Section III.9. Cross-Platform Style Differences

III.9. Cross-Platform Style Differences

It has been a long battle among browser makers, standards bearers, and content authors, but browsers released in late 2005 and later do a pretty good job of implementing a workable complement of CSS2.1 features. That's not to say that all implementations are perfect. Advanced web designers continually push the envelope in finding new layout challenges that inevitably find weaknesses in one browser or another. And if you need to support an ever-growing collection of older browsers, the challenges can be enormous.

Listing every browser's style sheet anomaly is beyond the scope of this book. Given all the content combinations and unexpected interactions, such an up-to-date master list probably doesn't exist. Always check the developer release notes for a browser. The open source Mozilla browser offers public access to the internal bug tracking system (Bugzilla), which may help you validate a problem you're experiencing a current version of Firefox. For other browsers, you'll have to rely on developer exchanges in the many online forums and blogs scattered across the Web.

That such inconsistencies exist points to the fact that deployment of CSS style sheets across all DHTML-capable browsers requires testing on as many browser brands and operating systems as you can get your hands on. Carefully study the output on each to make sure that your design goals are met, even if the exact implementations don't match pixel for pixel on the screen.