Site and Page Compatibility, Default Fonts + Other Browsers

Hello from Sydney,

We all most likely design pages and sites so that the general population can view them with no problems and correct me if I am wrong but the de facto standard would be Internet Explorer 5/6. It was pointing out to me that our site doesn't display correctly using non-standard browsers and outside of the default font-set. So, besides going to the effort of installing Opera 7.2 and whatever version of Netscape is current to preview pages and make adjustments (which is a waste of time I reckon) from within Dreamweaver, finding a Linux box and a Mac, can someone recommend an all-purpose utility that may point out various potential viewing errors?

Sure, I can understand the feedback as the site was designed with the Tahoma font and with a Microsoft OS user in mind however I am sure most designers do not go to extensive trouble to placate the legacy Netscape, AOL or even Opera and Safari users. Surely if Opera and Safari expect to be taken seriously they need to display pages with the same sort of regularity as IE 5/6 users.

So if anyone knows of any utilities or documents, please point me in the right direction.

zac

Well as a Mac and PC user I will try to help you out as much as possible. First of all I have never been a fan of Opera, so I won't comment on that browser at all.

First of all with Safari you have to remember that this browser is only version 1. So for the first official release it has been ok, even the 1.1 release only fixed it for Panther it did nothing for th actual browser. Supposedly the only problems found with Safari so far have been with jsp pages and java applications.

However, on a Windows PC you can't test for Safari so even as a Mac user I don't test in Safari because it is a premature browser.

Now, personally I would recommend using Mozilla's Firebird. It only takes up about 15-17 megs so it isn't too big. Mozilla's browsers are 100% compliant with internet standards. Even MS has admitted that IE is not standards compliant. Even their Office program FrontPage was redone with the latest version of Office to clean up some of the older incompatible HTML code that only IE could read.

Personally I would test in a browser like Mozilla just to see if everything displays properly. It is easier to make minor adjustments from that for IE then it is to make a site specifically for IE and basically remake your site to be compliant with internet standards.

correct me if I am wrong but the de facto standard would be Internet
Explorer 5/6.

There is no de facto standard. Many, if not a large majority, of web users
use IE 5+ on a Windows machine, but IE, ironically, is probably the least
standards-friendly browser out there.

can someone recommend an all-purpose utility that may point out various
potential viewing errors?

http://www.browsercam.com

I am sure most designers do not go to extensive trouble to placate the
legacy Netscape, AOL or even Opera and Safari users.

Most good designers certainly do. Along with Mozilla, Linux users, handheld
users, text browsers, handheld devices, etc.

Surely if Opera and Safari expect to be taken seriously
they need to display pages with the same sort of regularity as IE 5/6
users.

Opera and Safari adhere to web standards much more so that IE 5/6.

So if anyone knows of any utilities or documents, please point me in the
right direction.

Start here to learn more: http://www.webstandards.org/

-Darrel

I don't test in Safari because it is a premature browser.

But do note that it is quickly becoming the default browser for Mac users.
It's also far from being premature, as the rendering engine is already on
par with Mozilla and eons beyond IE/PC.

Mozilla's browsers are 100% compliant with internet standards.

Nothing is 100% compliant...but Moz is pretty close ;o)

-Darrel

SnakEyez wrote:
[snip]

Now, personally I would recommend using Mozilla's Firebird. It only
takes up about 15-17 megs so it isn't too big. Mozilla's browsers
are 100% compliant with internet standards. Even MS has admitted
that IE is not standards compliant. Even their Office program
FrontPage was redone with the latest version of Office to clean up
some of the older incompatible HTML code that only IE could read.

Personally I would test in a browser like Mozilla just to see if
everything displays properly. It is easier to make minor adjustments
from that for IE then it is to make a site specifically for IE and
basically remake your site to be compliant with internet standards.

I'm not sure I would agree with "100%". Perhaps they are (although they can be
a bit peculiar at times), but they differ in some important defaults from
other browers. (Eg. margin-top & margin-bottom in certain elements). However
....

Get Mozilla Firebird (as you say) & add the Web Developer's Toolbar. Then it
becomes a very nice tool, not only for checking out your own code, but for
investigating other sites too.

In my experience, Firebird is so different from IE, and the toolbar is so
powerful, that a page that can be viewed with IE and can stand the detailed
scrutiny of the toolbar tends to look OK in Opera & Netscape too. If I could
only have 2 browers for page checking, it would be IE6 (it can't be neglected)
& Firebird 0.7 + the toolbar.

(I use IE & Firebird as my primary & secondary Dreamweaver preview browsers).

--
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/
http://www.ChildSupportAnalysis.co.uk/