Q&A
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Which browsers should I use?
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For your own personal use, you're free to use any you prefer! I like Opera and IE for Windows, myself. For testing purposes, as described in Hour 2, a good minimal set of browsers consists of Internet Explorer, Netscape 4, Opera or Mozilla, and Lynx. If you have access to additional platforms, you'll want to get appropriate browsers for those. In short, testing on as many browsers and platforms as possible will always be to your advantage.
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Are there more browsers out there than just those you've listed? What about older versions?
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It turns out there are dozens and dozens of browsers that run on a wide variety of operating systems and configurations. You can find these alternate browsers, as well as older versions of more popular browsers, at the evolt browser archive at http://browsers.evolt.org/.
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What do I look for when testing a Web page with a browser?
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Well, the most obvious thing to check for is simple access to information. Are you able to read what's on the screen and get at the content of the HTML? Next, check for functionality. You may find that some browsers make it impossible to follow links or submit forms if your style sheet is not understood. Finally, check for aesthetics; does the page look like you want it to look, or a reasonable approximation? If so, you're in luck; if not, you may want to change your style sheet by adding or removing properties. The workarounds in subsequent hours of this book can help you figure out how to make effects work in specific browsers.
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I don't have access to every browser ever created, and I certainly don't have multiple computers with a variety of operating systems. What can I do, short of spending a fortune on new hardware?
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A great resource for all Web developers is the HTML Writers Guild. The Guild has a mailing list especially devoted to site testing, including style sheet testing, called HWG-Critique. You simply send a polite message to the mailing list requesting a critique by your fellow list subscribers, and Guild members will review your site and provide helpful suggestions on how to improve it. For subscription information, see the HWG's Web site at http://www.hwg.org/lists/hwg-critique/.