Topic: testing in browsers

Hey guys. I?m in the final phases of testing my site and have a question. I posted a topic on Dev Shed and not sure if I should follow the advice b/c of my inexperience w/ css. Maybe someone here can help me understand.

Here is my post Are they telling me that by changing my font sizes from px to em- I can get more browsers to interpret my pages more accurately? So far it seems pretty random which browsers the pages look ok in. Troubles w/ older IE/NS, Safari, Mozilla.

Thanks!

(Edited by CRO8 on 09-28-2004 04:28)

No.

the px/em issue is one of user friendliness.

Many browsers will set a font set to a pixel height at that specific height and not allow the user to resize it.

Mozilla and the like, hwoever, allow the user to override even fonts set to pixel sizes.

Fonts set to 1em height will render according to what the users browser is set to for default height. All browsers come with a default height setting - they (shoudl) all allow the user to change what this default setting is.

Therefore, using em will be a more accessible, user friendly method, but you must account for this in your layout by allowing elements to expand in accordance with the user's browser settings.

Px will allow stricter control, but only in IE at this point.

Neither will have any effect on how well a browser interprets your CSS.

The reason some older browsers will not properly interpret your CSS is, very simply, because some older browsers do not properly interpret CSS Especially browsers that were made prior to the CSS rules that currently exist.

Thanks for the answer, now I understand. Zeldman?s site works in more browsers than mine . . . is there some code I can look into that works in older browsers? I really want to find a way so that it appears the same in all browsers. Must be a way . . .

(Edited by CRO8 on 09-29-2004 01:19)

quote:

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I really want to find a way so that it appears the same in all browsers. Must be a way . . .

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Well, what do you mean by "all" browsers?

If you are talking about making it look the same in, say, NN4.x and all the latest browsers.....

yeah, there's a way: make no style or layout plans whatsoever. Code it in the simplest, plainest HTML possible, and do not use CSS.

The better idea is to not worry about such archaic browsers as NN.4x and the like. If you want it to *work* in those browsers, fine - simply hide any advanced CSS from them, and accept the fact that it will *not* look like it will in a new browser.

The idea of standardization and semantically correct code is forward compatibility, not backwards.

It's about making the site *work* in any situation, realizing that you simply cannot account for every user configuration out there, and that you simply cannot control how the user sets up his/her computer, and to make things 'degrade gracefully' under such circumstances that it cannot be made perfect.

As to your actual question - if you are happy with how Zeldman's site works in various browsers, then yes there is code you can look into: his.



(Edited by DL-44 on 09-29-2004 01:47)

ok thanks for the response DL- I'll check out Jeffrey's code.

Thanks.