forum display - IE vs Firefox et. al., how do you handle?

How are you handling differences in the way some things display between IE vs Firefox & other browsers? If it looks right in Firefox etc., but doesn't in the IE version, everything has been tried and app support has no further suggestions other than switch browsers, is it time to give up? IE users will just see whatever they see?

Just wondered. More often all the time the problem with the way something is = IE. (display, functionality, whatever)

Among internet users I know there seems to be an emergency evacuation out of IE. Even and especially IE 8. Non-tech people who previously didn't even know there were other browsers are switching. Maybe the entire internet public will switch and it won't matter how things look in IE.

 

No, never give up support for IE 7+ IE6 I stopped supporting not to long ago though so if you're trying to code for that, I'd forget it unless of course a large user base of yours can only use IE6. The fact still remains telling users they need to switch browsers, or update just to view a website isn't good practice or policy.

What problems are you having exactly? Just about any display problem can be fixed with the correct syntax of HTMl/CSS and cross browser compatibility isn't that hard to do once you know what you're doing (or find some help that knows what they're doing)

 

I Dont Care About How It Looks. Just As Long As They Can See The Forum...

 

I just continue to work and make it look as good as i can.

 

IE users get a nice warning to download any other web browser when they visit any of my sites... However I try to make the site as good as possible looking.

 

Yeah, that's why it would be helpful if people would switch.

Interesting comments ...

 

So it's okay if they can't use the forum as long as they can see it? You're fine with disruptive design flaws?

 

The basic components of the forum should work. I.E. they should be able to view threads and post. It doesn't have to look pretty in Internet Explorer and they don't need any of the bells and whistles. If they want those, they can upgrade their browser. It doesn't cost anything except time.

 

I'll do my best in working around fixes for the IE browsers which I have had to do with my current style(s). However, I'll draw the line at IE6, I won't support the browser or care how my styles look with this ancient browser.

 

Useful tip:

All browsers read the coding the same way, its how they interpret how to display the coding which varies. This done by CSS. Every brown has its own default CSS stylesheet. These things tell how to handle and display everything from tables, tr's, td's, div's, span's, links, etc. Everything imaginable.

I created a trick a while back to make themes display the same on every browser imaginable. What you have to do is define all the default CSS values, that way they overwrite the browsers default CSS definitions. I based mine off of FireFox's default stylesheet.

You can find the default CSS for FireFox in the following:

C:/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox/res/html.css

There are some other files for forms and stuff like that.

Now what you need to do is find what each browser does for their default CSS, and then over ride it. For example, FireFox DOES NOT add padding after a forum. However Internet Explorer DOES add 10px padding after a form.

Most style issues can be easily overriding by just defining 0px for margin, border, padding.

Also make sure your coding is 100% xHTML compliant by using a xHTML validator.

http://validator.w3.org/

I always make sure my coding is neatly organized with spacing and tabs so its easier to follow and spot any error that there might be. Once you get use to how the validator says things should be coded, you start adapting your coding style to it.

Best of luck!

 

Compliance is a good step towards browser validation and getting things "working", indeed.It won't always do it, but usually it will resolve any issues you have.

How do I handle it? I tend to test changes on both firefox and IE, making sure that everything is going to handle well enough. Of course, I can't test on older IE versions (6,7), as they're outdated, and my systems actually run up to date software, but , I do what I can.

Putting a warning bar up there (" You're using IE, get a real browser ") is going to do nothing but annoy visitors and scare them away.

 

yeah, a lot of older sites use to have notices saying "this site works best in netscape" and stuff like that. Was annoying.

Its a shame browsers don't all have a default style sheet they share.

 

A friend of mine has his own little script which you can use on any website including forums. What it does is display an alert only in IE6 which when clicked gives the user some information on how to upgrade their browser if they wish to. Ill edit this post later with a link to it.

KApp

 

i always make sure it looks good on all browsers, as i think if you limit the number of ones the forum worked on, it might put off some members who dont have that browser.

there was a forum that wanted us to merge with them, but i said no, cause their forum only worked on one browser, and on others it was so bad i couldnt even register on the forum without it crashing. it did put off a lot of the members, who didnt want to bother changing over from the one they prefer for just one forum.