succeeds in its objective of transitioning customers away from old versions of IE and adopting their new Project Spartan (or other more current and capable browsers), by the next time you are ready for a redesign, the amount of time required for browser testing may be significantly reduced because the browser landscape will have gotten less diverse with the continued shift away from those legacy browsers, which can only mean good things for your project budget! Another benefit will be a greatly reduced potential for users to encounter problems on your site due to browser compatibility issues, which of course means less chance that a frustrated visitor will need to call your company for support (best-case scenario) or will give up on your site and go elsewhere (worst-case scenario). Finally, the release of a new, more capable option from a company that has been at the forefront of browsers for years (despite popular opinion, Microsoft remains a power player in the world of the Web) is a great thing because it gives users more options. And if Microsoft is successful, their competitors will inevitably up their game as well – and that is good news for everyone!

Don’t throw dirt on IE’s grave just yet

While there is certainly much to look forward to with the future release of Project Spartan, unfortunately, we can’t call time of death on IE yet (as much as we might like to). As AdWeek’s Krista Monllos explained to NPR, Spartan is in for an uphill battle: “By introducing a new browser, you're asking people to change their daily habits. If someone is used to Chrome or used to whatever it is they use, they probably don't want to change.” After all, Internet Explorer still accounts for almost a quarter of the present-day desktop browser market, and IE8 is still used by almost seven percent of people in the United Sates. Therefore, moving forward, it will be important to keep a finger on the pulse of the shift in these numbers – as well as any changing trends in your own analytics data – in order to ensure that your site is designed and tested to serve the needs of your users, no matter where they may fall in the continuum of browser evolution.

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Six Lessons from the Google School of Logo Design for a Digital World

Recently, Google set the design world abuzz when they unveiled their new brand identity. Gone was the familiar, sophisticated serif font reminiscent of classic books and newspapers that rolled off the printing presses. In its place, a new mark that retains Google’s trademark rainbow of colors but with a new sans-serif typeface of the company’s own creation called “Product Sans.” Love it or hate it, Google’s reasoning behind their redesign and what they hope to achieve with this new logo offer some interesting insights that any company in today’s multi-screen, multi-device world should take into consideration.

1. Size matters.

In their article rolling out the redesign, Google cites the need to “create a scalable mark that could convey the feeling of the full logotype in constrained spaces” as one of the challenges that they wanted to address. The need to consider a variety of screen sizes has become incredibly important over the past few years with the growing adoption of small-screened devices – from mobile phones to wearables like smartwatches. The relatively tiny screens on these devices put space at a premium, and most brand marks that were created prior to the advent of these small screens struggle to adapt to a much smaller canvas. For a visual brand to be successful in today’s world, you must ensure that it can scale and adapt to work effectively on any screen size or device.

2. You must consider the whole ecosystem.

In the not-too-distant past, when designing a new visual identity, there were only a limited number of applications that had to be taken into consideration: business cards, letterhead, signage, collateral materials, ads, product packaging, etc. This is why many early websites were little more than digital brochures. Companies took what they already understood (printed brochures) and tried to port them over to a brand new medium (the Web). This was obviously not an optimal solution, and since then, web design has come a long way from the days of static brochure sites. In much the same way, it’s time for logo design to evolve by taking into account the full array of digital platforms in which brands must reside today, including websites, mobile apps and social media sites, just to name a few. Taken as a whole, these make up a complex ecosystem with different channels that build upon and feed off of others. As a result, Google’s new identity takes the form not of a singular logo but of a system comprised of three “elemental states” that are flexible enough to be used across all mediums and platforms:

• Google logotype: The sans serif logtype retains Google’s signature multi-color sequence.
• Dots: A dynamic distillation of the logotype that takes the form of four animated, perpetually moving dots that are used for interactive, assistive and transitional moments.
• Google G: A compact version of the Google logo that works in small contexts.

When evaluating your own logo and how it translates across different platforms and channels, it’s important to make sure that all of its elements and iterations work together seamlessly so that they feel connected to your core brand identity in order to protect the integrity of your brand throughout the ecosystem.

