Considering Compatibility

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You might realize that whenever you want to create a professional web site, which you might need to make it work on all sorts of browsers. Nowadays, compatibility is not that much of a problem, since most web browsers have already been periodically updated so that they can support most settings. Now, even if you are one of those designers that is either obliged or feels the need to make an all-browser compatible website it does not mean that you have to learn a whole new language, or create your web page from top to bottom especially for certain tricky browsers. Actually, the part where you trick browsers to take your web site as it is comes at the end, and it is just an extra step to run. All you have to do is run the page through a validator, or even more easily – check it with the browser you are most worried about. Once you have done that, you will see exactly what needs editing. The unfortunate part about Internet Explorer is that you can install only one version at a time on a Windows computer.

More about compatibility

Several websites out there host what programmers call compatibility lists and charts. What do these list and charts actually show? They detail how a certain browser stands when it comes to compatibility for all CSS properties and several other features. Some resources can be found at these websites:
www.corecss.com/properties/full-chart.php
www.quirksmode.org/css/contents.html

Of course, you can find more sites such as these by simply using a search engine. Now, in order to check how your web page does look in a certain browser that may not support your CSS styles all you have to do is follow these steps:

• Open a new Internet Explorer session
• Go to the Tools Menu and then click Internet Options. Now the Internet Options dialog box will open.
• Go to the Accessibility tab.
• Check almost everything that is not checked, in the Formatting sections, especially the Font Styles checkbox.
• Double-click Ok.

Now the dialog box will close and you can see your webpage exactly as if you would be seeing it in a browser that does not support certain CSS formatting. Even though some errors may appear (your page looking terribly without a CSS style) experts suggest a various number of solutions through which you can handle these kind of problems. The unfortunate part comes when you find that most of these solutions are entirely successful. But then again, too few styles and formatting indeed put a problem on the most popular browsers nowadays, so actually, it is not that much about which you should be worrying.