Chances are, you’re reading this blog post on Safari or Google Chrome. because on Firefox and Internet Explorer, this website looks like crap.

[UPDATE: The issue has since been resolved. But the insights remain.]

I didn’t know this until yesterday. I don’t know how long it has had this problem. I do know that I have been emailing potential clients and employers with links to my website and portfolio, and I figure that 70 % of them think my website is awful.

Browser Usage Online, April 2011

Now, I like Chrome. It is a fantastic browser, and some of the high-powered upgrades of Firefox over the last few years has left me wondering why it was taking so long, again. So I don’t use Firefox anymore – but that doesn’t mean that other people dont use it.

This illustrates an important division between ourselves and our customer base. Our opinion about digital tools doesn’t mean anything.

Sometimes people tell me that they don’t care about Twitter. They refuse to use it to market their business because it’s a waste of time. But, there are millions of people who DO use that tool, and could be using it to find YOU.

Although I think Firefox is clunky (and Internet Explorer is downright lame – hey, I have no fear saying that here, because IE users wouldn’t read my blog with its bad formatting) it doesn’t matter what I think, because I am presenting myself through the tools my prospective clients are using.

Thankfully, I have gotten over my whole “The Cobbler who Has No Shoes” syndrome and I’ve run my own website through Adobe Browserlab. This service, which I routinely use for my clients, can be used to troubleshoot browser compatibility and fix the problem.

If, by chance, you ARE reading this poorly formatted blog post on one of the two major browsers that break my website, just trust me. This website really DOES look great – through somebody else’s eyes.