If you prefer using IE to Netscape, as many people do, that's fine. But if you're a JavaScript programmer, Internet Explorer is destined to make your life miserable.

Because Netscape dictates the development of the JavaScript language, Internet Explorer has to wait for the next release of IE to catch up with the current JavaScript release. To make matters worse, by the time IE implements the features of the current JavaScript release, it's most likely to have been superseded by a new release. The implications of this are that just when you finish that supercool script you've been working on, chances are that it's not going to work in IE3. And, if you are planning on releasing your scripts on the Internet, it is your responsibility to accommodate every browser on the Web.

However, there is some good news. Netscape has submitted the JavaScript language to a standards body, and the forthcoming ECMAscript (as it will be known) will hopefully solve some of the compatibility issues. For now, however, you can use the Navigator object to determine the browser and version being used, and accommodate the differences.