NetMechanic Eliminates Browser Compatibility Headaches

Avoid Costly Analysis while Maintaining Web Site Standards

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- March 3, 1999--

NetMechanic (www.netmechanic.com), The leading independent web site maintenance service, announced the launch of a new FREE Browser Compatibility service that will automatically shows how each page appears when viewed on different computers with different browsers. While the constantly changing face of the World Wide Web is exciting, it is also burdensome for webmasters and designers to keep pace with the ever-evolving standards and diversity of browser applications.

"Visitors won't last long if their browser isn't compatible with a site. Avoiding the confusion from the proliferation of browsers and proprietary tags on the market is a challenge. Savvy web designers will rush to use the preventative medicine NetMechanic provides to make viewing easier for the user," said Jeff Morgan, CEO of Monte Sano Software.

Using NetMechanic, Web professionals can now design and test a site without dozens of grueling previews. NetMechanic Browser Compatibility reduces time to market and increases the quality of the design, resulting in substantial cost savings. The process is simple and only requires logging onto the NetMechanic's Web site (www.netmechanic.com), and typing in the URL of a home page. NetMechanic's service takes care of the rest.

The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape. The NetMechanic Browser Compatibility tool determines which browser variety hosts each HTML tag, and tells web designers which tags on the page can or cannot be utilized. Not everyone is using the latest browser on the market (soon to be Internet Explorer Version 5.0), so conformance to the latest HTML standard doesn't guarantee good results.

With NetMechanic's new service users will even know the total percentage of visitors to the site that are unable to see certain tags, in order to determine whether it's worthwhile to make changes. "A good rule of thumb for designers is to stay away from a tag or new technology until 90 percent of your visitors can see it," said Tom Dahm, NetMechanic's Chief Technology Officer. "Users of the service have the option to enter their own data about their site's visitors' browsers, since that may be different from NetMechanic's default statistics."

NetMechanic's database is equipped to track 2500 HTML tags and attributes, and continues to be enhanced to accommodate new browsers as they hit the market. The NetMechanic Browser Compatibility service even tracks Cascading Style Sheets, a major area for compatibility problems. Style sheets have generated a great deal of excitement, but unfortunately browser support for them has lagged far behind.

A browser is the application that allows users to display HTML pages, open hypertext links and navigate from site to site. So NetMechanic Browser Compatibility is not the same as HTML Validation, which will tell webmasters how well their page conforms to HTML standards. NetMechanic's test tells users what each browser can support in actuality, regardless of what the standards dictate. This is key because the standards may change more rapidly than the supporting technology, and users may not have the most recent version of their browser.

NetMechanic's online services are targeted toward webmasters who outsource their site hosting to an Internet Service Provider or Internet Presence Provider. Since these users do not have control of the computer hosting their site, existing desktop or server-based maintenance applications cannot adequately address their needs. NetMechanic works by monitoring and testing sites from remote web servers operated by their own service, allowing easy setup with no software downloads.

NetMechanic provides link testing, HTML validation, graphics optimization, and server monitoring services including Spell Check, Load Time Check, Server Check, Link Check, HTML Check, GIFBot, and now Browser Compatibility. These services are free and will test sites of all sizes. NetMechanic also offers a subscription service, Server Check Pro, that monitors web servers 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for only ten dollars per month.

Monte Sano Software, LLC, an Internet software development firm based in Huntsville, Alabama developed NetMechanic. For more information contact Cindy O'Gorman at (256) 533-0076 ext. 116, pr@netmechanic.com, or visit the company's Web site at http://www.netmechanic.com.

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