Web Design Articles

After I created a couple of handy charts that give details on CSS3 property and selector support in the upcoming IE9, I thought to myself: “This is interesting to read, but isn’t very practical.”

I also know that many visits to my site occur via Google searches for stuff like “cross-browser CSS” and similar phrases. So I decided to put together a comprehensive list of CSS properties that are supported in all browsers.

The list is divided into two sections: (1) Properties that are supported by all in-use browsers, with no bugs; and (2) properties that are supported by all in-use browsers, with some bugs in certain browsers.

In a previous article I pointed out an interesting little trick that was made popular by Paul Irish, and has been added as part of his recently-launched HTML5 Boilerplate.

I love that boilerplate, and I wish I could say I understand everything in it. Paul’s a front-end genius and all developers should pay close attention to what he’s been doing lately.

But I have to say that I strongly disagree with Paul’s inclusion of that conditional comments tip in the Boilerplate, because it does not encourage cross-browser, maintainable CSS, but instead encourages CSS developers to consider Internet Explorer development as an afterthought.

Before I explain my specific reasons for wanting that technique removed from the Boilerplate, I’ll first discuss what exactly I’m talking about.

I know this has probably been discussed before, but I’m not sure if it’s been covered in a single post, and I’m curious to hear what people have to say.

What do you think is the best way to group or organize your CSS properities? The way I see it, there are basically three ways to do it, each of which I briefly describe below.

(Be sure to comment if you have a preference for any particular property ordering method, and your reasons for it.)

Last week I posted a couple of charts that demonstrated how well the new IE9 Beta supports HTML5 features. The first chart listed all the new HTML5 semantic elements (<section>, <nav>, <article>, etc.) and I had originally placed a red “X” next to most of those elements.

Thanks to a comment from Richard Kimber, I later changed the red Xs to yellow checkmarks. It was my assumption that since IE9 does not list those elements as strictly “supported” on its “new features in IE9” pages, then that means we still need to use the HTML5 shiv script. Of course, if I had been paying attention, I would have noticed that the script is included using conditional comments that target every version of IE below IE9.

The reason for this is that while IE9 does not technically include the new semantic elements in its list of supported tags, it does have the ability to allow those elements to be styled.

Last week I posted a chart that listed support for CSS3 features in IE9. This post will consider the extent of IE9 support for HTML5 and related technologies.

The chart is divided into two sections. The first covers the new HTML5 markup elements, and the second covers the APIs and other stuff. My personal assessment is that IE9 is doing much better with CSS3 support than it is in HTML5, so don’t expect to be happy with the overall results shown in these charts. And as one commenter on the previous post pointed out, IE9 is still in Beta, so no need to get too distressed about anything not supported.

As usual, let me know in the comments if any of this is incorrect or if anything’s missing. The info for the charts was compiled from this page on MSDN, the super-useful When Can I Use… app, and this layout engine comparison of HTML5 features on Wikipedia.

If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering, amidst all the hype surrounding the release of IE9 Beta, whether or not Microsoft has finally begun to keep up with the other browser makers.

Has IE9 changed Microsoft’s reputation of always lagging behind? Does the Beta realease of IE9 indicate that Microsoft is finally keeping up with the Joneses? You be the judge.

I’ve created a few charts showing CSS3 support in IE9 Beta. The list does not include every conceivable CSS3 property or selector. I’ve tried to stick to the well-known stuff, and I’ve also included a list of pseudo-selectors and pseudo-elements.

Because there are so many ways to skin the proverbial cat, as CSS developers, we pretty much have free reign to do things as we please.

While some things in CSS are pretty straightforward (like if you want to add a rollover color, you use :hover), that is not the case with others. In many cases, there is no set way to accomplish a single task in a layout or with regards to some other CSS-based technique.

In such cases, it’s up to the developer to choose what he wants to do based on his own preference, his workflow, his knowledge of CSS, and experience in dealing with certain aspects of the language.