[mathias]

Before handing the site over, which browsers are said to be the ones in which it must work in order to meet standard cross-browser functionality? Also, does a site being totally W3C validated always mean it's guaranteed to work on all major browsers?

[pgo]

Originally Posted by mathias

Also, does a site being totally W3C validated always mean it's guaranteed to work on all major browsers?

No. Valid code means your site is more likely to work in future browsers and will render faster. It means you did it right.

Browser manufacturers never follow the W3C standards completely. The W3C has no control over how a browser renders valid code - they set the standards, it's the browser manufacturers to support them.

Originally Posted by mathias

Before handing the site over, which browsers are said to be the ones in which it must work in order to meet standard cross-browser functionality?

Depends on the project.

Personally, I usually aim for a consistent look across all modern browsers - Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6 (with a few bug fixes as needed for IE6). I also get it as close to possible in IE5.5. IE5/Win and IE5/Mac are basically dead to me now - unless the project calls for it.

I filter out CSS for older browsers, who get a plain text HTML page that, while not pretty, is certainly usable for that <1% still using outdated browsers.

#1 Rule of the Web - nothing's ever going to be 100% backwards compatible, but by following the standards you're more likely to get a consistent look in modern and future browsers and more likely to have a site that will function on alternative devices as well.

[mathias]

Thanks a bunch, pgo. Ya know, I wasn't even thinking about past browser versions. You never mentioned Netscape, are they off the radar these days?

[pgo]

Netwho?

Well, the recent versions of Netscape (6 and up?) use the Gecko engine that Firefox uses (Netscape spawned Mozilla spawned Firefox). They should render the same (assuming they're using the same version of Gecko...). Otherwise, Netscrape is pretty rare these days.

[MikeMackay]

Maybe this page will help you decide which to offer full support for:

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/artic...ser-chart.html

- Mike

[pgo]

Yeah, that's what I follow, basically. That and site stats. For example, at work, we get <1% from IE5/5.5, so we basically ignore it. They might have some bugs, but it's not worth spending hours hacking away at them.

[mathias]

Guess I'll be uninstalling Netscape, well nah, I'll keep it for now. Why not.

Mike, that table chart is awesome; exactly what I need! Thanks! Where can I find more reliable polled data like that, relating to web design? pgo, you oughta know, mr. professional.