5 Tips to Make Sure Your Website Displays Correctly in Major Web Browsers

If you are experiencing issues with your website not displaying correctly in some of the major web browsers, you may be frustrated and wondering what you can do to fix the issues. Depending on the browser, there can be different reasons why you cannot see your website displayed properly. For instance, firefox may be displaying your web site correctly, but Internet Explorer is not. These could be issues with the individual browser that you need to adjust, but if you have tried out your website in most of the major web browsers and it is not working, here are some things you may want to try.

1. Verify your upload directory – you have to upload files to the right directory on your web hosting web site in order to have them display properly. Depending on what kind of FTP client you are using to upload to your files, you should make sure that you are uploading to the home or start directories. Some servers may not require you to do this but, if you do have these options when you go to upload files, you want to make sure that you are choosing the right directory. A lot of the hosting services that you may be using automatically choose the location for your files when you have uploaded them and place them correctly. However, some of the older or more basic hosting websites may not do this for you and you will have to manually choose the location for the files to be stored. Make sure that you find out from your hosting company where the files need to be uploaded to and verify that they are being stored there correctly.

2. Verify your home page name – when your domain name of the website is typed into the web browser, the home page of your website should be displayed. The page has to have the right name in order for most hosting servers to support it. Depending on what services you are using for your website, there may be different names that are required. For a lot of hosting services, the home page has to have the Index.html file name in order for it to open and display correctly. If you are not sure what your home page should be named, you can contact your hosting company to see what they require as the name. Most hosting companies will provide you with the name to use automatically if you are also using their design features. If you have your hosting service and design files all at one location, it cannot only be easier to track and manage, but they usually do a lot of the work for you by automatically naming your files what they are required to be.

3. Refresh your browser – this may seem like a silly step in the process of determining an issue, but if you try typing in your website address and it is not displaying in the browser, try first to refresh it and see what happens. Sometimes there can be an error that will be fixed by refreshing it. If you try to refresh repeatedly and it is still not displaying, it probably indicates that there is another issue you need to fix. If your website is displaying correctly after you refresh but then you try it again later and are still having the same issue, you may want to take a look at what could be causing it. It could be something easy that you can fix on your hosting service that will help you correct the issue so that it will not be repeated. Also, make sure that you check your website name in all of the major browsers. This can help you get to the root of the issue because if it is not displaying in any of the browsers, clearly it is an issue with your website that needs your attention and to be fixed.

4. Ensure your DNS is pointed where it should – depending on how your web hosting service works, your DNS records may or may not have been updated by setting up the hosting account. If you have registered your domain name on one website and then choose another to host your website, you may need to manually update your DNS records to have your web page displayed correctly. If you do not have the DNS records pointed in the right direction when you change or update your hosting service, it can cause issues for your domain and may cause your website not to display. Most of the time, newer hosting services can automatically update your DNS records when you sign up for service with them, regardless if you have registered your domain name with them or with another service. But some hosting services may not be able to do this, do don’t assume that they will automatically update; you may need to do it yourself and verify that they work.

5. Solve image problems – if you are having issues with not being able to see the images that you have on your website or if they are not displaying correctly, you may need to make sure that you have uploaded them correctly. Depending on where you have your files stored on your hosting service, you may need to change where you have uploaded them to and make sure that they are in your home or start folder. If you have not uploaded the pictures as files to submit to your hosting web site, they are not going to be able to display properly. Images can create a lot of issues for a web site because there are many reasons that can cause them to not display properly. If you have taken the proper steps and verified that your images are uploaded and stored on the right directory but they are still not displaying, there could be something wrong the with image file itself. Check to see what kind of image it is and what the extension is. If it is not a certain file extension like .gif or .jpg, it may not display in a web browser. Make sure that when you are using images on your website and on your home page that they are clear and show up well in all of the major web browsers. Some browsers may display them differently and you want to check all of the browsers to see how yours are displaying.