Re: Browsers

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

From: Dave Anderson (GTSPXOESSGOQ_at_spammotel.com)
Date: 10/20/04 

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:19:29 -0500

Dave wrote:
> Is it worth the effort developing fully cross browser? My site will
> be aimed mainly at a few people probably in large companies - is it
> likely they won't have a Windows desktop? Any reliable info on this?

If you can make it work in IE, Mozilla and Opera, you will likely be
compatible with every browser of consequence. Personally, I code against
FireFox and verify with the others.

> If I have to do it, what's the best place to get reliable info on
> what is supported (or not) in which browser?

Oddly enough (and in a roundabout fashion), from Microsoft. Here's the DHTML
reference:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/dhtml_reference_entry.asp

Note that every reference page has standards information. If it says: "There
is no public standard that applies to this property", beware. If a standard
applies, there is usually a link.

Bad Example:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/accelerator.asp
Good Example:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/methods/getelementbyid.asp

Implicit in my above offering is the notion that you should write to a
standard, rather than to a browser. That said, NO BROWSER fully implements
everything in the W3C recommendations. Point yours here for a quick lesson:
http://www.w3.org/2003/02/06-dom-support.html

I think your first question is the most relevant. My answer is: "It is
*absolutely* worth the effort to write a cross-browser implementation."

You just don't have to aim for every version of every browser, known and
unknown. That's the point of writing against a standard, is it not? 

-- 
Dave Anderson
Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms. Please do not contact
me directly or ask me to contact you directly for assistance. If your
question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

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