Cross Browser Compatibility  -  January 9, 2009

It is important when building a website to give consideration to how it is going to look in different browsers. What looks great in Firefox can look awful in Internet Explorer.

Cross browser compatibility should not be confused with multi browser compatibility. Multi browser means something that works with several browsers whereas cross browser means that it works with all major browsers.

Many web developers choose to design only for what they consider to be the most popular browser. This is a mistake as you can be alienating a considerable number of potential buyers of your product or service by presenting them with a messy site.

There are many elements of a website design that can have an effect how it’s viewed in different browsers but HTML, Javascript and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are often the main culprits.

Some minor issues can just make a small cosmetic difference while others can totally break a webpage.

It is impossible to make every website 100% compatible with all browsers but you can build a site so that it works with the most popular. The most popular browsers as of December 2008 are:

Firefox
IE7
IE6
Chrome
Safari
Opera

Building websites using W3C compliant code will help you get consistent results across browsers. The main thing to do to achieve the right results is test test test!!

bellc at 10:04 am

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