When designing software for educational purposes, it is important to create a product that is compatible across numerous web browsers and platforms. These efforts will help to reduce frustration among your user base and demonstrate the you are committed to increasing educational capabilities for all.
Although many people still consider Internet Explorer with a PC to be an extremely common setup, it is still widely used but options such as the Macintosh platform, the default Macintosh browser Safari, or other web browsers that work with both Macintosh’s and PC’s such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are rapidly gaining popularity among computer users.
As you might imagine, the realization that a purchase program will not work properly on a user’s preferred computer setup is extremely frustrating. Some people may feel so strongly about it that the incompatibility issues they experience can overly hinder their learning process or cause them to dismiss this way of learning altogether. Therefore, you should strive to create a finished product that can be used seamlessly across all common platforms, but if this is not possible to achieve make sure that you at least mention any incompatibility issues clearly within the product description.
In order to cover all your bases, you may even find it best to include a warning within the purchase process that alerts users to the fact that the program may not function correctly on certain operating systems or browsers. This way, if you received complaints from a user whose system is not compatible, you can at least refer them back to the information contained within the product description to prove that it was disclosed before the purchase was complete.
If you will have a staff that is providing technical support for your technology products, make sure that each employee is familiar with how to change settings and options among all commonly used web browsers on specific platforms. Finally, make sure that you are well aware of any browser updates and take into consideration how these updates could affect the way that your product performs.
