Usage share of web browsers by Daniel.Cardenas

There’s an increasing amount of web browsers (software programmes that allow you to view web sites) available to use.  The most popular browser has been Internet Explorer for many years, but there are other browsers that are growing in popularity, particularly due to the growth of mobile devices which have their own browsers.  Firefox and Chrome are two browsers that are also commonly used.  Safari is a browser built for Apple computers and devices.  Different browser software also comes in different versions released over time, such as Internet Explorer 7, 8 or 9.  Firefox has versions 3.x, 4 and 5 in use now as well.

On Sheffield Hallam managed desktops we have two browsers available: Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.6. The version of these browsers is often updated during the year for security reasons as well as larger version changes happening at the start of the academic year. You can access these browsers on a University computer by clicking the Start menu->All Programs->Web Tools.

The Blackboard software which runs shuspace and our Blackboard sites is only fully compatible with specific versions of web browsers.  Many other browsers will work fine with most features of shuspace and Blackboard, but can cause problems where certain elements do not work correctly.  Blackboard has published a list of compatible browsers for our current version of their software.

Essentially you should be fine to use either Internet Explorer or Firefox on campus, but if you are accessing from home we recommend using one of the browsers marked ‘certified’ or ‘compatible’.  Note that Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 9 are not compatible, along with Chrome, Firefox 3.4 and older, and Safari 3.2 and older.