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I have not yet corrected the errors found after validating the CSS and the HTML, but do not see anything in the results that would indicate any serious problems.
The OS and browser are critical here -- and I'd bet it's OS9 or earlier and IE 5 for Macintosh. The CSS support (among other things) in that browser is really dodgy. If you're using floated divs and such, you often need a hands on look to get it right, but you can start by leaving nothing to chance (that is, nothing to defaults) and set all the padding and margins explicitly in your CSS.
Should you worry about it? -- Mac runs 6% to 8% on most of the sites I deal with. In my opinion, you can't afford to ignore that big a chunk.
It IS possible... but not to w3 standards. Things which would pass the validator (at w3.org), would look perfect in IE for PC... but the second you went to Mac (osx, for IE, and Safari -- it looked bad).
Basically, cheating is usually needed. Try to validate your site as much as possible, but dont 100% validate it, if it doesnt work well on a mac. Cheat. Find a way around -- the golden advice. :)
While mac users dont take up a huge market share, remember your target market. (for example, im more targeted to new media people -- graphic designers, videographers, sound designers, are all using mac -- so I gotta remember them)
Now, thats just my ranting. :)
Cheating works for me. The primary problem at the moment is figuring out how to get at the problem. I haven't even seen it for myself yet - just been told that it "appears" serious. How do others deal with this type of thing. I don't have the capacity to run and test for everything.
WBF
In that particular case there is a very simple workaround, but the webmaster has to action it.
You should export the CSS to an external file and call it with an instruction in the <head> section of the page.
Most people usually use this link, but in this case it does not solve the problem:
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" src="/path/file.css">
The version below does solve the problem, as it hides the CSS from these earlier browsers:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css">
@import url(path/file.css);
</style>
Maybe you could try this on a couple of pages and then get some user feedback as to whether it helps at all?
Question #1 -- The site is driven entirely with CSS. If I hide it can I assume that my problem will be worse than ever?
Question #2 -- I have been using the link you described but with a twist.
--- HREF="/path/file.css">
Should I change to SRC? I'm assuming that SRC is the higher newer standard.?
Noted on the "href" vs. "src" difference. That might be a part of the problem. What does this resource say about both versions: [validator.w3.org...] ?
.
If you want to fix the problem you should use this link instead:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css">
@import url(path/file.css);
</style>
Make sure that you also check your CSS for errors using [jigsaw.w3.org...]
1. Find out from the person complaining which OS and which browser they are specifically using.... no point wondering why without these details! We need to know what we're dealing with here!
2. Post this message on the Webmasterworld.com Forum called "the Macintosh Webmaster" - it's a little further down the right hand side of the home page.... I'll bet you find a few people in there who'll take a look at the problem for you....
