© 2006-2008 Tom Donaldson.
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There are quite a few Web browsers available. There are many versions of each Web browser. There are also a lot of operating systems available, and many versions of each of them. Many versions of many browsers work on more than one version of multiple operating systems. Similarly, many versions do NOT work on many versions of multiple operating systems, even if other versions of the same browser do.
There are far, far, too many combinations of browsers and operating system to test, or even to seriously consider.
Therefore, Continuous Traveler will focus on a limited number of browsers on a couple of common operating systems.
These browsers have been tested to varying degrees, running under Mac OS X version 10.5.5.
Any fairly recent version of any of these three browsers should work with ContinuousTraveler.com on any recent version of Mac OS X (say, 10.4 or newer?).
Firefox was used heavily during development. Safari was used a little during development, and a lot during tests. Opera was quickly tested for compatibility.
These browsers have been minimally tested running under MS Windows XP version 2002, Service Pack 3:
The XP tests were actually done on my wife's Apple MacBook Pro laptop, with Windows XP running on Parallels Desktop 4.0.
I do not currently have a copy of Microsoft Vista. If enough people complain about problems using ContinuousTraveler.com on Vista, I'll get a copy and install it on my wife's MacBook Pro.
Many of you are already diligent about keeping your operating system and browsers up to date. If you don't, there are many reasons to start. Here are two.
There are bad people on the Web, just as there are anywhere. A good first step in protecting yourself against bad people doing bad things to you over the Internet is to keep your operating system and browsers up to date.
Many of the upgrades to each are security related. It is a back and forth battle between software vendors and bad guys. The bad guys will find a way to exploit your operating system or browser to do bad things to you. The operating system or browser developer will create countermeasures and release updates. If you get the updates, you are relatively safe (or safer). If you do not get the updates, you are inviting the bad guys into your lives.
Please, whenever you have a good fast Internet connection, update your software (if you are not already doing so). Both the Mac and Windows have relatively simple means of doing so. The same goes for browsers.
To date, most security problems are on Microsoft products. This is largely because most people use Microsoft operating systems and browsers. For Internet criminals, the cost/benefit analysis favors attacking Microsoft products. So, if security is a MAJOR concern for you, consider switching to another platform, such as Macintosh. The only successful attacks I have heard of on Mac's are in staged tests. I have yet to hear of any "in the wild" real world attacks.
As I noted above, there are already many versions of many operating systems, and many versions of many browsers. There are new versions of each all the time. There is no way at all that a small software development shop can keep up with the combinatorial explosion. To a significant degree, I must rely on the software tools that I use to build the site for "cross platform" compatibility.
Continuous Traveler will be continually updated with bug fixes, new or improved features, and enhancements of various kinds. As part of this process, I will update the software tools that I use. The vendors who supply these software tools attempt to support a lot of browsers on a lot of operating systems, but they also have limited resources.
As a result, Continuous Traveler will eventually become incompatible with increasingly older versions of browsers. Your best defense is to keep your operating system and browsers up to date.