Design for Internet Explorer not Firefox
I am shocked by the completely unacceptable behavior of so many designers today that design sites to show up well in Firefox while altogether ignoring Internet Explorer.
If you’re hiring a designer one of the criteria you should insist upon is that the site design displays well in Internet Explorer 6, IE7 and depending on when you get around to reading this IE8. I personally hate IE, it’s limited, unfriendly, crashes and on and on, but that doesn’t matter. The fact is that 75% of all people use IE as their primary or only browser. Do you want to turn off 75% of your visitors? I didn’t think so.
If you’re a designer it’s fine to design with Firefox, but your job isn’t done until you’ve made sure that the site renders appropriately in at least the latest 3 versions of IE. I know, you hate IE you wish they would get their crap together and your shocked that they can’t even make IE so that sites display the same in their own browsers. I am with you, but when it comes to a client’s site you’re being completely negligent and doing your client a disservice if the site doesn’t display well in IE.
The bottom line is that visitors stay on sites that are professional looking, appealing and work well, so design for IE.