Web Application Development - Browser Issues
I am sure anyone who have developed/run web application project before know how crucial the application compatible with the mainstream browser in the market. If you search in the google and look for the most rant about browser. It would be no surprise that IE is on top of the list. Ok. this is not a IE bash thread and never intended to be.
Because the relation of IE to the development team or business is actually a love and hate sentiment. Why?
thanks to IE, development team can focus only compatibility test on IE and ensure if it works there. The rest (not mainstream browser) on the other hand can be ignored (unfortunately, that would mean sayonara to my favorite Mozilla Firefox).
To cut the story short, let just explain based on my experience (it could vary on your experience, just my exposure) why people would rant about IE. They said, it is bad, but how bad is bad?
Most people would start off "trying" to make the application at least compatible with IE6. Because the older version of windows are bundled with it by default.
Lets put aside the javascripts/ other scripting goodies , security that IE6 would have problems with. Just focus on usability.
If you have tested the IE6. The IE6 is actually working "very" badly on CSS , DIV and UL tag (bulleted list). How badly is that?
You would end up not able to see a big chunk of pages and even able to click on those buttons. That bad, not usable at all. (All good web sites have CSS nowadays. only lame ones don't use it)
So, if you are a designer or UI perfectionist. Never ever consider supporting IE6. Fight to the death to ask client to upgrade to higher version of IE.
Ok, then, naturally you would think IE 7 is the better choice. 6 to 7 is a big leap right? After much hard convincing your client to upgrade to IE 7. You would think now, ok, i am a lot better off. After much testing, holy shit, another slew of problems follow. So, what now?
IE 7 has this z-index problem, what is z-index problem ?
Meaning if you have layers of screen overlapping each other or stacking. It would be a total hay wired in the order. But hey, you would think, who need a layers screen anyway? Ok, layered screens are everywhere and pervasive in modern web application. Such as your drop down menu, modal popup, funky web layers and etc. Unless you would like to have only the static old timer HTML without AJAX support. Then, you need not worry. Or else, this is a big headache.
So, what is the resolution to this IE7? One would say JQuery, workaround on CSS and etc. Just google and you will find tons of answers. But after going through all this hassle, sometimes the workaround might not even work correctly or expected. Or worst, other side effects would follow. Like in my case, the drop down menu overlap the modal popup. So, once you hover through the menu in the modal popup, the menu in background would popup for some stupid reasons.
So, that does make you really want to spike the programmers in MS.
Ok, so, the only real solution and guarantee to work fine and little sweats and tears are
1. Upgrade to IE 8 at least
2. Use Firefox.
The rest, don't bother. Don't waste your life working on workaround
Because the relation of IE to the development team or business is actually a love and hate sentiment. Why?
thanks to IE, development team can focus only compatibility test on IE and ensure if it works there. The rest (not mainstream browser) on the other hand can be ignored (unfortunately, that would mean sayonara to my favorite Mozilla Firefox).
To cut the story short, let just explain based on my experience (it could vary on your experience, just my exposure) why people would rant about IE. They said, it is bad, but how bad is bad?
Most people would start off "trying" to make the application at least compatible with IE6. Because the older version of windows are bundled with it by default.
Lets put aside the javascripts/ other scripting goodies , security that IE6 would have problems with. Just focus on usability.
If you have tested the IE6. The IE6 is actually working "very" badly on CSS , DIV and UL tag (bulleted list). How badly is that?
You would end up not able to see a big chunk of pages and even able to click on those buttons. That bad, not usable at all. (All good web sites have CSS nowadays. only lame ones don't use it)
So, if you are a designer or UI perfectionist. Never ever consider supporting IE6. Fight to the death to ask client to upgrade to higher version of IE.
Ok, then, naturally you would think IE 7 is the better choice. 6 to 7 is a big leap right? After much hard convincing your client to upgrade to IE 7. You would think now, ok, i am a lot better off. After much testing, holy shit, another slew of problems follow. So, what now?
IE 7 has this z-index problem, what is z-index problem ?
Meaning if you have layers of screen overlapping each other or stacking. It would be a total hay wired in the order. But hey, you would think, who need a layers screen anyway? Ok, layered screens are everywhere and pervasive in modern web application. Such as your drop down menu, modal popup, funky web layers and etc. Unless you would like to have only the static old timer HTML without AJAX support. Then, you need not worry. Or else, this is a big headache.
So, what is the resolution to this IE7? One would say JQuery, workaround on CSS and etc. Just google and you will find tons of answers. But after going through all this hassle, sometimes the workaround might not even work correctly or expected. Or worst, other side effects would follow. Like in my case, the drop down menu overlap the modal popup. So, once you hover through the menu in the modal popup, the menu in background would popup for some stupid reasons.
So, that does make you really want to spike the programmers in MS.
Ok, so, the only real solution and guarantee to work fine and little sweats and tears are
1. Upgrade to IE 8 at least
2. Use Firefox.
The rest, don't bother. Don't waste your life working on workaround
Comments