Like the title says I'm just wondering the current support for canvas.toDataUrl? I have it working in Firefox 4 but haven't really tried it in any other browers. When I look it up on Google most of the results are pretty scattered as some are from a year ago. It says its only supported with webkit nightly builds. (which I assume now are the actual releases)
I'd also like to know the support for mobile devices as well.
I personally prefer using caniuse.com for finding out the current browser support. Caniuse covers various major releases of each browser, as well as some mobile browsers. However, I always recommend that with anything mission critical, you test in all browsers just to be on the safe side.
If you take a look again at caniuse.com you will see that the support tables are all color-coded and they tell you whether a browser fully-supports, partially-supports, does not support, or does not support (but a polyfill exists). The canvas.toDataUrl, property would fall under the category of "basic support", which shows that the canvas api (or rather the current working draft for it) is fully supported in all major browsers, and there is a polyfill available for IE.
So while it doesn't go into great detail about the specific properties browsers support, it stands to reason if a browser "fully-supports" the basic canvas API, you can safely assume that includes toDataUrl. Once again, if you dont want to leave things to chance, or if you for some reason do not trust caniuse.com, your best bet is to build a test-suite and personally test your app against all browsers.
Actually it's currently broken in the webkit nightly build, a minor security bug I found a couple days ago:
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=91016
But in general in the stable release of Chrome it works just fine. In IE9 it works just fine too.
Related
I have decided not to support older browsers (IE6 & Before) and alternatively providing a page that forces the user to upgrade their browser. The demographic I am targeting are generally technologically savvy and very few users will encounter this page. What I am hoping to do is not support any browsers older than 5 - 6 years. What would be the best way about to achieve this? Would it be better to ONLY eliminate IE6 and below? What about early versions of Firefox, etc.?
You can read the browser version from the User-Agent string passed by the browser. You want to do a RegEx match on it. Depending on how harsh you want to be you could put a big banner at the top of the page with what you have detected their browser to be and a link for them to upgrade.
You should be able to find libraries in your chosen server-side language to do the parsing for you, save the hard work. An ultra-quick Google returned: https://github.com/tobie/ua-parser
I am in the process of updating my business website and I've decided to use HTML5/CSS3 (with some PHP) for the whole thing and it works fantastic in every new browser (IE9, FF6, O11, S5, C13) with or without JS.
Now I am not sure what I should do about every other browser version. I imagine I have a small amount of leeway with most of the browsers (atleast the previous version) except IE8 (I have the IE shiv, but it doesn't cover non-js browsers.). Most of the features degrade nicely, but there will always be issues with older browsers.
I know nonJS browsers are probably a minority, but it would be nice
to cover them as well
This list is ordered in the order of current preference to cover the
largest number of browsers(nonJS/JS) but time to implement hasn't been
considered.
Only considering web-browsers, plan is for a mobile site for mobile browsers
Here is the list:
Build a really dodge version of the site using tables^, etc. and redirect the users there if they have an old version of the browser (server-side) and have a warning on there about upgrading.
Use Javascript to fix up the bits they don't work (like the shiv). This doesn't really cover the nonJS browsers which as stated are probably a minority.
Build a static old browser page to redirect the old browser users to a page with links to upgrade download links. This is a real copout solutions, but is quick to implement
Assume the only users that have old browsers are IE users, and use conditional comments to implement one of the previous options. Assumptions are always bad
Pretend users have the most upto date browsers and make no attempt to fix the site at all. Not really a practical option
Rebuild the website for HTML4 and use it accross the site. Bit of a waste of current work. As well as it looks a bit dissappointing if a webdeveloper has a site using old technologies, which was the driving force for the upgrade
What are your thoughts/solutions to the HTML4/5 limbo? Is there anything you've done in current projects to combat this?
Cheers,
Steve.
P.S. Being a member of the 'I hate IE6 and don't care for it's existance' club, I'm pretending that IE6 (or less) never existed.
Update (to clarify)
^ - by tables, I mean are really slapped together version of the current website, using either a table/non-table based layout. But something that may not look pretty when the source is viewed, it's really just there to fill the compatibility void.
