Let me paint a picture for you.
You spend days (or maybe even weeks) on creating and customizing an awesome WordPress theme for your blog. You’ve got all the bells and whistles, everything is snazzy to the max. So, you launch. Next thing you know, you’re getting emails from your readers that say something like: “Hey, just so you know, your links are all messed up.” And “Hey, just so you know, your header is all messed up.”
Big. Bummer. First impression is everything, and already your readers are annoyed.
While it’s really tough to make everything look and work 100% the same across Internet browsers, there are some things you can do to avoid any major issues.
Before you launch your blog, check how it looks on all of the most popular Internet browsers.
BrowserShots.org is good for this. So is this site. I’d recommend checking (at minimum) FireFox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera. Also, don’t just check the latest release version of the browser. Check the two or three most recent. Sometimes people take a long time to upgrade (we’re all afraid of change). Do this every few months.
Just do your best when it comes to CSS.
CSS is a fickle thing. I doubt that anyone has found a way to make it work consistently in all browsers. Just try not to fix browser-specific problems with CSS. You’ll end up having to change it a lot with new browser versions, etc.
On that topic, don’t waste a ton of time going through code. Use a FireFox plugin like CSSViewer or FireBug to make spotting trouble code easier.
Don’t use pixels for fonts. Use ems or percentages.
Simply put, if you assign pixels to fonts then you’re specifying that size font no matter what the reader’s screen size and browser are. The result of that can be distorted text (smaller, larger, smooshed together, etc). Em’s are a general measurement that can be read by different sized screens and browsers and interpreted to fit the screen properly. More info on this topic can be found here.
Don’t waste hours on making everything 100% perfect.
First of all, the moment you have it perfect is the moment a new release of a browser comes out. So, don’t stress about it. I know my blog has issues when it comes to Internet Explorer, and maybe even a version of FireFox. But, I also know that the majority of my audience doesn’t use Internet Explorer, or that particular version of FireFox. I’ve done my best to make it functional for my IE readers, but I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. I’d rather spend that time writing! So as long as it’s readable and it functions, let it be.
There’s a lot more that can added to this list. What are some of the ways you ensure cross-browser functionality?
If you liked this, you might also enjoy...