Updates for primary web browsers are frequently rolled out to address security concerns, introduce new features, fix bugs, and more. An anomaly may arise on a website during a major web browser update when a new version is released. The changes to the code base can often lead to unintended bugs and other side effects.
Google, for instance, typically launches a fresh version of its Chrome web browser approximately every 45 days. As users of Google Chrome update to the latest version, any website that hasn't undergone testing against the update faces the risk of encountering a performance bottleneck triggered by the recent release. The potential for losing website visitors and existing customers significantly rises if a performance bottleneck is introduced but remains undetected.
What issues can arise for your website after updating popular browsers?
More than a decade ago, browser version numbers were changing slowly. For example, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 was released on the 17th of June 2008. Then many security and stability updates were released, and the last version of the 3.0.x product line was 3.0.19, which became publicly available in March 2010. But those days, Google Chrome was born.
Chrome’s developers treated each release as major, incrementing the first digit of the version every few months. Later, other browsers decided to follow that way, and very soon, version 100 of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge will be released. Below we’ll tell you what might happen soon.
Experienced IT specialists know about “the year 2000 bug”. Many software used only two last digits of the year for date calculations, so 2000 was treated as 1900. That could cause incorrect calculations. The issue was discovered a few years before 2000, so there was time for pre-emptive actions. The world encountered only minor issues.
About ten years ago, browsers reached version 10, which caused some issues on the websites that were using browser sniffing to serve version-specific content and scripts. So, the browsers with version 10 were detected as browsers with version 1 and thus recognized as unsupported.
Now version number of all of the most widespread browsers is nearing 100, and some issues are expected again. However, there is still some time to avoid this. The browsers have a special flag that can be enabled to test their sites for compatibility.
But even if that’s not done, there are still backup plans. For example, Google is going to implement another flag in the settings to freeze the major version at 99. In Firefox, the strategy will depend on how important the breakage is. One of the possible fixes is also sending version 99 instead.
Summary
As your website expands, it's essential to keep a close eye on its performance and promptly address any emerging bottlenecks. Performance bottlenecks have the potential to adversely affect your user base, resulting in the loss of clients and revenue over time. Should you require technical support to address performance issues on your website, kindly submit a request on our website. Our expert will promptly contact you to offer a thorough consultation and assistance.
