A Complete Guide to Web Design

8 Chapter 1 – Designing for a Variety of Browsers

Browsers

Web Design in a Nutshell, eMatter Edition

Browser Features

Once you’ve determined the browsers of choice for the majority of your audi-

ence, you can make better decisions regarding which HTML tags and web

technologies are safe to incorporate into your design. Likewise, you can deter-

mine how much of your audience you risk alienating by relying on certain features

such as Java or JavaScript.

Every HTML tag in Part II of this book is accompanied by a chart indicating which

browsers support it. Exceptional attribute support (or lack thereof) is noted in the

descriptions following each tag.

Table 1-1 provides a general listing of popular browsers and the web features and

technologies they support.

Table 1-1: Browser Support for Web Technologies

HTML3.2 HTML4.0 Anim.GIFsTablesFramesPlug-insJavaJava-ScriptStyleSheets

Windows

Navigator 4.0 yes partial yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Navigator 3.0 yes — yes yes yes yes yes yes —

Navigator 2.0 yes — yes yes yes yes yes yes —

Navigator 1.0 — — — yes —————

Explorer 5.0 yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Explorer 4.0 yes partial yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Explorer 3.0 yes — yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Explorer 2.0 — — — yes —————

Explorer 1.0 — — — yes —————

AOL 3.0

(Win95)

yes — yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

AOL 3.0

(Win3.0)

yes — yes yes yes yes — yes —

Mosaic 3.0 — — — yes yes ————

Mosaic 1.0 — — ———————

Opera 3.0 mostly — yes yes yes — — yes —

Macintosh

Navigator 4.0 yes partial yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Navigator 3.0 yes — yes yes yes yes yes yes —

Navigator 2.0 — — yes yes yes yes — yes —

Navigator 1.0 — — — yes —————

Explorer 4.0 yes partial yes yes yes yes yes yes par-

tial