My Site in Different Browsers...

[Judy]

My site looks just fine in IE5-6, but when visiting a friend, I made the mistake of looking at it in Netscape!

It bordered on being traumatic!

Fonts were not the ones I used; header fonts were smaller than body fonts; and everything was out of proportion.

Is there any relatively easy cure for these problems?

Is there a way to design a nice looking site that will look good in ALL browsers?

I'm pretty new to all this....I've run across the term, "embedding fonts." Is this a way to make sure they stay the way you coded them in all browsers?

I'll appreciate any suggestions--also any feedback on how it looks in other browsers:

http://www.regardless-shorthairs.com

[ronaldb66]

• Code correctly and well formed (i haven't examined your code in detail, so you may already have); some browsers are more picky then others, and well-formed code will only become more and more important in the near future.
• Don't use styles, scripts, tags, etc. that are browser-specific. If you use copy & paste scripts, pick only the ones that are cross-browser. Use nothing of CSS-2, and be careful with CSS-1.
• Forget about embedded fonts! If there is something that is NOT cross-browser, it's embedded fonts!

I'm afraid there is no easy answer; you'll have to do research and experiment.

[QuackHead]

I will echo everything Ron said - and add this...

Every time you make a site and test it in a specific browser (In your case, IE5-6) - ALWAYS look at it in a different browser (Such as Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, etc.)

Unless you are a perfect HTML coder, every time you make a page it'll have to be re-worked to be compatible with all browsers.. or at least close.

I have been designing sites for more than 4 years now and this is the most frustrating thing - so I know how you feel.

~Quack

[whackaxe]

im to lazy and just pop up a box saying "site optimized for internet explorer. some functions may work incorectly or not at al if you are using another browser. but then again i dont make money out of it so if the people dont like it then they can leave!

[boxer_1]

Hi Judy,

Just in case you're interested, I've attached a screen shot of your front page as it appears in Mozilla 1.0 at a screen resolution of 1400x1050 (higher than average resolution). I've reduced it in the interest of file size so the attachment is not exactly as looked in my browser as far as dimensions go. Just thought you might be interested .

Also, here's a tool (one of many out there, some of which are free as opposed to this one) that might be of interest to you so you can see how your site appears in different variables:

http://www.netmechanic.com/browser-index.htm

Good luck to you

[QuackHead]

That mozilla looked alot like NS6...

Is that what Moz looks like?

(Never used it before)

~Quack

[Judy]

Boxer:

...And I thought it looked bad in Netscape!

Is this just because of the resolution?

Is there anything I can do to keep this from happening?

..but thank you!

[boxer_1]

Originally posted by Judy
Boxer:

...And I thought it looked bad in Netscape!

Is this just because of the resolution?

Is there anything I can do to keep this from happening?

..but thank you!

You're welcome !Mozilla is very similar to NS 6 in many ways . Anyone interested can download it here: http://www.mozilla.org/ (download is about 10.3 MB). A very nice browser for developers. See my browser poll for more info.

Yes, the biggest factor is the resolution I'm using. You probably wont have too many visitors with a resolution that high or visiting with Mozilla for that matter.

As to how you can keep this from happening, I would pretty much echo the suggestions given in the other replies. On the surface that is one question, but it really more complex. Sort of like asking what is the best car to buy in terms of gas mileage, appearance, speed, safety, durability, and comfort...lol .

Building a site that looks good in just about all browsers and screen resolutions is one of the hardest things to do in web design. You could design several versions of your site, and use sniffer scripts to detect the users browser and screen resolution of each visitor and direct them accordingly, but that's usually more bother than it's worth and, for most, not even worthy of consideration.

Just design, test, tweak, experiment and come up with a finished design that's going to look good for the majority of your users. It's next to impossible to design a site that looks 'perfect' in all browsers @ all resolutions. You're doing fine...don't let my screen shot throw you as it is not what your site is going to look like for the majority of your visitors

[redhead]

An idea...

if you are really that bothered you could try one of these suggestions...

1) make a text only version for non IE users
2) make it look good in netscape first and then tweak that to make it ok in IE too...

hope this helps...

[newmate]

Hello again. First off, the previous thread responders have pretty well covered the basics of what is going on. By now I imagine it has occurred to you to install the other browsers for previewing your work. It's obvious that you desire a feature rich and highly visual pleasing site. So this, of course will makes the task of cross browser and multi resolution compliance more challenging. Being that your site is much more than a basic black and white text, that it may be easer to leave it as it is for now and to take advantage of the practice you have already have and fact you have many elements, features and graphics already and build a new site from scratch to replace it. The advantage being that you can preview it every step of the way and work out each incompatibility as you come to it and seek out an alternative if need be. I build by the step-by-step method checking in the editors preview mode and several browsers and resolutions for almost every thing I do. I gave included links to just two of many great articles available on screen resolution and cross browser compatibility issues.

Screen Size


Common Browser Implementation Issues
Don't forget to check out the related links on the pages.

Edit: (add)-I did want to point out that this article on screen resolution implies the lower resolution is most common and the higher one has only increased in use slightly in the past two years. Conceder your target audience for most common browser and screen use. IMO, in an office environment lower resolution and Internet explorer are very common, but the home user is more and more employing larger monitors and higher screen resolutions and a little more inclined than at the office to use different browsers.