Sunday, August 31, 2008

Browser Compatibility issues

I discovered recently from a few of my readers that my blog has been loading differently in Firefox than in Internet Explorer. In Firefox, my main post is disjointed with my sidebar appearing at the bottom of the page. Since I always use Internet Explorer, I had not realized that such obstacle could be existed. I should have been checking browser compatibility in the first place, particularly since more users are switching to Firefox.

The best free solution to test your browser compatibility is BrowserShots.org. All you have to do is enter the web address of your blog, select the browsers for which you’d like to see screenshots across multiple operating systems. It is not necessary to check all those browsers and it will be pretty time consuming if you do.

First of all, you need to scroll down to the bottom of the chart and click on None to uncheck all the boxes. Then select the browsers that you want to test. Wait a couple of minutes (sometimes longer) for your results. You will be able to see exactly how your site looks in different browser versions. Aside from this, you can check out the Total Validator service to validate your pages for technical analysis. As I 'm not a pro webmaster, I might as well get some professional help to solve my multiple problems.

Lastly, thanks to WildApricot for a great browser compatibility blog post. Hopefully you’ll find it useful too.

15 comments:

tahtimbo said...

Thank you for a great article. This is a valuable resource to have. I already went there and tried it out. Works great:)

I AM A BLOGGER said...

OOO, yup, I oso notice tat my alignment in my posts are very different in other browsers. Anyway, thanks for the info. Now, hv to solve the problem(><)

Lin said...

tahtimbo,
most welcome. it's good to hear that you make an effort and find it useful.

xjion89,
most welcome, i hope to fix this freaking problem asap too.

Anonymous said...

Great Tip, makes testing websites much easier.

Lin said...

thomas,
yup, apparently it is.

syarlilady said...

This is great. I faced the same problem with my MySpace account profile too. I changed the layout a few times and they looked really good on Firefox but when I checked it on IE, things were different and I had to readjust the HTML codes so it would look good on both. It still looks better on Firefox but at least not as tragic as it used to look like on IE. Thanks for your tip.

Mharms said...

i think you have to do something to fix the alignment of ur template.
by d way, i hope it is ok to link u in my blogs.tnx

Anonymous said...

Yup, you have a size issue. I'm using Firefox and the right nav bar gets shoved below your main content area.

If you'd like some assistance fixing that, I can help. In fact, I offer myself up to all blogger users for tweaks like this. I won't charge anything, but a link to me is always nice and appreciated. Ping me! It would take only a few seconds to correct.

I use BrowserShots for all my client work to ensure consistency across browsers and platforms.

Siddhartha said...

I broadly classify browsers under two categories - 1) IE and 2) Non - IE. While most other browsers will parse CSS in the same style, IE may pose some problem. I test my pages accordingly.
Besides, using valid HTML/ CSS can save a lot of time in cross-browser compatibility issues.
Anyway, I must say that your post is excellent.

Kerrie Slade said...

Great blog post with some really useful links - thanks so much for that :0)

Anonymous said...

you can also try the firefox addon called "IE Tab" (you can search in google with term "Firefox addon IEI Tab"), where you can open IE tab in firefox tab anytime you want, without opening another IE window.
:-)

Teena in Toronto said...

My FireFox has been acting funny lately :(

Anonymous said...

It's not just Firefox. I'm on Google Chrome right now, and your sidebar appears below your content. :)

Anonymous said...

i had the exact same problem a few months ago. browsershots helped me out too. :)

Anonymous said...

hello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....