Cross Browser Compatibility

This subject always comes up when discussing a design for a prospective launch of a new web-site. I'm often asked "Will this site look and perform the same in all browsers?" Obviously the questioner has no idea how many browsers there are "out" there. Or what capabilities each has, I'm not going to compare browsers here, I just wanted to share my philosophy about browser support.

Full cross browser support is the political correctness issue of the Internet world. Many heated arguments are conducted in public, on newsgroups, in bulletin boards, and through private e-mail.

The fact of the matter is that a browser is usually a personal choice of the user. Most users understand the limitations of the browser they choose to use. All browsers have some common capabilities, all browsers are equal in the html standards they support, some browsers are more equal than others.

Many prospective web site owners want the latest features of HTML and CSS with a liberl sprinkling of Flash, Java, and other multi-media file types thrown in for good measure. All want their sites accessible by everyone who comes. The question is, at what price to support the masses.

Most people choose to use Netscape 4.7, Opera, Konquerer, Galeon or something even less mainstream for a number of reasons. They may dislike anything that comes from Microsoft, they may be locked into a particular operating system that leaves them with little choice, they may be cantankerous old farts that just won't change!

I choose to support only the more widely used browsers in the wild. I will attempt (barely) to support Netscape 4.7, but I won't guarantee full NS 4.7 compatibility. I do support the current IE 5/6 series, NS 6/7 and any other browser that may be equal to these, anything else is just not worth it.

Now to be fair, all the sites I work on are either Intranet applications that have a corporate standard browser defined, or are personal sites that I build for myself or friends at nominal cost. The nominal cost has a built in predispositon for current browsers. I feel that browsers like computers should be upgrade occasionally to support the latest HTML and CSS standards. I also tend to minimize the use of gimmicks like Flash or Java script. I don't want a user to have to download plug-ins to use one of my sites.

The web building tools I use are the latest on the market, as such they require alot of work to work backwards to ensure old browser support. For this, I double my standard fees and double my time to market. The overhead to maintain multiple workstations with every browser imaginable is a burden in itself. If a client wants full cross-browser support, he is asking for considerable testing time and tweaking of pages in the site, for this he must be prepared to pay.

I remember a time, not so long ago when NS 3.0 was the hottest browser out there, and Microsoft's 2.7 was a buggy half-wit. But with the self-destruction of Netscape in removing itself from the market to re-write all of it's code, it gave up the role of standard setter to Microsoft. Through anti-competitive practices Microsoft became the defacto standard. To this day Internet Explorer is in greater use than any other browser available. Until this changes, Microsoft will continue to dictate the standard for browsers and the others must follow or soon be gone from the face of the earth, except for a few old farts that keep them in use and argue till the cows come home for cross browser compatibility.

Well, I'm not politically correct, I support the standards of HTML and CSS. I'm a member of the HTML Writer's Guild and will support only mainstream browsers and standards. I don't necessarily write to the latest standards, but I won't be restricted from doing so, just to insure someone with a Netscape 4.7 browser can view a page equally as well as someone using Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape 7.

True cross browser compatibility is a myth that needs to be put to rest!