Make it Compatible

Cross-browser compatibility can be quite a challenge. But with some basic steps, it doesn't have to be.

I’ve gotten a couple of emails asking what’s the best way to get started making a site 100% compatible across multiple browsers. So I’ve gathered up a listing of some of the basic steps to follow in order to make sure your site can be 100% compatible.

The first phase when you’ve got your design completed and are moving to the XHTML / CSS coding of the layout is to start in a CSS compatible browser. For example, I start using Mozilla Firefox when I code my XHTML/CSS. I’ll get everything in order using Firefox.

Once you have everything in order in a CSS compatible browser that is when you move over to a less compatible browser. When you switch to other browsers you must obviously make small tweaks in the original browser in order to make them deal the same. The key to this phase is to avoid “hacks” at all costs. Utilize standard compliant code in order to make sure that as many browsers are understanding the CSS as possible. If this is impossible then that is when you move to browser specific stylesheets. Standard specific stylesheets will allow you to incorporate specific settings per the browser that is being used to view the site’s layout.

Once you’ve handled the most recent generation of browsers that is when you worry about going back to older versions of already compatible browsers. Only after you’ve got the most recent do you ever step back into their old and out-dated versions, otherwise you will run into issues with legacy code.

Now that you’ve got an idea of the process to use how do you check all the different browsers that are available across the multiple platforms. Well to answer that question, there are few different answers. You could …
Install the browsers on your system and test yourself.
Invite friends and colleagues for a closed beta test with a variety of browsers.
Utilize a service to simulate multiple browser environments to see how it would look.
Have a public beta where you just release the site and hope for input from visitors.

Any of these options is feasible, and used quite often, so it’s just a matter of what you feel comfortable doing to make sure that your site is fully supported across the browsers.

Good luck in your quest for compatibility.