Which web browsers give the most incompatability issues?

Question

I'm not a 100% sure if I should be posting this here but where else can I post it (definitely not Server Fault or Super User) so hopefully it's not too inappropriate.

I am currently developing a script that I hope to release as a plugin for wordpress and other open source content management systems. The script's purpose is to allow web designers to attach stylesheets and javascripts dynamically according to which browser the visitor is using. So if their site looks a little odd in Chrome for example, then they can attach a css or javascript hack just for that one browser. There will be some more features to the script as well but that is the main purpose.

Anyway, I would like to know which browsers to include support for, for that I need to know which one's gives designers/developers the most trouble. Not just the name but also the version (i.e. Internet Explorer 4). Many thanks in advance!

Answer 1

There are many articles on the Net discussing this topic.

Here's an example

Answer 2

My vote as far as problematic browsers still in prevalent use would have to be IE 6.

Answer 3

IE6 is by far the most problematic of all browsers. Though it's use is declining month by month, it's still widely used. All IE browsers always suffered from display issues. Sometimes margins are not what they were set to, because you need to go down the css hierarchy to set all margins for it to understand what's going on. You shouldn't need to worry about anything below IE6.

Answer 4

All versions of IE...Microsoft never likes to conform to W3C standards so they prefer adding hacks to "conform"

I know Opera browsers don't support CSS3 yet (latest release)....Have fun!

Answer 5

Whenever anyone speaks of "browser compatibility issues", in almost all cases, the real problems are with IE. Markup written to web standards generally work well in any other browser save an occasional adjustment, but there are tens if not hundreds of web sites dedicated to hacking and fixing IE while there are none dedicated to doing the same. In fact, there are already javascript libraries for this very thing, getting IE to perform like other more modern browsers, such as Dean Edwards ie7.js and 'maximize' (I think it's called).

Most developers write to standards, test in the modern browsers, adjust if necessary, then, with a shaky hand open IE. Separate CSS and javascript for modern browsers is not necessary. While some may prefer to do so with IE, most of us make do with conditional comments and feed IE what IE needs to right itself.

Answer 6

Most people are designing for IE6+ these days, meaning that they are designing for W3C standards with IE6 bringing up the rear guard. Here's a fantastic site that breaks down all the features browser by browser, from IE6 on up.