Best practices for cross-browser compatibility of Drupal website

Vadim Mirgorod

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Usage share of web browsers: January 2011

Internet Explorer (43.8%) Mozilla Firefox (29.7%) Google Chrome (13.0%) Safari (6.1%) Opera (2.2%) Mobile browsers (4.3%)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers

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Top 12 browsers by StatCounter: January 2011

Source: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-ww-monthly-201001-201101-bar

← IE 7.0← IE 6.0

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Drupal theming observations

• Modern browsers• IE 6 and IE 7• Opera• Fonts• Drupal core CSS• Fixed-width layout

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Drupal theming suggestions

• float: left instead of display: inline-block

• PNG for transparent background• Rounded Corners

– border-radius for Webkit and Opera– -moz-border-radius for Mozilla– Rounded Corners module for IE

• Web safe fonts• Specific styles for different browsers

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Conditional Comments

<!--[if IE 6]>

Special instructions for IE 6 here

<![endif]-->

Image by Brenda Starr

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Conditional Comments (IE)

Should start with

<!--[if IE]>

<!--[if IE 5]>

<!--[if IE 5.0]>

<!--[if gte IE 5]>

<!--[if lt IE 6]>

<!--[if lte IE 5.5]>

<!--[if gt IE 6]>

gt – greater thenlt – lower thengte – greater then or equal tolte – lower then or equal to

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Conditional Comments(non-IE)

<!--[if !IE]><!-->

<h1>You are NOT using Internet Explorer</h1>

<!--<![endif]-->

<!--[if IE 6]><!-->

<h1>You are using EITHER IE 6 OR a non-IE</h1>

<!--<![endif]-->

<!--[if IE 6]>Instructions for IE6<!-->

Instructions for IE6 and non-IE

<!--<![endif]-->

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Conditional Comments in DrupalConditional Comments in Drupal

3 Paths3 PathsImage by Image by Ryan B Schultz

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Padawan Path:sites/all/themes/your_theme/page.tpl.php

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Jedi Knight Path:sites/all/themes/your_theme/template.php

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Jedi Master Path (D7):sites/all/themes/your_theme/template.php

See drupal_pre_render_conditional_comments()

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CSS HacksCSS Hacks

Image by Image by Lincolnian

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CSS Hacks/Filters

A hack is a method of exploiting the way a web browser parses CSS rules, to control the styles a webpage receives.

‘Control’ includes the ability to hide or change rules based on the browser type and/or version.

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CSS Hacks Examples

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JavaScript Trick

Image by Image by Jenn and Tony

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JavaScript Tricktheme.js:

opera.css:

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Useful modules for cross- browser compatibility

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Conditional Stylesheets(D6 and D7)

you_theme.info:

; Set the conditional stylesheets that are processed by IE.

stylesheets-conditional[lt IE 7][all][] = ie6-and-below.css

stylesheets-conditional[IE 9][all][] = ie9.css

stylesheets-conditional[IE][print][] = ie-print.css

http://drupal.org/project/conditional_styles

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Conditional CSS Integration(D6)

http://drupal.org/project/conditional_css

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IE CSS Optimizer(D6)

Solves the Internet Explorer limitation of loading not more than 31 CSS files per HTML page. Provides flexible settings for CSS optimization.

http://drupal.org/project/ie_css_optimizer

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IE Unlimited CSS Loader(D6)

Does almost the same as IE CSS Optimizer does with a small differences. Have no settings.

Allows for up to 9 additional stylesheets explicitly embedded in page.tpl.php, that the module logic does not know about.

http://drupal.org/project/unlimited_css

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Testing Tools

Image by tronixstuff

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Browser compatibility testing software

• Compatibility mode in IE8• IE Tester: http://ietester.com/• MultiplesIEs: http://tredosoft.com/multiple_ie• Multi-Safari:

http://michelf.com/projects/multi-safari/• Mozilla Firefox Collection:

http://mozilla-firefox-collection.en.softonic.com/

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IE Tester

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Web Services

• http://browserlab.adobe.com/

• http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/• http://www.webdevlab.com/• Many others

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HTML/CSS Validators

Web services:http://validator.w3.org/http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

Firefox addons:http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/css-validator/

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Virtual Machines

Virtual Machine emulates behavior of PC running Guest OS. VM is executed on top of Host OS or Hypervisor. Several instances of Virtual Machine could work simultaneously.

Software: Oracle VirtualBox, VMWare, Microsoft VirtualPC, etc...

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Browser Tools

• Firebug for Firefox• Firebug Light• Internet Explorer Developer Tools• Webkit Web Inspector

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Click the “Take the Survey” link.

Thanks!