For web developers and designers who, sometimes, push the limits of their tools…
It’s old news that different web browsers sometimes have different ways of interpreting web-site code. That’s more true when it comes to newer features of the evolving coding languages, and to our complex or novel uses of them. In all except pixel-perfect scenarios, this is S.O.P. and we deal with it.
It’s worth noting, when a non-standard behavior rears its head in a browser, that it might be okay if it’s what that browser’s users are used to. The appearance of a drop-down control, the exact typography, whether a web page opens in a new window or in a tab… it’s their normal.
Nothing can be allowed to violate the aesthetic or functional requirements of the web application, but user interfaces and user experience both must be judged from the users’ perspective. Pixel-for-pixel identical screens for every browser might come at higher development cost, with tradeoffs, and even could prove counter-productive.
Also see our page about Web Coding Standards — because, in an ideal world, every web browser that correctly implements the web industry’s coding standards should render the exact same view of every web page that is coded in compliance with those programming-language standards.
