Browser Compatibility issues

[Miranda]

Hello,

My employer is having a PHP application built (I'm in the process of
studying PHP, and am an intermediate ASP programmer). Problem is, I've
tested this application on the newest versions of Opera, Firebird and
Netscape and they do not work. Its seem any dynamic text from the
mySQL database is not showing up.

I know that the percentage of people using these browsers will
probably be extremely low, but it is a concern. Also, I find it sort
of shocking that its not reading on the 'newest' of these browsers.

I guess the advice I am looking for is some proffessional opinions, is
my concern justified????

I want to bring it up with the guy doing the program - but I want to
go into this argument with confidence that I am right - am I???

Anyone's opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Miranda Johnsen
EMJAY Web Design

[Martin Lucas-Smith]

My employer is having a PHP application built (I'm in the process of
studying PHP, and am an intermediate ASP programmer). Problem is, I've
tested this application on the newest versions of Opera, Firebird and
Netscape and they do not work. Its seem any dynamic text from the mySQL
database is not showing up.

I know that the percentage of people using these browsers will probably
be extremely low, but it is a concern. Also, I find it sort of shocking
that its not reading on the 'newest' of these browsers.

This is likely to be nothing to do with the scripting/application language
used but that the latter is producing invalid HTML, e.g. tables which
don't. Have a look at the HTML being produced and try and spot the problem
yourself.
Martin Lucas-Smith www.geog.cam.ac.uk/~mvl22
www.lucas-smith.co.uk

[Jim Dabell]

Miranda wrote:

My employer is having a PHP application built (I'm in the process of
studying PHP, and am an intermediate ASP programmer). Problem is, I've
tested this application on the newest versions of Opera, Firebird and
Netscape and they do not work. Its seem any dynamic text from the
mySQL database is not showing up.
PHP is a server-side technology, just like ASP, it's got nothing to do with
that. More likely is that there are mistakes in the HTML/CSS/Javascript.

I know that the percentage of people using these browsers will
probably be extremely low, but it is a concern. Also, I find it sort
of shocking that its not reading on the 'newest' of these browsers.

I guess the advice I am looking for is some proffessional opinions, is
my concern justified????
Yes and no.

Yes because if it doesn't work in Opera et al, browsers that may not have a
majority market share but are by no means obscure, then this indicates a
lack of attention paid to quality assurance. If you have to catch errors
like that yourself, what other errors are you missing?

No because you state:
My employer is having a PHP application built
So presumably you are judging something that isn't finished yet. Since you
haven't discussed it with the person responsible, it might just be that
he's aware of the problem and he's working on bigger pieces of the puzzle
right now. I'd be a bit wary of the fact that he seems to be using
Internet Explorer as a reference browser though; it indicates he's writing
for that operating system component first, and WWW browsers second.

I want to bring it up with the guy doing the program - but I want to
go into this argument with confidence that I am right - am I???

[snip]

Right about what? That it should work in other browsers? Only your boss
can judge that, since he is the one that set the requirements. Or do you
mean you disagree with the use of PHP and MySQL? That's certainly a red
herring, and you can't use browser compatibility as arguments against using
them.
--
Jim Dabell

[Eric Veltman]

Hello Miranda,

Miranda wrote:

My employer is having a PHP application built (I'm in the process of
studying PHP, and am an intermediate ASP programmer). Problem is, I've
tested this application on the newest versions of Opera, Firebird and
Netscape and they do not work. Its seem any dynamic text from the
mySQL database is not showing up.

One thing for sure here. PHP is not the cause. PHP just outputs HTML
according to the programmer's instructions. It's the programmer's
responsibility to ensure cross-browser HTML and JavaScript is sent to the
browser. There are many programmers that don't seem to know about the fact
that there are other platforms than Windows and that those platforms
usually don't come with IE.

Usually not all features of all HTML and CSS versions are implemented in a
browser and which features are implemented and which not differs per
browser. Also certain features may have been implemented in a buggy way in
some browsers. Also JavaScript/DOM imcompatibilities.

A good start to ensure your web applications work on many platforms is to
keep them a little sober. Don't immediately use the newest features. Check
the validity of the HTML with the validator on www.w3.org. And maybe most
important, simply test regularly on various browsers.

Best regards,

Eric

[Jim Moseby]

"Miranda" <Mi*************@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:5c**************************@posting.google.c om...

Hello,

My employer is having a PHP application built (I'm in the process of
studying PHP, and am an intermediate ASP programmer). Problem is, I've
tested this application on the newest versions of Opera, Firebird and
Netscape and they do not work. Its seem any dynamic text from the
mySQL database is not showing up.

I know that the percentage of people using these browsers will
probably be extremely low, but it is a concern. Also, I find it sort
of shocking that its not reading on the 'newest' of these browsers.

I guess the advice I am looking for is some proffessional opinions, is
my concern justified????

I want to bring it up with the guy doing the program - but I want to
go into this argument with confidence that I am right - am I???

Anyone's opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Miranda Johnsen
EMJAY Web Design

Hi Miranda,

It doesn't surprise me, especially if your developer is developing with
Microsoft products, against a Microsoft server. Microsoft wants it that
way. In reality, the browser doesn't see any PHP, and so the scripting
language of choice can not be the culprit. Either the PHP script or the
developer is producing bad HTML, lest the browsers would display it. You
need to look at the PHP and resultant HTML code. I know that Netscape and
Firebird display HTML differently than IE does. My experience is that you
should write code to display properly on Netscape. If it displays properly
on Netscape, it will display properly on any browser.

Microsoft likes to "extend" standards. Those who utilize those extensions
do so at the risk of losing compatability with other products that adhere to
the published standards (like Netscape). Again, Microsoft likes it that
way. Since IE is the most common browser, MS can a) drive standards the way
they see fit, and b) make it seem like everyone else's browser is broke.

It is my suspicion that you are seeing the result of some of this. If the
HTML is good, all popular browsers will display it properly. You should
confront the developer with the incompatibility of his code and explain to
him that you expect your site to be displayed properly regardless of the end
user's browser choice. If he tells you the browsers are broke, or to
require IE for your site, or some such other nonsense, you should consider a
different developer. PHP has nothing to do with it. I write PHP every day,
and all my pages display properly on any browser.

JM

[Matthias Esken]

Mi*************@hotmail.com (Miranda) schrieb:

My employer is having a PHP application built (I'm in the process of
studying PHP, and am an intermediate ASP programmer). Problem is, I've
tested this application on the newest versions of Opera, Firebird and
Netscape and they do not work. Its seem any dynamic text from the
mySQL database is not showing up.

This is not PHPs fault. The resulting HTML is the same for all browsers.

I think you're using heavy invalid HTML. PLease test your resulting page
with the validator at validator.w3.org, correct any errors and try it
again on those browsers.

Regards,
Matthias

[Miranda]

MY MISTAKE, IT DOES WORK ON OPERA!
++ What doesn't work in opera :+) ++

Thanks everyone for your reply.
Miranda

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"Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of
drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory."
-- Ghandi
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