Which browser we should use to see HTML CSS rendering while making a site and why?

Question

• Firefox's Latest version
• IE7
• IE6
• IE 8

Which browser we should use to see HTML css rendering for always and why?

Edit:

My question is not on which browsers should i test site before go live. i will try to test on all possible.

My question is which browser should i choose during layout development process and why?

because while development it's not possible to see every step in all browser it will waste time. after making a layout we can test in all but during development one browser would be better.

Answer 1

Uhh... every one of them?

I personally develop with Firefox 3.6 for convenience and the availability of Firebug, header sniffers and other tools. I try to test in all the browsers you mention before anything goes out for anybody to see (a client for example). But I don't think there is a real "best" choice here because in the end, you will need to test for every browser you need to support anyway.

Answer 2

It all depends on your target user group.

If you're working for customer that uses IE6, you will have to test for it. Sad, I know.

If you're designing a site for general public, then test for current versions of major browsers. Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari and Chrome(?).

Also: develop according to standards then fix whatever does not work in one browser or another. Not that you develop for IE, then trying to fix everything that suddenly falls apart on all other browsers.

Answer 3

Use the most up-to-date css compliant browser with a good debugging tool e.g. Firefox 3.6 and the Firebug plug-in.

Then check in the other browsers you want to support for your users and backwards correct any errors.

Do not attempt to make the site look EXACTLY the same in all browsers, you will be wasting your time.

As long as the effect is similar in older/other browsers (for example you could use border-radius for Firefox/WebKit browsers and this will degrade nicely for browsers that don't support border-radius) and the site is usable and fulfills it's purpose, then your ok

DONT WASTE TONS OF TIME ON IE6. Use a conditional commented stylesheet and just get it usable...

In the head of the document

<!--[if IE 6]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="IE6.css"/>
<![endif]-->

Answer 4

You need to test your css in all the major browsers, that includes IE (6, 7 and 8), Firefox, Chrome and even Safari and Opera.

You can probably get away with just using the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome etc. as they auto-update and so users are less likely to be using older version (though it's not unknown).

IE is a problem because so many users - particularly corporate users - are running older versions.

Choose one, it doesn't really matter which as long as it has good development tool support, to develop in and get the site looking good in that. Then test in the others. Which order you do this and how much effort you want to expend will depend totally on your target audience. From my experience Firefox with Firebug and even (dare I say it) IE8 with it's built in developer tools are good choices. The advantage here is that you'll cover the majority of users with these. However as the browser market is getting more fragmented you will need to test in others.

Answer 5

I whole-heartedly agree with Pekka.

I develop everything within Firefox and use the excellent addons available during development (Firebug / Web Developer Toolbar / etc).

A suggestion would be to test often in other browsers as well....I would recommend every time you go to take a little break check it out in the other browsers to see if there are any issues, and then make a note to fix them and allow your website to be rendered properly in all browsers.

You really don't want to exclude any user based on his/her browser preference, so make sure it works across the board!

edit

Also a good point from one of the other users...IE6 is in the process of being phased out, however if you are looking to have any users in a corporate environment you don't want to exclude testing this either!

Answer 6

This is an interesting question, I'm going to assume that you have a process that means that first you develop your page and then you do cross browser testing to make sure it works everywhere - so the question then becomes which one is going to get you to the best starting point for getting to working "everywhere" (definition of which will depend somewhat on your target audience).

This used to be easy - according to my (then) staff Firefox had good standards support and the best tools - so get it right in firefox first then adapt to cope with everything else, now its a lot less clear as IE8 has a very decent set of dev tools (and is better behaved than its predecessors) and Chrome is now getting into the act - again with a good set of tools and extensions.

My gut feeling is probably Firefox, Chrome, IE8 in that order - but I'm not doing anywhere near enough CSS work to assert that that's right.

Answer 7

You develop in Firefox (you have firebug to adjust things), you test in safari/chrome & opera (all of them is ok with standards so you have low chances to have bugs in those) and you debug in IE. Because is impossible to have a fully functional in ALL browser from one try :D

Answer 8

I think If we choose firefox and IE 6.0 both for website design, the site will be look almost same for all browsers, because rest of IE 6 & 7 all browsers' HTML rendering pattern is almost same. So If we make css from start considering firefox and IE 6.0, bugs would be in less numbers and In this way we can make all browser compatible website.

Please give me feedback

Answer 9

I use my main browser (Chrome) for basic progress, and frequently check all other browsers for bugs and layout problems.

Answer 10

i do it in ie6, the most primitive browser which is still in use. i think any thing that will work on ie6 will work on any browser.

Answer 11

During developing NOT testing I use this combo :
firefox
firebug extension
webdeveloper extension
live http headers extension
Give it a try, you won't regret it, you can make changes to your css IN BROWSER and then change your code (No more refresh needed for that one annoying one pixel offset), check to see where is the fault interface or code logic and plenty more.(Page Speed & YSlow to analize your page speed etc.)