AOL Browser Testing

What are some of the pitfalls?

[fashezee]

I have spent the last week trying to find someone that has AOL to set me up a screen name
and password so that I can test my site. If you haven't guessed it so far, I was unsuccessful.
I am getting alot of hits from users viewing the internet with AOL, and not being able to see
how my site looks on their browser is giving my a migrain.

Can someone with an AOL browser stickymail me please. thx.

[papabaer]

Fashezee, if AOL compatibilty is important to you, there is only one course of action that makes any sense at all: get an AOL account.

Ultimately the responsibility for browser-testing lies with the developer. This includes having all the "tools" needed to perform any tests.

Asking for someone else's username and password is a little like asking for their credit card or bank account number. Not a good idea.

First let me ask, does your code validate? If it does (as it should!), it will make AOL compatiblity a much simpler task. Even though there are some potential variances in pages renedered in the AOL browser, these are greatly lessened when valid code is used.

The same applies for CSS: design for consitancy across Opera, Mozilla and IE6 and you should be goo to go in AOL... especially if the anticipated move to Netscape/Gecko takes place.

If you have written valid code, used widely consistant CSS, and followed usability guidelines you will be good to go.

[Chris_R]

You know - they do have a free trial. I am sure you have seen their disks :)

[fashezee]

I have one word for you papabaer - true, I will be getting an AOL account today. But let me ask you,
would a CSS be the reason for a page not being displayed right in AOL or netscape. My CSS works fine in IE,
although it might not meet the 3WC standards.

And I have seen those free disks before, but believe it or not, I have not seen them recently.

[papabaer]

My CSS works fine in IE,
although it might not meet the 3WC standards.

Repeat the above until the full impact is understood.

You see, that is what Web Standards is all about. Aim for W3C recommendations and your code will display properly in all conforming user-agents. That should be priority one! ;)

[Chris_R]

I have had problems with javascript in AOL.

[Dr_Kelvin]

Papabaer's advice is sound; validate your code and most of the battle is over.

I occasionally check sites in AOL on a friend's machine and have found a few issues. Opening a new browser window with javascript will resize the parent window from maximized (such as it is in AOL) to the default width - annoying, but doesn't wreck functionality. AOL's image compression produces nasty effects in JPG's, worse, it seems, if you've already applied considerable compression.

[gsx]

I've had problems w/ JS in AOL as well. Those free discs? They aren't making many now. If you want one, ring them.

(After the amount of money they have lost recently, they have cut back on marketing and in particular, getting new customers)