DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
What's in store for DevOps in 2023? Hear from the experts in our "DZone 2023 Preview: DevOps Edition" on Fri, Jan 27!
Save your seat
  1. DZone
  2. Coding
  3. Languages
  4. 8 Essential Tips for Building a Cross-Browser Compatible Website

8 Essential Tips for Building a Cross-Browser Compatible Website

In this post, we take a look at different tools, processes, and frameworks that web developers can use to develop great cross-browser apps.

Alex McPeak user avatar by
Alex McPeak
·
Feb. 02, 18 · Tutorial
Like (5)
Save
Tweet
Share
8.91K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

Once you take the time to learn a little about the history of web browsers and understand how they work, the need to build and test cross-compatible websites is clear. Between Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer, you can't assume that your web page will look good and work correctly on everyone's machine just because it does so on yours.

However, understanding the importance of a web application that works across browsers is one thing, while developing for it is another. While it's almost impossible to have a design look exactly the same on every browser, there are a few ways to make sure that you're providing a consistent user experience. Luckily we have a few tips for making your website cross-compatible.

  • Keep Your Code Simple - Think quality over quantity when it comes to coding. Don't dedicate ten lines of code to a feature that only needs three. Not only will simple code be more cross-browser friendly, it will also be more maintainable when the time comes that you do have to debug or adjust it for compatibility.
  • Use Frameworks - CSS frameworks like Foundation and Bootstrap will give you style code to make cross-compatibility easier for you. If you take the time to become familiar with some of the features, building a responsive web application becomes much faster and easier. These will also help you make the application look and behave correctly in mobile browsers.
  • Define Valid Doctype - The Doctype is the first line in your code which describes the HTML that will be used in your application. Because different browsers have different standards and rules, you need to define the Doctype or the rendering engine will basically guess it for you. Of course, this is what can lead to bugs and inconsistencies that you want to avoid.
  • CSS Reset - Every browser has different default CSS rules that they follow. This is why you use CSS reset stylesheet to make sure your browsers follow the same basic rules and behave consistently. You want to add one of these as the first stylesheet in order to reset unless you use a framework which will already have one.
  • Validate - It's a good idea to validate your HTML and CSS to prevent problems. Use the W3C HTML Validator and CSS Validator to make sure your code is error free and fix it if it's not.
  • Conditional Comments - Conditional comments allow you to link style sheets for different browsers, which is especially helpful when it comes to design challenges that are common with Internet Explorer.
  • Prepare For Differences - Again, it's pretty much impossible to have a design that looks the same on every browser unless it's extremely basic. Details like forms and typography will likely vary no matter what rules you follow. Your main concern should not be making the design look identical on every browser. Instead, you should make sure that it looks acceptable and is usable without having elements that are out of place or that prevent someone from accessing certain functions.
  • Don't Skip Cross-Browser Testing - It's not just enough to keep these tips in mind while developing. As hard as you try to avoid it, it's easy to accidentally write something that doesn't work in one browser. This is why you need to check that the site actually works on different browsers before delivery. Using a tool like CrossBrowserTesting gives you access to do this in over 1,500 browsers, so you never have to wonder what users are seeing when they visit your page from a different machine.

This article was first published on the CrossBrowserTesting blog.

code style IT mobile app Web application CSS Design HTML Framework

Published at DZone with permission of Alex McPeak, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • 5 Factors When Selecting a Database
  • Using the PostgreSQL Pager With MariaDB Xpand
  • Debugging Threads and Asynchronous Code
  • Web Application Architecture: The Latest Guide

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: