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I know this is an opinion based question but I am hoping to dodge being closed because its not a personal taste question.
Which browser should i develop against that will show me that my code is most likely compatible across browsers? In other words, Which browser is the most strict on code? i.e. chrome seems to be the least strict..
My experience recently has been 0 bugs in chrome = 49 bugs in IE. I was wondering if I develop against IE would it be something like 0 bugs in IE = 11 bugs in chrome?
Using one specific browser to try and see how compatible it is with other browsers just doesn't really make sense. You should develop in a modern browser using standards compliance and best practises and then test in all browsers to ensure cross browser compatibility and graceful degradation in older browsers.
Google Chrome and Chrome Canary are widely considered the best browsers to develop with but modern versions of Safari and Firefox are also good.
You should develop for as many browsers as you reasonably can or want to target. Browsers aren't ordered by stringency; they each have their own quirks and oddities when it comes to the standards. So, assuming that something works in one browser (even the "most stringent") doesn't guarantee anything about what it looks like in another.
Standard code will work on any major browser. I develop on chrome and then check it against Internet Explorer. IE used to be terrible at being standards compliant but is much better in recent releases.
If it works in IE 7 or 8 without any IE hacks then it should work everywhere.
Of you use a framework like Twitter bootstrap and jquery then it should look the same in all browsers. And it would be easiest to keep up to date.
Lynx.
It's still in active development. Still has a small user-base. And it doesn't support JavaScript, Flash, images, or video.
If it works in lynx, it works on any remotely recent browser.
If you're not concerned with that level of compatibility, you're generally safe developing for the lowest popular version of IE among your site's visitors, using MDN or some other non-Microsoft reference as your resource (so as to avoid using IE-only features).
Well,
I call it not for nothing Internet Exploder. IE is a major pain in the ass, especially IE7 and 8. If you can get it working there, well lad, than you are ready for big projects.
Besides, check your site stats (with Google Analytics perhaps) and see which browser your users are using.
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I Know this is common question in web Development but what what should be things that i must take care while developing a HTML website? Why does my site look different on different browsers, till now i checked it on Chrome and Firefox. So dimensions on both were too different. Is there any specific code for CROSS BROWSER compatibility ?
I would develop for one browser and worry about cross browser compatibility later. Most of the differences are between WebKit browsers (chrome, Safari, opera), internet explorer browsers (8,9,10,11), and Firefox. I would recommend developing on one browser, and then checking your site in others afterwards. I doubt you will have too many things to fix. Mostly there will just be styles that may not work the same way on certain browsers. One thing to keep in mind is that your site will probably never be perfect in every browser. For the websites I design, I have a list of browsers I support. There are things that just won't work on ie6 and not enough people use it to make the effort worthwhile. A good rule is to worry about the latest version of each browser or the latest few versions. As you can see, there's no simple answer, just make sure to check your work.
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In the UI development area there has been lot of emphasis on adhering w3 standards. I have very basic question why the webpages should adhere w3 standards. My specific questions are
(1) What are the top 10 reasons adhere w3 standards?
(2) What are the top 10 issues I will get if I don't adhere to w3 standards even though web page I have developed working fine?
As a web developer, adhering to w3 standards is strongly recommended, simply because browsers implement those standards. Without standards imagine IE 6-7 like stylesheets for every browser out there.
By coding to standards we do our but in giving users accross platform, browsers and screens that will get a uniform experience, that said there are a few things that browsers render differently. But with IE 9, Internet Explorer also started falling in line with other browsers.
Also, there are ton of libraries and frameworks that assume you have valid markup to work properly.
Just a demo, try and remove doctype declaration and open your site in IE.
See this link for info about HTML validation: http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html#why-validate
I also like their saying WYSINWOG - What You See Is Not What Others Get because it's so true (a lot of the time, at least).
I think the answer to this question could possibly become a list, but the primary reason that stands out for me is compliance.
Your site may look fine to you among the browsers you are able to test on, but if you start to go outside the standards the chances of it working in browsers that you couldn't test goes down.
There's lots of browsers available today on an increasingly broad spectrum of devices with multiple versions available. Its just not possible to test everywhere.
You can validate your webpages against the w3 validator at http://validator.w3.org/
As for WHY keeping your pages up to standards is because those standards are there for a reason.
Your pages work fine for you. Have you tested how the pages look / perform in all browsers? IE 8+, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, SeaMonkey, etc.? Are you 100% sure your website is handicapped accessible?
