Grappling with CSS Challenges in Web Design
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It makes me think that there should be a global regulation for the World Wide Web to ensure that what works in one browser works in all of the others. Having to make sure your CSS will work on the majority of browsers can sometimes restrict your web design choices and this isn’t fair on anyone: not the designer, not the client and not the web user. So, what could be done to help solve the problem?
Obviously, a big part of the issue with this aspect of web design is the fact that there are now so many different web browsers in use. From the household names such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome to the smaller browsers such as Safari and Opera, there are many choices. More than this, all of these browsers also have older versions still in operation – most notably Internet Explorer – and this is where a lot of the issues come from.
For instance, IE6 still accounts for a large part of the web browser market – particularly in Asia – despite the fact that, at the time of writing, the latest version is IE9. This means that, inevitably, the browser is not exactly the same as it once was. It operates differently and has different capabilities, so something that looks great in IE9 is unlikely to be so fantastic in IE6. This suggests that one solution is to encourage web users to move to more up to date browsers that are more likely to be able to support the new CSS popular in web design. This process is already underway, but it needs to move faster, or else by the time everyone is finally weaned off IE6, web designers will be trying to figure out how to deal with IE12.
Another problem in terms of getting CSS to display properly is the bugs inherent in web browsers. Or, to be more specific, the fact that different browsers have different bugs and so designers have to alter their style sheets for each browser. Currently, one of the main solutions is to tailor CSS for a standards-compliant browser (such as Firefox or Opera) and then to add in workarounds for other browsers such as IE.
Of course, this shows that it is possible to work around the problems caused by different browsers operating differently by altering the code you use for each one, but the fact is that you shouldn’t have to. It’s taken as given that web users want a website to look the same in Firefox as they do in Safari, for example. After all, it’s the same website, so why should it look different? Yet at present, different browsers use different rendering rules, so even when you use CSS – which is generally thought to be better in terms of display than HTML – the look can be impacted.
This is why it would be helpful and in the interests of everyone with a stake in the web if there was a rule that said all browsers have to treat CSS the same. That is not to say they still can’t have their differences: there is room for different features and styles, but when it comes to web design, it would be infinitely helpful to know that what works for one browser will also work just as well for the rest.
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Author Resource:-
This article was supplied by full service creative, digital, web design and CGI Design Agency based in London, Dhub.com.
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By :
James T Marshall
Submitted
2011-11-01 07:27:35 |
Article From Article Mayhem
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