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Browser Compatibility

Making web pages that work seems like a simple concept. Open up Dreamweaver and go to it - right? Well, yes and no. It is always surprising what can go wrong between concept, development, distribution, and downloading on the user's computer. Some advice I recently received from JQ Johnson of the University of Oregon FITT center is of value.

Browsers will often accept and try to display Web pages even if they're not written using " legal" HTML code. This usually "means that the browser will try to make educated guesses about what you probably meant. The problem is that different browsers (or even different versions of the same browser) will make different guesses about the same illegal construct; worse, if your HTML is really pathological, the browser could get hopelessly confused and produce a mangled mess, or even crash." This is why you want to make sure that your pages are "legal" and the best way to do that is by running your documents through an HTML validators

Specific standards for the coding of web pages have been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This group researches, debates, and then comes to an agreement on what code is to be used for web page developed. This is issued as a standard that is adopted world wide. By following these standards your web pages are "legal" and will appear the same on most browsers when displayed.

To assure the application of these standards the W3C organization provides a free validation service. Johnson requires that all web pages developed for the University library be validated using the W3C validator page at ( http://validator.w3.org ). It quickly checks and provides you with feedback about the compliance of your HTML and XHTML documents to W3C Recommendations and other standards.

The UO Library has standardized on HTML 4.01 transitional or xhtml transitional as their HTML versions. Using the validator makes sure that the underlying code is valid and web pages will play most anywhere on the Internet.

Even though there are a variety of tools for looking at issues of browser compatibility- there's no substitute for actually testing. This can be done by taking a look at your web pages on a variety of Mac and PC platforms using various versions of web browsers. You could also download different browsers on your computer though some really hog the memory. The most popular browsers are: Microsoft Internet Explorer , Netscape , Opera , and iCab .

Another free resource that I like is W3C's link checker service (http://validator.w3.org/checklink ). This is especially useful if your page has many links to other web sites. We all know how quickly sites die on the web and this checker will tell you what links you have to outside resources have changed or died.

There are also a few sites that offer online testing services for a fee with the best known being NetMechanic. This site was once free as the organization tested its beta versions and I used it often. It now is a professional fee for service and does well in keeping your web site in top shape. Do a google search for "browser compatibility testing" to find other tools for web site maintenance.