When developers adhere to w3 standards, and browsers adhere to w3 standards, then the chance that users will have a consistent experience regardless of what browser they use increases. Visitors who don't have an ideal experience won't return. Adhering to the w3 standards increases the odds in your favor of a visitor having a positive experience, thereby increasing the chances that they will return.
One of the first things I learned when I started developing webpages/sites was to never let the phrase "It works on MY machine" be part of my professional vocabulary (except in jest). It doesn't matter how much a dev likes something or how well they perceive something to work - all that matters is the user's experience. If you have to bend over backwards to make the user's experience enjoyable then so be it - they are the ones who write the checks after all.
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ive been making a website for a charity i volenteer with and want to check it for browser compatibility so ive been using browser shots website to show me give me images of what the site looks like in diferent browser configurations
my question is how much backwards compatibility should i be looking for ive currently been aiming for the last 5 versions of the major browsers so ie chrome firefox opera and safari is it neesary to make sure the last 5 versions are suported or should i be aiming to make say the last 2 versions or even more compatible the code is most likeley compatible with most versions but some parts like rounded corners in css i know arnt suported so most people with older browsers may not see it corectly should i make it viewable for them or just have a pop up box lil youtube that says your using a older browser for best results use a newer browser and link them to it
We practice supporting IE 6, 7, 8, 9, Firefox 3.6+, Chrome 15+
And we test by using virtual machines with the actual browsers installed.
But its best to look at who is visiting you site, and cater to what they use. I.e. use Google Analytics to see which browsers are you most popular and focus on them first.
It depends mostly on your target audience actually. Non-IE browsers aren't a big problem when going down the versions, so you might notice that even the last 5 versions of them are rendering the page completely, or almost-completely (no major flaws) the same. What you want to take care of is IE. With the current version 9, it's still unbeliveable that some people are still using IE6, but that's a sad truth. You just need to see if it's worth optimizing your website for oldies like that one. A link to a newer version seems like the best solution and there are even some plugins for this that immitate the native IE info toolbars.
Also, be careful with html5 and css3.
UPDATE
See some helpful info here.
Ideally you should use a tool like Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview. This provides you with a view of your site side by side in your locally installed browsers. There's also a premium service whereby it will compare your site in a complete range of browsers and versions for comparisson.
Try browsershots.org.
It is a nice website that outputs images how your website looks in other browsers.
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I am looking at HTML5 information at W3. Some of the new functionality seems interesting.
Which browsers support it?
How can I ensure that I am using HTML 5?
Is there a way to be told that "there is an HTML 5 command you should be using" if I use something in HTML 4 or what not?
HTML 5 Canvas is supposed to allow a lot of Flash type functionality no?
AFAIK, webkit-based (safari, chrome, etc.), firefox, opera, and IE 8 support some, not all, of the HTML 5 features. Things like video are inconsistent as Apple/Webkit want H264, which mozilla is against (they prefer ogg or something) because of licensing issues.
Use feature detection and the HTML5 doctype. I'm not well read, but you can read up some here.
Canvas is supported by all browsers -- except IE, but Google provides excanvas to allow IE to support canvas (it's slower than a native implementation). Canvas provides a location to directly draw on the screen.
For some examples of canvas usage see processing.js and Bespin. Canvas is definitely capable for drawing at a decent speed, excluding the useless IE.
There's information in the WHATWG spec itself, look for the browser icons in the boxes to the left of each sections. And there's the Wikipedia page, which should be quite up to date (disclaimer: I do a lot of the maintenance there).
The best guide to HTML5 compatibility I have found (by a mile) is this:
http://a.deveria.com/caniuse/#agents=All&eras=All&cats=HTML5&statuses=rec
A general info and other resources can be found here:
http://prezi.com/vo2ommkmkl_w/
HTML 5 Browser Compatible Charts with detailed info
http://www.findmebyip.com/litmus/
Which browsers support it?
HTML isn’t one thing. Different browsers support different parts of it.
Mark Pilgrim’s Dive into HTML5 is a good reference.
How can I ensure that I am using HTML 5?
http://html5.validator.nu/
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When I build a site, I'd like to have at least one browser I can show it off in without any hacks or workarounds, and yet still retain maximum functionality. Knowing that none of the browsers have perfect standards adherence, which one comes closest?
Also, are there any standards areas in which a single browser seems to specialize? Opera, for instance, seems to be bent on adhering to all voice-related CSS standards.
