Help & Support

LEARN NC web browser compatibility

LEARN NC's website and web tools are designed to work best with Firefox, Internet Explorer 5+, and Safari. Blackboard, our course management system, is designed to work best with Internet Explorer 5+. This document provides a full explanation of how you can use your web browser to take best advantage of our resources.

Recommendations

  • Yes means that this browser has been tested with the website or application listed and is compatible with all major features.
  • No means that this browser is not compatible with some major features of the website or application. Although you may be able to access some or all content, we cannot guarantee that all features will be available to you.
  • Maybe means that this browser has not been fully tested. Although you may be able to access some or all content, we cannot guarantee that all features will be available to you.
Browser Recommended? Availability
OS name version LEARN NC website Blackboard Submitting a lesson plan
Win Internet Explorer 6.0 yes yes yes download from Microsoft (free)
5.5 yes yes maybe upgrade to v6.0
5.0 yes yes maybe upgrade to v6.0
all others no no no outdated
Firefox 1.x yes no yes download from Mozilla (free)
Mozilla all maybe no maybe replace with Firefox
Netscape all no no no outdated
others maybe maybe maybe  
Mac Internet Explorer 5.x yes yes yes download from Microsoft (free)*
all others no no no outdated
Firefox 1.x yes no yes download from Mozilla (free)
Mozilla all maybe no maybe replace with Firefox
Safari 1.x, 2.x yes maybe yes download from Apple (free)
Netscape all no no no outdated
  others maybe maybe maybe  

Notes

Microsoft no longer makes updates to Internet Explorer for Macintosh. We recommend that users switch to a current version of Safari or Firefox.

Why we prefer Firefox

To better serve our clients — the teachers and students of North Carolina — LEARN NC's website has been designed to be fully compatible with various types of browsers, including those used by more than 99% of the visitors to our site.

Web standards and forward compatibility

We believe, though, that it is important to be forward-compatible as well — that is, to anticipate future developments in technology. Forward-compatibility will allow us to minimize the difficulty of upgrading our website in the future and to better serve our clients in the next five to ten years. To do this, we have to the extent possible built the website in compliance with the web standards set out by the World Wide Web Consortium.

At present, Firefox is the most standards-compliant of the major available browsers. What does this mean?

  • To the extent that there are unavoidable minor differences in formatting and display of the site in various browsers, we have designed for Firefox while minimizing the differences in other browsers.
  • Firefox provides certain standards-compatible features that make it easier for us to serve you and are extremely difficult to duplicate in other browsers. For example, when printing a page of our website, Firefox will automatically style the page for print; you do not need to click the "Printer-friendly version." Better yet, when you print a page, Firefox automatically prints the URLs of links; there is no simple way to duplicate this functionality in other browsers.

Search LEARN NC from your toolbar!

Firefox is also open-source, which means that it is built on a platform to which any programmer has access. We have been able to take advantage of this by building a special plug-in that allows you to search LEARN NC directly from your toolbar.

Browsers and Blackboard

Blackboard, our online course management system, is third-party software that is designed to handle extremely complicated tasks. Because different browsers handle such complex functionality differently, Blackboard's developers needed to choose one browser for which to design the product. Blackboard recommends recent versions of Internet Explorer. We have heard from some of our instructors and participants that Safari (for Macintosh) works fine as well, although we have not rigorously tested this and cannot guarantee your success.

I don't have one of the recommended browsers. What should I do?

If possible, download a current version of one of the recommended browsers and install it on your computer. All of the receommended browsers are available free of charge via the web.

If you cannot upgrade your browser, you will still be able to access all of the content of the LEARN NC website. You may not, however, be able to take an online course or submit a lesson plan via the web.

Using the LEARN NC website with older browsers

Old versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer will allow you to access the content of LEARN NC's published resources. However, you may find that pages do not display properly. This is because older browsers have poor support for CSS, the language that is used to style web pages. If you have problems viewing the site in an older browser, turn off styles in your preferences or Internet Options. You will see plain, unstyled text and images that will not be especially pretty but will be perfectly usable.

Submitting a lesson plan

You are welcome to submit your lesson plan for publication via email. A Microsoft Word template is available to help you. Please read our full explanation of how to submit lesson plans via email.

Screen readers, text browsers, and access for the visually impaired

LEARN NC's website has been designed to be accessible to screen readers and text browsers, and we are continually working to improve the accessibility of our resources. Please see our page of information on accessibility.

Last updated June 8, 2005