Old Browsers
Regular
Posted: Tue, 2005-08-02 15:14
As a general rule, how far back do you guys go when testing for browser compatibility? I seem to find so many problems with Netscape 6 particularly (I don't even test 4 now), would you consider it now acceptable to limit testing to IE6, Netscape 7, Firefox 1.04 & Opera 7?
Regards
Paul
Moderator
Posts: 11958
Joined: 2004-06-06
Location: London
Old Browsers
Posted: Tue, 2005-08-02 15:57
I would have to go with your list of the majority browsers in use although it ought to include the Mac brigade, Safari etc.
Some would add IE5+ Win to this list as well.
I do think that at some point there has to be a sane cut off point you can't go around supporting every browser version ever made.
Many of them such as the Netscape family tended to be used by those who had a slightly deeper knowledge of things, it was a somewhat more geeky browser,and as such why would these people not upgrade to the latest versions , it's not difficult, and generally they would be at ease with this procedure. The same could be said for Mozi/FF, what possible reason is there for staying with earlier versions, each new version is an improvement on the last and I am not going to support previous versions of FF.
It's a difficult choice as there are institutions that will be still using outdated versions such as IE5 simply due to the logistics of upgrading on mass.
I would love to see a definite trend and general agreement that designers support a given range of browsers and that support for browsers outside of that list would be considered a special case due to their obsolete and problematical nature. In some small way this may help spread the message that not all browsers display things correctly, something that is most definitely not understood by the general surfing public.
As for browsers such as NN4 nope not interested, it gets no styles and will have to make do with plain text. IE5 well that is possible to obtain a reasonably faithful rendition of your styles as long as you are aware of it's limitations regarding quirks mode, broken box model etc, but I wouldn't spend a lot of energy getting a perfect rendition, if the layouts out slightly so be it, as long as your code is valid.
Hugo.
Please validate and ensure you have included a full Doctype before posting.
Why validate? Read Me
Regular
Posts: 32
Joined: 2005-07-03
Old Browsers
Posted: Tue, 2005-08-02 19:13
Well these have been my thoughts, but as I'm a novice with CSS it's difficult to know just what is acceptable practise. But I do get frustrated when there is so much that we can now do if we dont have to continually cater for old browsers. And I tend to agree with your logic in respect of the 'geekie' aspect of Netscape; I've never believed that there can be many 4 or 6 users out there who haven't upgraded when Netscape is very much a technical choice in the first place. If people choose it because they think its better, are they not going to keep up to date with the latest technology?
I'm very tempted to these days to virtually ignore all but the last version of all browsers. I agree also that Safari, Netscape & IE on the MAC is very important. I can see sales of MACs continuing to be solid in the future as folks realise how good the graphics really are.