I expected all whitespace to be preserved
(including tabs and carriage returns)
and all HTML tags to be ignored.
Of course, the
HTML Spec
says nothing about what the tag is actually supposed to do.
It just one of those Browser dependent things.
I have heard that (ie not seen myself that)
Netscape 6.2.1 has problems with the <br> tag in
a definition list - <dl> ... </dl>.
Netscape 4.78, IE 6, and Opera 6 are reported as ok.
IE 4.40 ignores <li> tags unless they are in a defined list
- This example is inside the defined list <ul> ... </ul>
Headings
Heading tags may contain
alignment parameters.
The align=right option is supported by
Netscape 3.x, Communicator 4.05, IE 3.02, and IE 4.72 SP1
but not IE 4.40.
<h2 align=right>...</h2>
Horizontal Rule
In IE 5, to set the color of the Horizontal Rule,
simply use
<![CDATA[ <hr color=red>]]>
This does not work in Netscape 4.05 or 4.75.
Greek Letters
IE 5 has added support for Greek letters.
Just type in the name of a letter with the standard delimiters.
Both upper and lower cases are supported.
<![CDATA[ Upper case - Α Β Γ Δ ... Π Φ Θ Ω
Lower case - α β γ δ ... π φ θ ω]]>
Upper case - Α Β Γ Δ ... Π Φ Θ Ω
Lower case - α β γ δ ... π φ θ ω
IE 4.72 shows boxes
Netscape 4.05 shows the tag values.
Text Files
Normally, browsers display the contents of text files
(files ending with .txt instead of .html)
without interpreting any of the codes.
For instance, when my
Raw Notes
text file was read from a local drive,
IE 4.72 & IE 5.00 displayed it as a simple text file.
However, when either of these browsers read it from the web
(same file and same extension),
the html tags were interpreted and
the file was displayed wrong!
This was checked using 2 different versions of IE on 2 different machines.
What I found is unbelievable (well Microsoft is involved) -
the way the file is treated is controlled by how many characters there are
from the beginning of the document and the first <pre> tag. No kidding.
If the <pre> is more than 188 characters from the beginning of the file,
it is treated as a text file, otherwise, it is treated as an html file.
(188 is a rough estimate since I didn't count 3 CR/LF pairs.)
<pre> is the only tag that seems to matter.
Well, today IE 5.0 interpreted a txt file containing
<html> or <head> or <title> or <body>
in the first few lines.
(It was a perl cgi script re-named as a text file
so that users could view the code.)
Uh, notice I said or, any one of these
causes the problem.
Also, <br> has no effect.
Demo file showing the <pre> failure
in IE only.
Netscape Communicator 4.05 always displays it as a text file.
Style Sheets
There are almost an infinite number of
Style Sheet differences.
Table Differences
When using tables, the value of cellpadding affects what is displayed.
However, the value has little effect when printing from IE 3.02.
When lines are displayed, cellpadding=4 prints well with Communicator 4.05.
When lines are displayed, IE 3.02 prints with the text touching the lines.
When using tables, bgcolor="#00ffff is supported by IE 3.02 and Netscape
Communicator 4.05, but not by Netscape 3.x. In addition, Communicator 4.05
prints gray if the background color is set. The others only print white.
When using tables, if the table tag contains either
an absolute or a relative width,
and the td tag contains an absolute width,
then Netscape Communicator 4.05 ignores
the td width but IE 4.72 handles it as expected.
Netscape Communicator 4.05 works correctly when both widths are relative.
When using style sheets and tables, IE 3.02 ignores <font color=red>
tags, while IE 4.40, IE 4.72 and Communicator 4.05 interpret them as expected.
Example.
IE 4.40 incorrectly handles a <br> in tables.
In this example,
it placed the line after Test case 2 <br>
in column 1 instead of column 5.
This is fixed in IE 4.72 SP1.
The BORDERCOLOR="red" attribute
(generated by MS Word 97 and not part of the html specs)
has various implementations.
- IE 4.72 & 5.00 render a red border around the table
and a red border around each non-empty cell.
This gives the appearance of a double red line between cells.
- Netscape Navigator 4.05 renders a red border around the table
but a raised 3D border between the cells.
(Actually, Word generates BORDERCOLOR="#ff0000".)
IE 4.40.308 should never be used. Ever.
This table formats
in a single column in IE 4.40,
but in 4 columns in other browsers, including IE 4.72
IE 4.40.308 only allows one instance (window) to be opened.
All the other Windows browsers allow you to open
as many windows as you like.
