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95

answers:

3

IF a site is Valid and Accessible and usable but it's some things are showing slightly different on different browsers and almost matching with design?

What is the real benefit to make Pixel perfect cross browser compatible site?

While nobody will surf same site on multiple browsers and OS.

Why anyone think(client or boss) that pixel perfect look is necessary?

It this term coined or hyped by developers to show skills and make more money?

What is business and personal benefit to give time to make site look same in all browsers?

Why anybody will surf same site on multiple browsers and OS?

Is pixel perfection madness?

Why Clients give more attention to pixel perfect compatibility than Accessibility and usability of a site?

+1  A: 

What is the real benefit to make Pixel perfect cross browser compatible site?

Consistency.

While nobody will surf same site on multiple browsers and OS.

I wouldn't say that, think desktop and mobile browser.

Why anyone think(client or boss) that pixel perfect look is necessary?

"Necessary" is indeed the keyword. Often it isn't. People are still used to print magazines though.

What is business and personal benefit to give time to make site look same in all browsers?

That's up to you to decide. It depends on how important consistency is for you and how high your level of consistency needs to be.

Why anybody will surf same site on multiple browsers and OS?

Because people own more and more internet capable widgets.

Is pixel perfection madness?

Yes.

Why Clients give more attention to pixel perfect compatibility than Accessibility and usability of a site?

They only see that it looks one way in their demo browser and another way in another browser, and they think the site breaks in the other browser. Which may or may not be true. Some define "break" as "font looks different", while others define it as "two paragraphs are overlapping and become unreadable." The question is were to draw the line. Also, see above, people are used to print magazines and can't understand why on earth the same thing would look different on two different platforms. Most people don't even know what a browser is, try to explain the abstraction of HTML, CSS, font rendering and rendering differences to them...

deceze
@deceze - If i surf on a site on my desktop and iphone if some things are not identical then i would not mind. content should be accessible in a good way. that's enough
metal-gear-solid
@metal You may have noticed that I'm agreeing with you there. :)
deceze
@deceze - i added one more question at bottom. pls see
metal-gear-solid
@metal-gear Saw.
deceze
+1 good answer deceze
metal-gear-solid
+1  A: 

Warning: Blunt subjectivity ahead

Pixel perfect is a useless buzz word created by people who want to control something they don't understand.

Why Clients give more attention to pixel perfect compatibility than Accessibility and usability of a site?

Clients generally don't understand web pages / development / design. Pixel is a fancy tech word, so it makes cilents feel in the know. Perfect is always.... well.... flawless, so pixel perfect must be the bees knees....

It's a developer's / designer's job to educate the client and show them the advantages of accessibility, usability, etc. over serving immutable and uncompromising grids of pixels.

Peter Ajtai
+1 thax for answer
metal-gear-solid
+2  A: 

Some designers are very, very precise. As they are making detailed decisions about placement and graphics at a pixel level, they don't want to see their work appearing differently than they had envisioned.

Of course, as a CSS/HTML author I know that you can't guarantee 'perfect' placement of items, precise text sizes, etc. across browsers and devices.

I tried to persuade the designer I work with to view things in a more lenient way. On the other hand, the way she has pushed me to implement her ideas of perfection has encouraged me to be much more meticulous and aware of advanced aspects of CSS that I didn't think about previously - letter spacing, line height, different styles of positioning within containers, and so on.

Believe me, for some projects, pixel perfection IS possible across at least Safari, IE, Firefox and Chrome, because I've sat there for hours (days?) on some projects with the Pixel Perfect plug in, the browsers and Gimp making sure that everything matches.

In summary, striving for pixel perfection ensures a professional design comes across as the designer intended, and encourages the implementer to be aware of every last detail.

As for why they give more attention to the visuals than the usability and accessibility of a site, it's hard to give a concrete answer. I'm sure different clients have different reasons. Many designers come from a Photoshop/Illustrator graphics and print type of background, so while they have spent scads of time learning to manipulate pixels, they haven't spent as much time thinking about how websites work, and how people use them. Visual perfection is a concrete thing, so it's either right on or wrong to them. It's easy to tell your programmers to fix placement, not so easy to figure out in what way to change behavior. However, these people clearly don't understand (and I can sense your frustration with this in the question) that CSS and HTML are meant to be flexible, and certain decisions are left up to the browser by design.

Alex JL
Pixel Perfect plug in only works in FF.
metal-gear-solid
Yes, that's the sad nature of reality. That's where Gimp comes in. I have to use Gimp and various overlay/screenshot methods to test with the other browsers. Anyone up for making a PP like plugin for Webkit or IE, or know of something like that?
Alex JL