Details we may ask for when responding to support tickets

1. Web Browser & Version

There are five main Web Browsers, and multiple versions of them.

Determining which browser and version is being used allows us to identify if an issue is specific to the site (and occurs on more than one browser) or only occurs in certain browsers. Most browsers, including Google Chrome; Microsoft Edge; Apple Safari; and Opera essentially use the rendering engine WebKit (a modern version of KHTML), or a version of it,  and most issues will persist across them all.

In terms of browser versions, we support the current version, and two versions below. Most browsers are now Evergreen, and are rarely older than this in general usage.

2. Device & Operating System

Different devices use different operating systems, and these operating systems can have different ways of working with websites – Windows computers typically have a fixed scrollbar on the right hand side of the screen, Macs on the other hand have this as an optional setting, and show a scrollbar only when scrolling. Sometimes issues can only occur on one operating system and not another.

The device will also provide us with details of accessibility – a mobile device or tablet will usually be touchscreen input, for example, and can also give us other details about the operating system – iPhones cannot run Android.

3. IP Address

IP addresses are the backbone of the Web – they’re codes that allow different devices to talk to each other. There are two versions, IPv4, and IPv6. IPv6 was released to meet the need for more IP addresses due to the growing amount of devices. IPv4 addresses have four sets of numerical values separated by a dot, whereas IPv6 has eight sets of alphanumeric values separated by a colon. We will usually need the IPv4 address.

We usually only ask for an IP address if something is being blocked. You may sometimes be prevented from saving a change on your WordPress admin, and be presented with a 403 error. We will need to whitelist your IP address to allow you to make changes to the site.

IP addresses also used to block unauthorised access to websites. Sometimes, too many requests from an IP address can cause the website to blacklist the IP address from having access to a website and therefore prevent it from loading. We will need the IP address in order to check that it hasn’t been blocked by a firewall.

The easiest way to find your IP address is to visit https://www.whatismyip.com and send us the IPv4 address.

4. Screen Size

Screen size can help us resolve styling issues on websites. Responsive websites are built using media queries that load a pre-defined set of styles for a certain screen width, height, orientation, or resolution.

If something doesn’t look quite right at a certain screen size, we can add a new media query to target the specific size at which it becomes an issue, and style the element accordingly. The screen size can help us determine what size to set the media query.

The easiest way to find your screen size is to visit https://whatismyviewport.com and send us a screenshot of the numbers displayed on the screen.