Ignoring Fringe Browsers ...........................................................................
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this book, to me, Netscape and the other
fringe browsers are of negligible impact on my programming because so few
people use them. Internet Explorer is the standard — it won the browser
wars. So I’m a bit puzzled why other books on CSS and HTML spend 30 per-
cent of their time worrying about how to ensure compatibility with, for exam-
ple, Netscape 4 (which probably nobody still uses) or Opera and the rest.
You should see some of the multiple if... elsecomplexity in some
scripts — attempting to accommodate every last possible browser variation.
Rather than spend lots of time on these minor compatibility issues, I’ve
instead used the space saved to explore and demonstrate additional CSS fea-
tures and capabilities.
Going back in time .............................................................................
You’ll even find books including elaborate lists showing whether each CSS
element, property, and value works with every browser, along with every
version of every browser.
Who wants to go for the lowest common denominator? Why bother with
browsers that are years old and whom nobody in their right mind is still
using?
If you take compatibility issues to extreme, you have to avoid using CSS itself!
For example, if you want to be sure that your Web page works on every possi-
ble device from PDAs to refrigerator doors with Internet LCDs, you must
entirely avoid CSS. You have to use HTML version 3.2, and it doesn’t include
style sheets at all.
Most browsers are free for the download. So if somebody is still using an
ancient version, they’ve got many more computing problems to wrestle with
than seeing text in the wrong place on your Web page. My advice: Write and
test your Web pages for Internet Explorer and you’ll be just fine.
What if you must consider compatibility? .....................................
I do, however, realize that some designers must, for various reasons, take
into account alternative browsers and older versions. If that describes you,
I think you’ll find most all the information on CSS in this book is still of use to
you. It’s merely that after designing your Web page, you have an extra step to
take: Run the page through a validator, or, better yet, load it into Firefox, or
Netscape 4, or whatever browsers you’re worried about. You’ll immediately
see what, if anything, needs to be adjusted or worked around.
Chapter 17: Testing and Debugging 301
