If you are designing a scientific or academic site, you should probably pay extra attention to how your site functions in Lynx (or other graphics-free browsing environments), because Lynx is more commonly used on academic and scientific networks than by the Web community at large. In addition, since the academy tends to be more Unix-oriented, Netscape figures more prominently than Internet Explorer because it is better supported.

If your site is aimed at a consumer audience -- for instance, a site that sells educational toys to a primarily parent audience -- don't ignore your site's performance and presentation in the AOL browsers or older browser versions.

If you are designing for a controlled environment, such as a corporate intranet or, even better, a web-based kiosk, you've got it made! Knowing exactly what browser and platform your viewers are using means you can take full advantage of the bells and whistles (and even proprietary features) appropriate to that browser. If you are designing a standalone kiosk, you may even have the luxury of loading the fonts you want to use. Just be sure your design won't crash the browser since there won't be anyone there to restart it for you immediately. In these situations, the "current version design" strategy discussed earlier in this chapter is entirely appropriate (just don't get spoiled)!