Browser Compatibility Issues
Browsers Tested
This site works with nearly all graphical browsers. However, it does not work the same in all browsers. In the course of production the following browsers were tested:
- On Windows PCs:
- On Macs:
- Internet Explorer* 5.2 and 5.0
- Netscape 4.51
- Safari beta 2 and 1.0
All of these browsers performed as expected.
General Performance
Amaya 7 is the W3C's testing browser. In this browser all links functioned and all content was visible.
Firefox 1.0 performed without issues.
Internet Explorer 5.0 had some bugs regarding style sheets. The arrows present on menu links displayed under the text rather than preceding it during a cursor hover. This did not cause a serious problem for navigation. Elements such as the <acronym> tag functioned but were left unstyled. On a Mac, IE5 could not read graphics from a style sheet.
Internet Explorer 5.5-6.0 lacked support for tags such as <q> and <abbr>. Advanced features such as a site navigation bar and user styles are unavailable.
Mozilla 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.6 performed without issues.
Netscape 4.8 displayed content but not the style or layout. This is the correct way for a Level 1-4 browser to view the page. Because the deprecated name attribute has been omited, anchors do not function in this browser.
Netscape 6.2 and 7.02 lacked some of Mozilla's advanced features such as the site navigation bar.
Opera 7.0 allowed text to run off the right margin when printing. Also, the user selected style option does not select a new style but instead un-formats the page. The customizer does not function at all.
Opera 7.10 could print the site properly and alternate styles could be viewed but the browser could not retain the selected style from page to page.
Phoenix 0.5 performed without issues.
Safari 1.0 performed without issues.
Known Issues
Internet Explorer* 4.5 for Mac has a known issue that will cause a problem with this site. IE 4.5 for Mac does not support CSS2 but, oddly, supports the @import rule. The @import method is used to allow standards-based browsers to read style sheets while allowing non-standards compliant browsers to display content, graphics, and links without styling. If this is your browser, consider an upgrade.
Internet Explorer* 5.2 for Mac cannot read images from style sheets so pages look a bit plain. On some Macs unwanted horizontal scroll bars appear.
Safari beta 2 has difficulty with the scroller on the library's home page.
If you would like to report an issue, please do not hesitate to contact us at our Ask a Librarian service.
Resources on Browsers:
updated: Thursday, 12-Jan-2006 15:51:35 EST