The way most people I know work is to run Firefox(with Firebug) and develop in that. Firebug is an invaluable tool for debugging. They will usually take what the get there and try to squeak it into IE and other browsers. Not exactly the answer to your question (Its not 100% compliant but its close), but hopefully it helps.
Safari using the latest WebKit nightly build.
Not that any browser in the world uses this yet (not even Chrome) but if all you're worried about is standards then that's your best bet - it passes Acid3, something no browser on the market can do yet.
This is an excellent question, but I find it hard to give a single answer. Traditionally, Opera has been the most standards compliant. For a long time, it was the ONLY browser to pass the ACID2 test in fact. FireFox and IE haven't been able to claim that (although supposedly IE8 is supposed to fix that, and FF is working on it all the time).
That having been said however, bear mind that IE has the largest "market share" of all the browsers right now (businesses have ties to MS, and Windows always comes with IE out of the box) followed closely by FireFox. So if your goal is to show off your app in a browser that most people will be using, it'll have to be one of those.
Purists will tell you that FF is more standards compliant than IE7 (and they are right), so that you should design for that and not IE. I can tell from many years as a designer/developer that pages taking that approach may not be a great idea. Bear in mind again - IE has the market share, and usually where it counts. So if it looks great in FF but breaks in IE, most users will be very upset, and the same vice-versa.
Best compromise - concentrate on those two. Tweak it to look right in at least FF AND IE, and now you've covered 90%+ of the people that will be using your website.
Don't get me wrong here - I'm not trying to dismiss the users of Opera, Safari, or any other browser. But if you want the most results for the least amount of work, then there ya go.
Best answer - take your time, do it right, test ALL the major browsers. The time spent working through these browser headaches ahead of time (when you can do it at your own pace) will be well rewarded. Compare that to the screaming client who wants to know why your page breaks in his favorite browser, and wants it fixed today. :)
"When I build a site, I'd like to have at least one browser I can show it off in without any hacks or workarounds, and yet still retain maximum functionality."
If you are testing your site, you would be better served to choose target browsers based on your users' needs.
Unless you are in a position where you can force your users to change to a particular browser, you need to test your site in whatever browser(s) they use.
Opera comes closest to standards compliance.
I use Firefox with IE tab and chrome. Firefox with IE tab because those are the two browsers with the most market share and chrome because it is one of the few windows browsers that use webkit, meaning it should display similarly to safari.
The way most people I know work is to
run Firefox(with Firebug) and develop
in that. Firebug is an invaluable tool
for debugging. They will usually take
what the get there and try to squeak
it into IE and other browsers. Not
exactly the answer to your question
(Its not 100% compliant but its
close), but hopefully it helps.
+1 - I prefer firefox for most browsing as I find it most stable and easiest to use, but when it comes to web development it takes the cake when combined with firebug! The others are good for testing, but I find that firefox+firebug makes everything so much easier to use
Try Google Chrome it uses the WebKit which is feature complete for the latest standards.
I used to use Opera and Firefox as my "Standards Compliant" browsers, but I've recently become much enamored with Safari. The WebKit under the hood is really solid, the javascript is really fast (or fast enough, anyway), and and the CSS support is pretty excellent. It's not perfect, but does a really solid job of doing what it's supposed to do.
Also, it has the greatest print-screen feature I've ever seen in a browser. Seriously. Whereas every other browser seems to really munge up any screen I try to print, Safari always seems to get it right. A minor thing, but worth major points in my book.
Edited to add: Chrome is coming close to taking Safari's place, but that print screen thing is still the deciding factor. Being able to just hit "print" during a meeting with a client and not have to fiddle with any settings to get it working right is a major relief.
Don't just use a standards compliant browser, use other tools such as the w3c validator.
I find that if you stick to standards compliant markup, and don't use anything too unusual, it will render fine in Firefox 2/3 and Safari/Chrome (and usually fine in IE7/8). If not, you're probably better off trying to simplify your markup, rather than introducing hacks and workarounds.
Using one browser for all your testing and then hacking it for others is how most people do it but that often leads to problems. Even though Safari may be a more standards compliant browser it is not a highly popular browser and I'd lean more toward using the browser your customer's are using most while writing 100% standard code and then adjusting for idiosyncrasies of other browsers. It's not ideal but it is more customer centered thinking.
I've seen web development companies with multiple full time employees that had bugs on their homepage because they did exactly what you seem to be thinking is your answer. They developed the webpage on a Mac and tested exclusively with Safari. The result was that over 60% of potential customers may have seen layout bugs if their browser was windowed.