Browser Compatibility Issues

A fundamental principle behind web standards is that they are browser-independent. You
shouldn’t have to create browser-specific code—the whole idea is
that if browser manufacturers fully supported the web standards laid out by the
W3C, then one page could suit all. But we live in the real world and no browser
is perfect. When you think of all the technical intricacies—their syntax and their
behavior—involved in HTML and CSS, it’s little surprise that not every rule is
applied 100 percent correctly, if applied at all, by every browser.
Does this mean web standards are useless in practical terms? No. The great
news is that all popular modern browsers support a vast majority of web
standards. It’s just a few little niggles that sometimes cause irritation. A little
scratch and they tend to go away.
By far the most popular browser out there is Internet Explorer for Windows. IE is
pretty much universally derided in the web standards community because it has
many shortcomings—either lack of support or incorrect interpretations of quite
a few web standard rules.
More modern browsers, such as Firefox and Safari, are technically superior
pieces of software (a statement that few could truthfully argue against—even
Microsoft), but unfortunately for the web designer (and to the ultimate detriment
of the user) there are only a handful of computer users who use anything
other than the pre-installed browser on their machine. This means predominantly
Windows and this means Internet Explorer.
But IE is not a complete idiot. It handles most areas of HTML and CSS W3C
standards very well. There are no gaping holes that prevent an author from
achieving a certain page structure or force him or her to compromise on a particular
layout, for example. It’s only when it comes down to more specific details
that incompatibilities can get frustrating. The good news is that Microsoft has
finally gotten the message and has worked hard to fix many of these problems in
the latest, seventh incarnation of IE, which has now landed on Planet Web.


Browser shortcomings will be pointed out where applicable throughout this book,
but in general terms there is absolutely no practical reason not to adopt web
standards—all modern browsers are more than capable to deal with them.
We do have to work in a multibrowser world and even the best web makers
encounter discrepancies in their pages between browsers. They are usually easy
to iron out, and as long as you test your pages on multiple browsers to make
sure designs work, compatibility issues shouldn’t cause too many headaches.