It's perfectly acceptable to have features in some browsers and no features for an older browser. See Here.
However, it should be noted that whenever a fix is doable, you should have it. Unless a website is a JavaScript based app, it should be working without JavaScript, note that working != working perfectly.
if you have a hover state with a cool transition, which Chrome 23423 will support, but IE7 won't, then you can either emulate it using Modernizr and jQuery, or leave it as is, and IE7 won't enjoy the goodness. BooHoo.
You must however, give older browser users a message to encourage them to upgrade to a better ones, especially talking about IE<=7.
You built the website in the wrong direction.
If you want to support older versions, instead of building a cutting edge website and then trying to get it to work in older browsers, you need to build a basic site that works everywhere, then use advanced CSS and Javascript feature detection to add features for the newest browsers.
This is a question to all web-developers working in the industry more than a few years.
Today the server guy at my work told me that his browser didn't render a Google font I used on a site properly, so I checked his browser - it was Firefox 3.5. (Google font Raleway).. This made me think.. I know for some of our sites its a requirement to support IE6 (larger corporate sites) but for the rest (personal sites) should I be looking at developing for all increments of Firefox, Chrome, IE and Safari?
Does your company still support IE6?
Does your company support previous versions of modern browsers or just the latest ones?
And finally, has anyone else had this problem with FF 3.5 and Google Hosted font Raleway..(the font displays extra extra thing so the font is almost unreadable)
http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Raleway:100&v1' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
If anyone's interested I found a working solution to my font problem here:
http://www.jshsolutions.net/google-webfonts-cross-browser-fix-howto/
Users of FF/Chrome/Safari usually keep their browsers up to date. Keeping antiques around like IE6 is a corporate thing. Some users keep IE7 and IE8 around due to their unnecessary fear of things breaking. We promise to support the current version of browsers plus one version backwards. If someone wants anything further back than that, there's an extra charge.
It depends entirely on the user base and also the size of the user base. For example , the user base for governrment sites will be substantially different to personal sites.
A site with 10,000,000 visitors per year with 1% IE6 usage should ideally cater for thoses users. But a site that gets 10,000 visitors a year with 1% IE6 usage could probably afford to ignore IE6.
You should always support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera. If the client needs an older browser to be supported he should pay extra.
My company supports IE6 for our intranet website - but somewhat reluctantly. However, last quarter, they rolled out mandatory updates for XP systems (IE7 and SP3).
IMO, it is unnecessary to break your head over tweaking CSS for every version of the browser. I'd suggest creating CSS for major versions like IE7, FF3 and webkit-based browsers and have a disclaimer stating the minimum requirements for the website.
Alternatively, you can load content based on the user's browser. Nevertheless, it would be more tedious.
Importantly, check the current browser shares (http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?spider=1&qprid=0) and decide which browsers you want to support.
Yes I am suffering from the same. We support IE 6,7,8,9 ,FF 3.6,4 and Safari. It seems to be the worst thing to write one code for all this browsers. I never understand why client use IE6. Check this http://ie6countdown.com/ will give you idea about how many are using IE6.
Planning to use HTML5 in a big project, I need to make an exact timeline for future changes.
Is there any source to tell me when a particular feature of HTML5 will be ready? Is there a roadmap for HTML5 support for each particular web engine?
Just for some more details, I’m working on a social/video sharing site. I want to use new features from CSS3 to HTML5 to JavaScript. Don’t tell me “You can use <video> right now” because I know that!!
Also consider the fact that it takes some time for all people to update their browsers to new ones
Yes:
When can I use...
I need to make an exact time-line for future changes.
So you want Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, Opera and Google to tell you exactly when they’ll be done adding features to their browsers? Just e-mail them, I’m sure they’ll get right on that :)
Naw, interesting question. I don’t think any browser manufacturers commit to implementing specific features particularly far into the future. In the case of HTML5, the spec itself says that the spec won’t be done until there are two agreeing implementations, so it’s very much a matter of “wait until an implementation ships”.
