Re: H e l p ! ... with consistent display

At 13:58 15/02/02 -0800, Shasta k Willson wrote:
>I got out of web design when CSS/DHTML came on the scene for exactly this
>reason... can someone help me get a more consistent display?
<snip/>

Embrace the diversity :-)

Seriously, the diversity of platforms and browsers (and hence website 
appearance) is a good thing. It means the user can select the best 
operating environment for them. The trick is making sure the site functions 
equally well in as many circumstances as possible. I've had a look at your 
site in a range of browsers, and can't see anything that is broken. What 
sort of problems are you trying to debug?

>Question 1:  I validated the CSS at W3 and fixed a few small errors, but
>when I tried to validate the HTML there I discovered I didn't know which
>version is recommended for use with CSS... tips?
<snip/>

HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 both support stylesheets, and both are highly 
compatible with current browsers. Using XHTML over HTML is (at the moment) 
more or less a matter of choice. I'd encourage you to use XHTML 1.0, 
because it is XML and hence better structured and more future proof. Its 
only a slight advantage though.

HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 both come in three favours - strict, transitional 
and frameset. Unless you are using frames, you have to decide between 
strict and transitional. For full time developers, I recommend strict and 
CSS. It makes things faster in the long run. If you don't have the time to 
learn CSS thoroughly, or aren't doing much coding, use the transitional 
flavor BUT only use the transitional bits you have to use. Just because, 
for example, you need to use <.hr width="50%" /> doesn't mean you should 
also use <.font>

Strict tends to be fairly backwardly compatible by default, BTW. You should 
test in a variety of browsers to get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

>Question 2: What suggestions can folks make for compatibility in general.
>Frankly I'm ready to drop the whole thing and re-code it using just HTML.
<snip/>

HTML is not intrinsically more backwardly compatible than HTML and CSS 
(although this is less true for some meanings of backwardly compatible 
though.)

For backwards (and forwards, and sideways) compatibility, use HTML that is 
as strict as possible. Avoid controlling the appearance of some things in 
CSS and with transitional attributes or elements. Test and validate everything.

Andrew

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