Printing Differences
The following table prints differently in IE 4.72 and
Netscape Communicator 4.05
<pre>
<table>
<tr><td align=right> 93 <td> /user/clemenzi/technical/
<tr><td align=right> 165 <td> /user/clemenzi/technical/HTML_Examples
</table></pre>
| 93 | /user/clemenzi/technical/
|
| 165 | /user/clemenzi/technical/HTML_Examples
|
The displays are nearly identical,
same proportional font, same line width, same alignment of numbers.
However, they print differently.
| IE 4.72 | | Netscape 4.72
|
|---|
| Fixed width font | | Proportional font
|
| The 93 lines up with the 16 | | The 93 lines up with the 65
|
| 2 7/8 inches wide | | 2 inches wide
|
AOL Differences
AOL access is not the same as Internet access.
Pages are formatted differently, java scripts fail, and
image quality is significantly reduced.
AOL intentionally modifies their browsers in order to make them
more incompatible than necessary.
In addition, the AOL server modifies web content,
especially images, before forwarding it to its users.
In order to test your site on the current AOL browsers,
you will need one computer per browser version
(assume at least 3 versions)
and an AOL account :(
For more information, see
AOL Design Information.
Email
AOL 6 & 7 both have the ability to display html email.
webmaster.info.aol.com
explains why html email is sometimes displayed as text
and indicates which html tags are ignored
(mostly do to security issues).
Format HTML Email for AOL
provides some additional data.
My
Email Clients page
provides some additional data.
WARNING:
AOL 5.0: The Upgrade of Death?
User Interface Differences
Netscape Communicator 4.05 and IE 3.02 do not share the same cookies.
Refresh/Reload
Refresh/Reload works differently
- Netscape Reload and IE 4.x Refresh maintain your position in the page
- IE 3.02 Refresh always places you at the top of the page
When I'm debugging a new page, its nice to reload without having to
scroll to see the change I just made.
I always work in notepad because ALL the other tools I have tried
have done something or another that irritates me.
When using IE, Alt F S Alt-Tab F5 switches from notepad to the browser,
and Alt-Tab switches back.
(so far, IE 4.72 is the best for this, IE 3.02 loses your position,
Netscape does not have a simple reload hot key.)
Viewing Source
View Source works differently - IE 3.02, IE 4.40, IE 4.72, and Netscape 3.x
all display the source in notepad.
However, when developing a site locally,
IE 3.02 and IE 4.72 save the file in the correct directory
on the local drive,
while IE 4.40 and Netscape 3.x save your changes in
the browser's cache directory.
Thus, when you simply save, it goes to the wrong place.
In addition, though Netscape 3.x displays the page ok,
once it is saved, all of the white space and carriage returns
are removed.
Communicator 4.05 has its own browse and edit programs.
Toolbars
- Communicator 4.05 has an option to display Pictures, Text, or both.
- IE 3.02 allows you to disable the text.
- IE 4.0 SP1 (4.72) allows you to disable the text.
| IE 3.02
| - Only the last 5 items in your history list are available
via the Go menu.
-
Right clicking the page does not provide a Back option.
| IE 4.72 SP1
| - Right clicking the back button displays your history list.
This data is no longer available via the Go menu.
-
Right clicking the page provides a Back option.
| Netscape
| - Your history list is
available via the View menu.
-
Right clicking the page provides a Back option.
|
|
|
Viewing a Link's URL
When you point to a link, sometimes there isn't enough space to see it
| Netscape 3.x | Very good
|
| Netscape Communicator 4.05 | Almost enough, so so
|
| IE 3.02 | Very good - the best possible - the entire lower status bar
|
| IE 4.40 | Totally worthless - about 20 characters
|
| IE 4.72 | Totally worthless - about 20 characters
|
| IE 5.00 | Pretty good - about 70 characters
|
|
|
Supposedly, IE 4.01 SP2 fixefss this problem.
(Since I don't have it, I can't test this.)
You can also try the following add-ons
IE 4.72 does not allow you to configure a non-Microsoft
email client as the default when you click a mailto link.
This is totally unacceptable.
Frames
Both IE 4.72 and Netscape 4.05 allow you to right click in a frame
and select Open Frame in New Window.
IE 5.00.2314.1003 has removed this option.
Based on this single fault, I recommend never loading IE 5!
This is a perfect example of MS in action - every new product
removes a very useful feature.
Javascript and Metatag fixes to this problem will allow you develop
pages which can not be trapped in
some pirate's frame.
Author: Robert Clemenzi -
clemenzi@cpcug.org