Which browsers do you use for compatibility tests?

[JeremyL]

It's been a REALLY long time since I updated what browsers I have installed locally and use to check websites for breaks. What browsers is everyone using for checks these days? Also any stats on how many of each of the browsers are being used out there?

I have been using
Explorer (latest version as windows updates)
Netscape 4.08
Netscape 4.7
Opera 5
Netscape 6.1

[fathom]

Based on statistics of market demand at the site of interest.

IE 5 - 6

on most sites this is 90% or better.

[Brett_Tabke]

I use Mozilla for compat checks. If it works in Moz, it will work in Opera and IE. Moz is the pickiest of the three.

[msr986]

> If it works in Moz, it will work in Opera and IE.

Yes, unless you are heavy into CSS. Then you should also test using IE. Especially if you use border widths and padding.

[lorax]

I tend to use the latest versions of Opera, IE, NS, and Moz. I've long since banished NN4.X.

[g1smd]

Still using:

Mozilla 1.1
Internet Exploiter 5.5
Netscape 4.8

[hakre]

i use ie 5.5, opera 5, netscape 4.78 and lynx. this makes most possible. on hard jobs i'll turn on my g4 to check it in ie and netscape there, too, but this that rare i do not remember the version number.

[4serendipity]

Here's my list. I'll admit it a bit much, but if you're doing any JS, DOM, or CSS trickery and you want a wide audience I view this list as the bare minimum.

IE6/Win
IE5 and IE5.5/Win (there are differences between these)
IE5/ Mac
NN4/Win and Mac
NN3/Win
Opera 6 and 7/Win
Netscape 6 or Moz .9.4
Netscape 7 or Moz 1.02
Recent Mozilla build
Safari
Lynx (for screen reader compat)

I also test with the browser's style sheet, JavaScript, and images turned off.

[lorax]

I made an interesting observation last week that I think is appropriate for this discussion. I'd been reviewing the logs for a site which sells a widget that most every network engineer/technician/admin is aware of and knows they need while the average user is only moderately aware of it.

The logs indicate such a wide variety of browsers including a few dinosaurs like IE 3 (which through me for a loop until I found out they were in Taipei). The lightbulb went on of course. The target audience is more likely not to upgrade browsers and often use SunSPARC or Linux platforms.

The point is that I missed the boat in my testing. I should have internalized the audience and tested for what I suspected would be their browser of choice. While the selection would have been all over the map, the concept is the same - the target audience prefers earlier (read: basic) browsers. They don't need/want the fancier stuff - they're geeks after all and all they want is a way to find the information/patches/downloads that they need to keep their networks up and running.

Lesson learned.

[ritch_b]

Those with a fear of long lists should look away now...

MS Windows :

IE 5.5 & 6, NN 6 & 7, Mozilla 9.4 & 1.0.2, Phoenix 0.5, Opera 5 & 7

Mac OS :

IE 5.1, NN 7, Opera 6, Mozilla 1.0.2

RedHat :

Opera 6, Mozilla 0.9.2

Testing across all the above is a bit of a faff, but quite a worthwhile endeavour.

R.

[DrDoc]

IE5 and IE5.5/Win (there are differences between these)

Any main problems/differences you've encountered. 4serendipity?

[4serendipity]

Hi Doc,

For Starters you can check out Eric Meyer's CSS compatibility chart at:
[webreview.com...]

Microsoft also has some documentation at:

[msdn.microsoft.com...]

[msdn.microsoft.com...]

For the most part, the differences between 5.0 and 5.5 are subtle, but you'll run into them sooner or later if you do much scripting or layout with CSS.

[HarryM]

I currently use the following browsers on Win98 and Win2000 systems, hopefully with Linux to be added soon:

NN4.8 NN6.1 NN6.2 and NN7
IE4.7 IE5.0 IE5.5 and IE6
Opera 5 and 6, Mozilla 1.2.1.

The worst headaches come from Opera. It doesn't support the DOM, gets confused with CSS2, and is picky about nested divs.

NN4 users get served a text-only version, but even that still needs to be tested.