The Advantages of Cross-browser Compatibility?
Can you name internet browsers that you know? If you use a Microsoft Windows platform, you will get the Internet Explorer or its new one that is featured in their latest OS variant – Microsoft Edge. If you use Mac, you get Safari. With Linux platform, usually they have Mozilla Firefox already installed, but it depends on which operating system you use. Mozilla Firefox is a third-party browser, together with its ever popular Google Chrome. You’d probably think that most people are using the latter two, but you’ll be surprised that others use Opera, which is another third-party browser that is getting popular these days.
So what is the point of naming all these browsers? If you are a web designer or web developer, these names are very important to take into heart. In fact, it is best that you familiarize every internet browser that is used these days, whether it is just the minority of the web users. The reason for this is because you want your website to run properly in every browser. The question is, is your website running properly in every browser?
The main problem?
That is the problem that you have to face when you are a web designer or web developer – not every user is using the same browser, whether they are using a PC, mobile or a different operating system. So what do you need to do to see that your website is running the right way in all types of the browser? That is by doing cross-browser tests.
If this is your first time designing or developing a website, you might resort to downloading every browser available and test your site running in each of them. This is not a very convenient and efficient way of doing it. Rather, it is best that you utilize a tool that will help you get a look at whether your website is properly running in every browser without the need of installing each one of them. Here are some of these resources. You should check them out.
- Adobe Browser Lab
- Browser Sandbox
- IE Tester
After using one of these tools to test your website, you will find mistakes and find out how you are going to fix it.
Many developers validate their websites first. You need to iron out your CSS and XHTML errors so that you can solve the bugs found when you tested out your site. The CSS Validator and W3’s HTML Validator can help you with that. Run your website in these two resources to get a better idea on how you are going to fix your site.
This is another way to ensure that your website is cross-browser compatible – by resetting the CSS before working on a project. There are different resets that you can use, but one of Yahoo’s and the other from Eric Meyer’s can help you with that.
At the end of this article, you learn the advantage of having your website getting a cross-browser compatibility – so that all your visitors get to view your website even if they are using a different browser.
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