title: Websites looking different across browsers? Why don't people care?
body: <p>Our company is looking at building a brand new website in the next couple of months and the IT director is all gung-ho to start using HTML5 and CSS3. He really thinks it's the coolest thing and definitely doesn't care that a website styled with HTML5 and CSS3 is going to look and function great in Firefox, safari, opera and just ok in all versions of IE.  Granted IE9 is definitely a nice improvement from IE8, but won't be a standard amongst our visitors for a while.</p>
  
  <p>But my question is.  <strong>Why don't people care that their website looks different across browsers?</strong></p>
  
  <p>I feel like I am missing something completely. Our analytics shows that 72-74% of our visitors use IE. In addition, research done for our visitors show the vast majority of them are, in marketing terms, considered "laggards" (always the last to adapt new technology. A lot of older 45-65+ business men and women.)</p>
  
  <p>I am a tech geek like my boss is, I love new technology, and I wish everyone in the world had browsers that supported the latest and greatest.</p>
  
  <p><strong>But from a business standpoint, I just don't see the sense in constructing a web site that implements technology that a vast amount of our visitors won't be able to see or use (or care about, if we're being honest).  Those people will only be able to see a degraded version of our site.</strong> </p>
  
  <p>To me it makes sense to continue to use technology that is consistent.  Right now, it is so easy to make your website look the same across all browsers.</p>
  
  <p>But that's just my opinion, anyone else out there agree, disagree?</p>