Spanning Platforms, Versions, and Technologies for Web Designing:-

When asked which Web browser they use, there's a good chance the average surfer will respond, "Netscape" or "Microsoft." But as anyone who's watched even a smidgen of news in the past year knows, Microsoft and Netscape are the names of companies, not products. So the answer is like saying you have a General Motors when asked what kind of car you own. GM produces dozens of different models in any number of model years and sells them under a variety of nameplates (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, and so on). The same is true for Web browsers. Browsers are categorized by platform (the operating system being used on the computer in question—for example, Windows, Mac, and Unix), by
product name (Navigator from Netscape, Internet Explorer from Microsoft, for two examples), and by version number (similar to the model year of a car, though they often come out more frequently than that).

As you might suspect, a particular browser's features are slightly different within the same version number across platforms, based on the abilities and strengths of each operating system. Of course, nearly all of them are significantly different across versions; features are added or taken away and hopefully improved. Differences across versions may be as minor as which font is the default—a sans serif font on a Mac versus a serif font on a PC—or as major as whether the browser supports Java.

They Don't Call it the Bleeding Edge for Nothing

New technology is often described as being on the "cutting edge." The phrase sounds sexy, high-tech, and awe inspiring. With the latest and greatest constantly evolving in the online world, chasing after that cutting edge can be like juggling kitchen knives: You're likely to get nicked in the process. How then, do you, a Web designer, balance the requirements of the existing technology with the frequent demands of clients or superiors who want the nifty new Web gizmo they saw on someone else's site last night?