Why Do Web Browsers Have Compatibility Issues?

Have you ever experienced an issue where a website or even your website looks different depending on the Web Browser that’s being used? Well, these are caused by compatibility issues. Are you wondered why Web Browsers constantly have these compatibility issues? Well, we’ll discuss that. But first, let’s go over what exactly a web browser is.

What is a web browser?

A Web Browser is a software on your computer that is designed to download files and webpages from servers as well as read the coding of the webpage and then graphically display them as it’s specified in the coding. There are various different Web Browsers out there and you are actually using one to access this webpage right now. Some popular Web Browsers today would be Internet Explorer,

Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. Although some Web Browsers generally work better and faster than others, you’re bound to run into Browser Compatibility Issues regardless of the Web Browser you’re using.

What is a Browser Compatibility Issue?

A browser compatibility issue is typically when webpages work fine in some Web Browsers but are either broken or look different when being accessed with others. In some cases, screen resolution can have something to do with the way the coding is displayed within your Web Browser and can be seen as being a Browser Compatibility Issue.

So why do Web Browsers have compatibility issues?

Well, simply it’s because Web Browsers are all designed to read coding differently. So there may be certain coding used on your webpage that are either deprecated and not supported by the Web Browser, or displays the webpage differently. In some cases these issues can be caused by browser version updates.

What can be done to correct these compatibility issues?

Don’t expect to wait for a version update for a particular Web Browser. My recommendation would be to ensure that you are not using deprecated coding. Typically you will still have issues even if you’re using the most up-to-date globally compatible coding, however the trick to preventing Web Browsers from having compatibility issues is to use IF statements within the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) of your site. This way you can basically have your website built mutliple times (and differently) and can be redone to look properly within each Web Browser.

An Example:

<!--[if IE 6]>
Special instructions for IE 6 here
<![endif]-->

Of course if we’re not talking about compatibility issues with YOUR website and it’s just a random site on the internet, I’d just suggest using or downloading another Web Browser that works fine unless you want to try contacting the website owner to offer your assistance.

Hopefully this answers your question on why Web Browsers have compatibility issues. Consider using www.w3schools.com as a resource for ensuring that you are using up-to-date coding on your site.

Source : http://www.techescape.net/2011/01/10/why-do-web-browsers-have-compatibility-issues/