About 3-4 years ago I had to install a embedded web server device within the defence department. The web pages rendered fine in IE 7, 8, 9, chrome and firefox.
I turned up and they were running IE6 which I think was by then no longer supported by MS, I suggested they upgrade and they looked at me as it I was asking them to fly to the moon. "No Chance. We run IE6."
Luckily it rendered ok and was usable, but the buttons looked a bit weird.
I left that place wondering if the country was actually safe from attack.
Correct me if I'm wrong - but whenever I've developed an embedded web solution - I found it was
my page code that created
weird rendering... in each different browser... (e.g. <\unclosed> or <nest><ed> tags etc)
Yes, currently each browser family has it's own quirks in how they handle different widgets, (
enforced standards would be nice), but in every case, I was able to look deeper at the page code, and identify what could be done to make it look more consistent across the major platforms.
I guess there should
ideally be a baseline minimal set of rendering tests that
EVERY browser should support
identically - no (rounded) buttons, or reinterpreting [margins], c har a c t er spacing etc) - then a 'B' version for whatever extensions that vendor wants to bury themselves with.
At least a page developer would KNOW their page will display identically on all 'compliant' browser platforms - then if the vendor choose to step outside the fence - the weird results are theirs to manage however they want...