During the mid to late 1990s, shortly after the internet became a platform for commercial as well as state use, there was heated competition between Netscape and Microsoft over market share of internet browsers as they released new versions with new features. Both manufacturers wanted their browser to become the standard, which would mean that they would be in control of the way the World Wide Web would operate.

One tactic used by both companies was the introduction of proprietary stylistic tags that were not a part of the W3C's HTML specification- meaning that pages written in HTML using these "extra" tags would only work properly in one particular browser. As a result, it was quite common to see pages proclaiming "This page is best viewed in..." displaying the page author's browser of choice. Obviously, this was a far cry from the original goal of the World Wide Web as being independent of the choice of computer system or software by a user.

Since Netscape ceased development of it's Navigator browser and Microsoft's Internet Explorer became the predominant browser software, it's development has slowed down considerably. Quirks in the way it displays pages can make designing sites that work well in Internet Explorer as well as other browsers which adhere more closely to the W3C standards an often unnecessary challenge for web developers. Although there are a number of features in the W3Cs specifications for various web technologies which are supported by ther browsers, while the majority of the web surfing public are held back by Internet Explorer's limited support, web developers are held back from fulfilling their potential in practical use.

Today, different people may have different requirements- for example, the needs of a graphic designer using a large, high resolution display and a broadband internet connection would be very different to a sales executive using a laptop or PDA connected to the internet by a mobile phone, or a blind researcher using a text-to-speech browser. However, they may all want to use the same information.

Most web pages are written in a language called HTML, which is part of the W3Cs open standards, which is then interpreted by web browsers to display the page on the chosen device. The graphic designer with a large display might be focussed on the layout and images used on a page, while the sales executive using a laptop or PDA connected to the internet by a mobile phone could just be interested in the text, and might have switched images off in order to save time and money on downloading. Meanwhile, the blind researcher would be unable to see any images, and would be using exactly the same page in a very different way.

Because the goal of the World Wide Web project was for a means of exchanging information regardless of the device being used, pages written according to the specifications and guidelines of the W3C should be able to cope with these widely differing needs and requirements.