[thelist] Browser support, drawing a pragmatic line in the sand.

Tony Crockford tonyc at boldfish.co.uk
Mon May 1 09:01:14 CDT 2006


I'm a freelancer, I code to W3C standards and can get most designs 
"working" in most browsers (or serve them plain text) using various 
hacks and filters.

Certain browsers increase the "check, tweak and test" cycle to an 
uneconomic point.  So I'm thinking I'd like to set out a once and for 
all list that will define which browsers I will code support for and 
what happens to the rest.

I've been trying to put it into client friendly words and I'm 
struggling a bit.

I like the concept of the Yahoo! graded support, but it seems a little 
complex and vague for my clients.

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/articles/gbs/gbs.html
Yahoo! Developer Network: Graded Browser Support

I also like the approach used in the style guides from the CSS mastery 
book:

Browser Family 	Support Level
IE 6+ 		Target
Firefox 1.x 	Target
Safari 2.x 	Target
Opera 8.x 	Supported
IE 5.5 		Supported
Netscape 6 	Supported
IE5.x/Mac 	Partially Supported
IE 5.0 		Partially Supported
Opera 5.0-7.x 	Partially Supported
IE 4.0 		Partially Supported
NN 4.0 		Partially Supported
IE4.0/Mac 	Unsupported

     * Target – Most popular browsers at present. Everything must work 
as intended
     * Supported – Old but popular browser. All content and 
functionality must work with minimal degradation.
     * Partially supported – Old and buggy browsers. Not supported but 
not officially unsupported. Content and functionality must work. 
Degradation must be graceful and should not obscure content.
     * Unsupported – Buggy and unsupported browsers. Advise current 
users to upgrade.

but that offers "support" on browsers that may be uneconomic and isn't 
clear on what exactly partially supported means in laymen's terms - 
"content must work", might be interpreted as "looks the same"

has anyone got anything more client friendly that I could draw further 
inspiration from?

I'm thinking something like Green/Red/Amber grades for browsers - will 
work/might work/no guarantees..

what browsers do you sell support for?

;o)




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