[xHTML / CSS] What browsers do you code for?

So basically i've mananged to code my first valid template which is perfectly viewable in the latest versions of IE, FF, Opera and Safari.

Just wondered what other browsers i should download to view this template in to make sure it's working correctly? Also what browsers do you code for?

Thanks,
Jamie

If you can try and check IE6, I use Parallels Workstation to do this.

I also check Google Chrome (but that is the same rendering engine as Safari) now and Flock (same rendering engine as Firefox).

Finally I also run verion 2 and 3 of Firefox to ensure cross browser compatibility. You can find out how to do it here: http://blogs.cozi.com/tech/2008/04/multiple-firefo.html

Check out this site. Most used browsers on different systems.
http://browsershots.org/

But you already have coded for the most used ones. IE 6 could even be ignored nowerdays. A lot of people (I am talking about professional coders too) stopped it , because on a Service Pack update you automatically get IE 7.

I think it will always depend on the web sites target audience, sites that target a particular techie audience can probably forget IE6 now but I still have institutions for example the local council who still have machines with IE6. I'm not saying it as to be perfect but it does still need to be useable and degrade gracefully.

I usually aim for IE7, FF, Safari and Opera. Now, I even double check in Chrome but it generally has the same issues as Safari so if you check Safari you're probably safe in most cases. IE6 usually doesn't require too much adjusting to get it to work fine, so I will usually just go ahead and do it so I can sleep better at night. If you get into the habit of doing this and actually do your research to determine the causes of the behavior of these browsers, you'll be able to make adjustments in no time.

Also as far as testing IE6, I've found that MultipleIE is a good tool to install a standalone version of IE6. I think it goes back to IE 3.01 but going past IE 5.5 is just insane and I usually won't go as far as IE5.5. So you can update to IE7, and install multiple-ie's version of IE6 and have them both on the same PC. I think this is a better solution to what was stated above with the virutal machines unless you actually intend to test in different operating systems as well.

Browsershots was a good suggestion as well, I do donate to them for priority processing because I think it's such a great service, I am in the process of setting up my linux box to be a browser farm for them as well.

Anyway, I hope this helps!

Originally Posted by div^ IE 6 could even be ignored nowerdays. A lot of people (I am talking about professional coders too) stopped it , because on a Service Pack update you automatically get IE 7.

Not true at all. You'd be amazed at the percentage of users still using IE6. Not a single "professional coder" actually working in the industry will ignore IE6, and if they do, well they aren't worthy of being called professional in the first place. Don't rely on the W3C's stats either, since their data is pulled from the traffic on their own website which as you can guess is mostly visited by people in the business or at least somewhat knowledgeable of the web. But even then, the percentage of IE6 users shown on the W3C stats is still extremely high. I doubt you'd want to ignore 25% of your potential visitors. Now IE5/5.5 can be safely ignored.

Either way, when code is written properly (passing W3C validation doesn't necessarily mean good markup) you shouldn't have that many cross-browser issues, and the issues that do come up are usually quickly fixed.

I always start out in FF, then Opera & Safari usually mirror it... Then I go on to IE6 & IE7 (although sometimes I skip out in IE6 as it's quite the little annoyance haha).

Now, I even double check in Chrome but it generally has the same issues as Safari so if you check Safari you're probably safe in most cases

Thats because both Safari and Chrome are based off Webkit.

A lot of people (I am talking about professional coders too) stopped it

Professional coders who think that its wise to throw 25% of business out the door?

you shouldn't have that many cross-browser issues

Exactly. The main ones are bugs (such as double margin), lack of PNG support, no support of :hover on something other than anchors, most of which are easily fixed

Thats because both Safari and Chrome are based off Webkit.

Yes, I was aware of this and that's what I was trying to imply but I guess I forgot to actually type that. Thanks for clearing it up

I check out W3Counter every now and then to keep up to date. They seem to have a nice bunch of websites they draw their data from. With almost 30% of all users having IE6 I can't throw support for it out of the window even if I wanted to.