hey, i recently created a webpage for IE using alot of css. my only problem is i cant figure out how to make it compatible to netscape. i have never designed any pagees for netscape before. here is the link to my page: <br />
e-tracts.amhosting.com/bf2<br />
<br />
If anyone could give me some advice on how to correct my page to make it work on netscape as well as ie i would be very greatful.<br />
thanks<!--content-->Crage,<br />
<br />
The good news is that your page looks fine in Netscape 6.1.<br />
<br />
The bad news is what you already know, it does not look good at all in Netscape 4.x. I think I read that the CSS standard was not complete when Netscape 4.x or IE 5.x was released. IE 5.x seems to generally handle CSS better than Netscape 4.x though. <br />
<br />
Those versions both may have problems with the actual CSS standard. I haven't read about IE 6, but it likely is compliant with the standard, just as is Netscape 6.1.<br />
<br />
One thing to note however. The Mozilla team (building most of Netscape nowadays) interprets standards compliance extremely strictly. They even broke some behaviors of Netscape 4.x in the name of standards compliance.<br />
<br />
{flame}<br />
The IE team probably has a different philosophy. They'll keep standards variances, calling them "improvements" and "innovation". This is what the anti-Microsoft crowd (including me) call "extend and destroy". They get web authors to write with their extensions. And then when it doesn't work in Netscape (even a fully standards compliant one), the authors blame Netscape rather than Microsoft.<br />
{/flame}<br />
<br />
I once found a site that contained the CSS standards failings of the various browsers and versions. You can probably search Google for something like "browsers and css". Ahh, what the heck. I just did the search. Google found 140,000 hits. Here is the first:<br />
<br />
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webreview.com/style/index.shtml">http://www.webreview.com/style/index.shtml</a><!-- m --><br />
<br />
Here is one thing to remember. Netscape 6.1 gives the viewer back the right to change font size, even if a CSS style sheet defines a certain size. This means that people with bad eyesight or extremely large screens (2048x1568, for example] aren't locked into what the web author thought looked good on his own screen. IE 5.5 does not allow this -- CSS overrides user settings. I do not know if IE 6 allows this or not.<!--content-->Crage, <br />
<br />
After I posted, I decided to look at your page in IE 5.5 on my win98 machine. The text overflows your box, in a manner similar to the way Netscape 4.7 does. Are you designing with IE 6? It is still too early to design for either IE 6 or Netscape 6. Keep IE 5 or 5.5 and Netscape 4.7 around to check compatibility with what most people are using right now.<!--content-->thanks for the advice rock and it will be used well, your advice is much more usefull then the worthless advice i got from the website review forum. oh, and yes we used ie6 to design the page.<!--content-->Well, in NS4.77 the page loads to the right and there is a lot of wasted space on the left. so half of the page is cut off. makes my sreen have the horizontal scroll.<br />
<br />
in fact all the pages do that.<br />
<br />
what css is there, all I see are graphics<!--content-->Originally posted by crage <br />
your advice is much more usefull then the worthless advice i got from the website review forum<br />
<br />
the website review forums is a place for other members to critique your site.... or in other words give you their opinion. Its a very useful forum, and after reading the comments there, I still support it. <br />
<br />
A lot of members don't like the review forum because it lets other members openly 'opinionate' your site... but its a great way to get another take on things.<br />
<br />
Now then, since we're in the page layout section....<br />
<br />
I'll support the 800x600 rule. That is: design with it in mind, and allow for 1024x768-as they are the most used resolutions.<br />
<br />
I'll also support (rock's) be careful when designing for the latest and greatest browser. I think you'd be safe with a copy of 5.5 and Netscape 4.7 on the machine, as dreamweaver supports multiple browser views.<!--content-->If I am not mistaken you are using div and positioning things right. well I tried this once and it was a real experience as I position it in IE and in NS it would not be where I thought, it would be over to the right more, if I remember right. I think that is what's happening to yours. you could get a browser redirect script and make a page for NS and take out the divs if you can and have 2 pages load depending on the browser. just a thought.<!--content-->or, use tables....<!--content-->
