Browser Compatibility?

[colourcollision]

Hey guys,

I have been doing website design for a long time and I am indeed new to this forum, I joined because I am getting involved with graphic design now but I was just wondering if anyone knows the best way to get around browser compatibility issues, I have a lot of websites but the problem is panels don't line up correctly in seperate browsers such as iexplorer and Firefox for example, I use Firefox myself and it appears to be fine on Google Chrome too but obviously theres a lot of iexplorer users out there and I need to have the website looking perfect, the problem is it's for graphic design so an error like that can look really bad.

I do know that it's to do with the xsp_styles.css file and I also know theres a number of ways around it, I am just hoping that someone might know the best route to go down when working out a solution to this problem because I know that it's going to be time consuming, and above all... boring :icon_tongue_smilie:

Appreciate any response :icon_smile:

Best,
Shane

 

[Corrosive]

I do know that it's to do with the xsp_styles.css file and I also know theres a number of ways around it, I am just hoping that someone might know the best route to go down when working out a solution to this problem because I know that it's going to be time consuming, and above all... boring :icon_tongue_smilie:

Hi Shane

The simple answer is not to use tables for layout. They are outdated, clunky, notoriously difficult to get the way they display correct across browsers and they also aren't great for SEO either. A modern website design will use div tags and semantic mark-up correctly to achieve a slick website experience.

I'd also reconsider the flash menu if I were you. My Google Chrome keeps crashing flash since they built it into the version 10 release rather than using a plug-in. I know this is something Google need to get right (and soon please, it is annoying me!) but it means I can't navigate your site at the moment.

Your layout is pretty simple and you clearly understand CSS as you use it to style some of your tables so take the next step and switch to divs. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache down the road.

 

[sweetums]

I second everything that Corrosive suggests. Tables are also not great because they stop the code from being semantic and instead make it a source order dependant layout e.g: Elements that need to be in the top left need to be first in the markup. Elements that need to be in the bottom right need to be last in the markup.

 

[ianharte]

Yep safe to say stop using tables! The company I work for start building our shopping cart software 10 years ago and we are in the whole process of converting from table to CSS! My god it's a big job haha :]