3. There’s more to logo design than choosing a typeface.

Talk to someone who does not understand the nuances of design, and they are likely to assume that the process of creating a logo is comprised of little more than selecting an attractive font and maybe adding an illustrated icon in front of it. In truth, however, logo design is its own unique and complex discipline. Just as Google did, any successful logo design process must consider the weight and legibility of that logo along with “spacing, clearance rules, and specification for in-product treatments.” It also must factor in big-picture thinking, such as how the logo will transform in various applications (when it must be displayed in black and white versus full color, for example) and whether it sets the right tone for the brand. Yes, using attractive letterforms is part of designing a quality logo, but this process goes way deeper than just font selection.

4. Performance matters.

How quickly a website loads is more important today than ever before. With mobile devices making up a larger and larger percentage of website traffic, and with emerging countries becoming an important part of the audience on the Web, the need to create sites that load quickly for all users is paramount. To accomplish this, website designers must look for ways to streamline a site’s overall file size. The new Google logo is only 305 bytes, which is a significant decrease from the old logo, which weighed in at ~14,000 bytes. Google actually had to deliver a text-based, non-image version of their old logo in some instances, but the new one is so small that it can be delivered to all connections, keeping the brand identity consistent. Overall performance is critical to the success of a website – after all, no one ever complains that a site loads too fast. You may not be thinking about download size and performance when creating a logo, but you should be, because improved performance should be a thread that runs through every decision you make on your website. Better performance can mean happier visitors, improved search engine rankings and better conversions rates for your website.

5. You can’t please everyone.

As soon as the new Google logo debuted, there were people praising the design as well as those tearing it down. Even within the design community, reactions on Twitter ranged from “The beautiful balance of utility and joy” to “I love the font in the new Google logo – a revival of Paul Renner’s rarely seen 1934 masterpiece, Futura Jackas” – proof that no matter how well-reasoned or well-intentioned the principles behind your design are, you simply cannot please everyone. One of the most challenging realities of a redesign, whether it is for a logo, a website or an application, is that you are forcing change upon people who did not ask for or expect it. Even if the change is for the better, it’s human nature to favor the familiar and therefore to react strangely to a change that they did not initiate themselves. Couple this with the fact that people are more likely to contact you when they dislike something than when they like it, and a redesign can quickly generate what feels like an overwhelming amount of negative comments. For some companies, this initial wave of critical feedback can be scary and may lead to the temptation to revert back to the old design. But you cannot give into this! If you followed a good process and if the new design is well thought-out and executed, you need to give it time for people to grow accustomed to it and embrace it. You cannot please everyone, but given ample time, you will find that a quality redesign will win people over, and all of those detractors will fall silent.

6. Redesign for the right reasons.

Because introducing a new visual identity can be disorienting for your customers, and because there’s no purely scientific method to ensure your redesign will be well received, it’s important to make sure that there is good reason behind your decision to reinvent the look of your brand. With Google, the logic behind their decision was clear: “Since its inception, the Google.com homepage has been strikingly simple: The quirky, multicolored logo sits above a single, approachable input field on a clean white canvas. But as technology moves forward, the canvas itself is changing, and the inputs and needs are becoming more diverse. New classes of devices and ways to interact and communicate have emerged with wearables, voice technology, and smart devices in the world around us. Users now engage with Google using a constellation of devices, and our brand should express the same simplicity and delight they expect from our homepage, while fully embracing the opportunities offered by each new device and surface.” In short, Google needed a new identity that would represent the brand as effectively to someone who is typing keywords into a search bar on a desktop as one who is using a smartwatch as one who is using a device that may not yet even be conceived – or at least available to the general public. Likewise, while you should never redesign your company’s logo just for the sake of redesign itself, if your brand has evolved since your logo was originally conceived – whether in terms of the products you offer, the audience you serve or the channels and platforms through which they interact with your brand – it may well be worth the risk to introduce a new, modernized identity that will support the growth of your company now and for many years to come.

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