e-tracts.amhosting.com/bf2<br />
<br />
If anyone could give me some advice on how to correct my page to make it work on netscape as well as ie i would be very greatful.<br />
thanks<!--content-->Crage,<br />
<br />
The good news is that your page looks fine in Netscape 6.1.<br />
<br />
The bad news is what you already know, it does not look good at all in Netscape 4.x. I think I read that the CSS standard was not complete when Netscape 4.x or IE 5.x was released. IE 5.x seems to generally handle CSS better than Netscape 4.x though. <br />
<br />
Those versions both may have problems with the actual CSS standard. I haven't read about IE 6, but it likely is compliant with the standard, just as is Netscape 6.1.<br />
<br />
One thing to note however. The Mozilla team (building most of Netscape nowadays) interprets standards compliance extremely strictly. They even broke some behaviors of Netscape 4.x in the name of standards compliance.<br />
<br />
{flame}<br />
The IE team probably has a different philosophy. They'll keep standards variances, calling them "improvements" and "innovation". This is what the anti-Microsoft crowd (including me) call "extend and destroy". They get web authors to write with their extensions. And then when it doesn't work in Netscape (even a fully standards compliant one), the authors blame Netscape rather than Microsoft.<br />
{/flame}<br />
<br />
I once found a site that contained the CSS standards failings of the various browsers and versions. You can probably search Google for something like "browsers and css". Ahh, what the heck. I just did the search. Google found 140,000 hits. Here is the first:<br />
<br />
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webreview.com/style/index.shtml">http://www.webreview.com/style/index.shtml</a><!-- m --><br />
<br />
Here is one thing to remember. Netscape 6.1 gives the viewer back the right to change font size, even if a CSS style sheet defines a certain size. This means that people with bad eyesight or extremely large screens (2048x1568, for example] aren't locked into what the web author thought looked good on his own screen. IE 5.5 does not allow this -- CSS overrides user settings. I do not know if IE 6 allows this or not.<!--content-->Crage, <br />
<br />
After I posted, I decided to look at your page in IE 5.5 on my win98 machine. The text overflows your box, in a manner similar to the way Netscape 4.7 does. Are you designing with IE 6? It is still too early to design for either IE 6 or Netscape 6. Keep IE 5 or 5.5 and Netscape 4.7 around to check compatibility with what most people are using right now.<!--content-->thanks for the advice rock and it will be used well, your advice is much more usefull then the worthless advice i got from the website review forum. oh, and yes we used ie6 to design the page.<!--content-->Well, in NS4.77 the page loads to the right and there is a lot of wasted space on the left. so half of the page is cut off. makes my sreen have the horizontal scroll.<br />
<br />
in fact all the pages do that.<br />
<br />
what css is there, all I see are graphics<!--content-->Originally posted by crage <br />
your advice is much more usefull then the worthless advice i got from the website review forum<br />
<br />
the website review forums is a place for other members to critique your site.... or in other words give you their opinion. Its a very useful forum, and after reading the comments there, I still support it. <br />
<br />
A lot of members don't like the review forum because it lets other members openly 'opinionate' your site... but its a great way to get another take on things.<br />
<br />
Now then, since we're in the page layout section....<br />
<br />
I'll support the 800x600 rule. That is: design with it in mind, and allow for 1024x768-as they are the most used resolutions.<br />
<br />
I'll also support (rock's) be careful when designing for the latest and greatest browser. I think you'd be safe with a copy of 5.5 and Netscape 4.7 on the machine, as dreamweaver supports multiple browser views.<!--content-->If I am not mistaken you are using div and positioning things right. well I tried this once and it was a real experience as I position it in IE and in NS it would not be where I thought, it would be over to the right more, if I remember right. I think that is what's happening to yours. you could get a browser redirect script and make a page for NS and take out the divs if you can and have 2 pages load depending on the browser. just a thought.<!--content-->or, use tables....<!--content-->