In the case of WebKit and Firefox, they‘re open-source projects, which I imagine makes it more difficult to commit to far-future dates. Then again, I seem to remember Microsoft being a bit late with Vista, so it’s probably difficult to commit to dates for closed-source projects as well. If you could edit your question with the exact date when your social video sharing site will be finished, that’d be a good start.
A quick Google turns up:
Internet Explorer
Microsoft have got IE 9 in beta. This page claims to be some sort of roadmap: http://microsoft-journal.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A33F7112F6C1D499!878.entry
There’s also their Internet Explorer Blog
Firefox
Mozilla announced their plans for 3.6 here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Namoroka
Couldn’t find a similar document for 4 (which was originally announced as 3.7), but robertc pointed to this document which details the HTML5 (and CSS3) features added in Firefox 4: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Firefox_4_for_developers
WebKit (Safari and Chrome)
“Apple doesn’t comment on future products” — http://trac.webkit.org/wiki/FAQ
But the WebKit team do have a blog, Surfin’ Safari
Opera
Folks were apparently clamouring for a roadmap last year: http://dev.opera.com/forums/topic/294965
It all depends on your target audience. If it is South Korean middle aged businessmen with 99% IE6 penetration, you're not likely to be able to use anything fancy any time soon. If it's art directors working in advertising, you can probably already use whatever bleeding edge feature Webkit has implemented.
Check your logs, and use the site sAc linked.
If you had to choose a browser (just one) to be the primarily supported browser for a company jumping into HTML5 (CSS3).. Which one would be your safest bet on the middle-long term?
Chrome, FireFox, Safari, IE?
I'm looking for an objective recommendation based on standards driven/compliant, developer tools, fast & correct feature implementations, memory footprint, etc.
UserBase/MarketShare would not be an issue because it would be on a closed environment in which we control the clients (which are basically big machines with a Web interface).
Thanks!
I would say a webkit based browser. That would be the best balance of speed/stability and HTML5/CSS3 features.
However I believe that Opera has the most implemented features.
Opera has always been in the lead, but they've also always had weird bugs. Right now, Chrome is in an interesting position: Google just bought an internet video protocol company (On2), and so they have the power to end the H.264 vs. Ogg Theora battle by releasing this great new codec they've bought as open source.
HTML5 itself isn't anything new: it's just new elements that display differently. Think of it like this: if HTML5 was the first to introduce the <blink> tag, developers would be a little iffy about it because you can just use CSS to set text-decoration:blink or use some Javascript to make the blinking happen.
With HTML5, things aren't that different. Most of the new elements are just extensions of <div>. For the ones that aren't (<video>, <audio>, <canvas>, etc.), there are either already strong implementations (pretty much across the board) or the implementations as complete as the HTML5 spec is.
Will there be a best browser for HTML5? Probably not. It's all just a matter of how the browsers position themselves (like I mentioned with Chrome above).
If you control the environment I would say pick one based on that has features your app can exploit to make your job easier. Otherwise, lower-common-denominator is a widely used approach for a small team.
I would say Gecko (firefox and friends) or webkit (safari, chrome and friends). I wouldn't go with IE nor Opera. Here is a HTML5/CSS3 comparison table that pretty much supports my views.
Safari’s pushing CSS animations and transitions, if they’re a big draw for you.
If you want to make a HTML5 app/site that focuses on one browser, then you might as well use HTML 4 and JavaScript. For the next many many years most HTML5 sites will have to function in non-HTML5 mode.
See HTML5 features as glacing on the cake, to add benefits to the browsers that can take advantage of it.
All the modern versions of browser support HTML 5. But recently launched internet explorer 9 specifically designed by keeping in mind future web technology needs and incorporated latest features that give rich and interactive web experience. Latest browser Internet explorer 9 has more support for Cascading Style Sheet than previous versions of Microsoft browser. It supports CSS3 and more emerging SVG2 markup standards. IE 9 includes new java script engine that designed to take advantage of multi core processor and give maximum performance.