Cross Browser Compatibility in a Nutshell

Cross browser compatibility is a complex issue. People can now browse the web from their TV, Wii, iPad, netbook, laptop, computer, and even cell phone. The number of browsers available to choose from has expanded greatly and some even have more than one active version (IE6, IE7, IE8). This variety of consumer choices for browsers and displays creates a nightmare for web developers.

The following three systems make up a browsing platform and affect how a webpage displays:

• browser (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari)
• operating system (PC, Mac, Linux)
• screen resolution

While 100% compatibility is not possible, developers try to build pages that look consistent across a range of browsers.

Web developers uses a variety of languages (HTML, CSS, Javascript) to breath life into designs. The languages used to build a website are not interpreted the same across all platforms unless the developer codes the website to be cross browser compatible and then tests the results on all platforms being supported.

The Most Popular Browsers

Targeting every browser platform is almost impossible with the variety of combinations available so web developers tend to test on the most popular choices shown above. Once a site works on the most common browsers, it will usually behave in a reasonable way everywhere else.

Broken Websites

If a web developer does not test for compatibility, what the visitor sees and what you intended can be two different things.

Problems can range from color or font variations to skewed layouts, broken graphics, and unusable pages. In the more extreme cases, it can lead to visitors leaving your broken site and ultimately cost you business.

Before testing, this is what one website looked like in Internet Explorer 6 and Google Chrome:

Solutions

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was created to develop web standards that ensure access and communication on the web for the global community. The more web browsers and web developers adhere to their guidelines, the easier it will be to build cross browser compatible sites.

Good web developers understand the bugs that different browsers have and alter the code to make it compatible. They follow good web practices like:

• Coding by hand
• Keeping code simple
• Validating their code
• Testing results and providing browser specific alternatives
• Building in Firefox and tuning from there (Firefox is fairly standards compliant and when it looks right there, it looks right in the widest variety of browsers)

In addition to all the computer differences, there are a growing number of mobile browsers that have significantly different screen sizes from their PC cousins. Creating websites that look and function correctly on mobile platforms is a new twist currently challenging the creative talent of web developers around the world.

Cross browser compatibility testing is an extremely important step in the creation of your website. Web developers that test and code for compatibility give your site the edge and earn you more visitors, a better image, and ultimately more business.