When For Impression creates a formal proposal for web projects, we write a detailed proposal. In our proposal, we explicitly state that we only support the most recent version of all major browsers. This can be frowned upon but we have really good intentions:

1. Browser Compatibility
2. Security
3. Speed

Browser Compatibility

When a website looks funky in one browser and not the other, we’re experiencing browser incompatibility. As all major browsers continue to grow, so do most of their compatibility. That means, when For Impression is building your website, we can spend less time making the website compatible for the 5% market share of Internet Explorer 6 users and focus on other aspect of your site. Can’t get them to update? They will be forced to at one point. Their organization will update their policy or the individual will just become frustrated with sites not working correctly.

Security

What does it mean for users to run outdated operating systems and browsers? Simply put, security risks such as 0-day vulnerabilities, lack of support from hardware manufacturer, and lack of support from software vendors. Sure, the list goes on, but these are the critical caveats for keeping an outdated operating system and browser.

Recently, Microsoft released a statement reminding users about the end of life (EOL) for Windows XP, regardless of the service pack.  Launched in 2001, support for Windows XP will end on April 8, 2014. There will be no more security updates or technical support for the Windows XP operating system.

Without critical Windows XP security updates, your PC may become vulnerable to harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software which can steal or damage your business data and information. Anti-virus software will also not be able to fully protect you once Windows XP itself is unsupported.

Not keeping up-to-date with your browser and operating system increases your risk. This doesn’t matter if you only visit a few websites or thousands of sites – you’re at risk and you should patch.

Speed

Can patching to the latest operating system and browser version really increase performance? Yes. No one wants to stay on a website that takes forever to load, right? What’s forever… exactly? Is it 2 seconds or is it 10 seconds? From our end, we’re running raid 10 solid-state drives on our servers with a 1gb/s port. Confused? Our servers are lightning fast. On GoDaddy, Blue Host, and similar? Switch over – risk free, no obligations to feel the difference.

Wait, what does that have to do with users updating their browser and operating system? Every release of Microsoft Windows comes an article comparing performance review. Updating your operating system could yield performance gain when opening applications and more. If users are running an outdated browser version, they aren’t loading the site as fast as they could be. A fast loading site is a good site but it’s not always on the server’s end. This why it’s important to educate users about updating their browser and operating system.