Which browsers and operating systems do you target for new websites?

Question

When you work on a new website, what combinations of browsers and operating systems do you target and what are the priorities? You will find that targeting a few specific combinations (and ignoring the rest) is better than trying to make them work as you see fit?

Common browsers:

• Firefox (1.5, 2, 3)
• Internet Explorer (6, 7, 8 beta)
• Opera
• Chrome

Common Operating Systems:

• Windows (XP, Vista)
• Mac OSX
• Linux
• Unix

Answer 1

Basically, I just orient browsers, because the sites I created do not really depend on any particular OS. As mentioned above, the YAHOO browser-oriented guide is a good starting point for determining which browsers should / should support. And Yahoo's user interface library (CSS + JavaScript) helps to achieve this.

But when developing sites, I primarily do this on Firefox2, because it has the best tools for web development (firebug + wed developer toolkit). Then I also test my sites with Opera 9.5, as this is my browser for viewing browsing . I had previously lost all hope of IE6 support at any reasonable level, so for the time being I am simply informing my users about upgrading to IE7, which is almost capable of displaying sites like FF2 / 3 + Chrome + Opera.

FF3 and Chrome are so new that I usually ignore them, but I have to say: they are fast fast! My heavy javascript / css sites are noticeably faster with them.

Answer 2

I do:

• Firefox 2 and up
• IE 7 and higher
• Konquorer or Safari (or maybe Chrome)

Answer 3

Yahoo enhanced browser support is a good guide:

Answer 4

It depends on your audience. If you have many technology users, you can have 50% of users in Firefox. If you have a lot of mom and dad, you will likely have 75-80% of your users who are IE 6 or 7. You will probably need to get alhpa / beta using Google analytics so that you can evaluate your audience.

Answer 5

Where i work we aim

• Firefox 2 and 3 on Windows
• Firefox 2 and 3 on Mac
• Safari for Windows and Mac
• IE 6 and 7

We do not focus on any Linux browsers, but if they work in the list above, there is a good chance that they work everywhere. We are also testing the Google Chrome browser on Windows.

Answer 6

I just realized this week that if you bend a little and figure out how to check your HTML, you will most likely not care about the cross browser.

Oh yes, except for Javascript.

At first I work in Firefox, this is what the boss uses. Opera is the last thing Bob uses. Har Har, just kidding Bob.

But even in this case, you can never be safe, because the minute of browser incompatibility and the fact that 90% of the people you ask cannot really tell you which browser they use.

  Can you click help and about?  (Pause) No?  Oh, that right you're using IE7 

And even this old standby mode no longer works.

My advice is to block IE, like the terminal server, and try going to your site. If you can click on everything and read everything, then you are clear.

If you use sIFR, and someone calls you, telling you that you’ve turned the logo upside down, it’s time to give priority and worry about compatibility, otherwise IE and FF, and you are good to go.

Answer 7

Target none. Try against many.

Answer 8

Where I work, we test the following (in this order of priority, based on data from Google Analytics), all on Windows:

• IE 7
• IE 6
• Firefox 3
• Firefox 2
• Safari 3

We don’t worry about Opera or older versions of browsers, since the percentage of users is very small, however we do our best to encode everything according to standards, therefore there should not be any big problems.

Of course, as Milhouse said, it depends on your specific audience. YMMV.

Answer 9

The standard kit I'm used to:

• IE6 (victory)
• IE7 (victory)
• Firefox 1.5+ (win / mac)
• Safari 2+ (win / mac)
• Opera 9+ (win / mac)
• Chrome (so far, if it clears Safari 3.0 on victory, it looks like it also clears Chrome)

You can also get support for IE6 / 7, Gecko, and WebKit ... and it covers everything listed here, but Opera, as well as several not listed. It is much more difficult to test only the rendering engine, not the specific differences in browser versions, and to feel comfortable with the results.

Answer 10

I agree that you should try and make it work in all, but if this is a new site, I would seriously think about reducing IE6 support. In terms of development, this will save you hours of hair extension if you do not need to maintain it.

You will have to weigh this against your target audience and whether you want to lose some customers who do not want (or can) update their browser.