Effective Cross-browser Checking

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Now this is a hot issue in my opinion.

In the days where Microsoft was semi-logical, we could possibly test our website in all browsers using a handy nifty program called IE Multiple, now however our options are fairly limited. Lucky for me I have some old computers laying around. Now the only way I can possibly think of effective cross browser checking, checking as far back as IE7, is to use different machines.

Some time ago I used Microsoft Expressions Super Preview, but it appears it’s now gone premium and required purchase.

I was wondering how other’s effectively cross-check their web pages, and what things they look for. I’ve not had the best of experience with PIE and now I am thinking of using http://modernizr.com/.

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I love to use browserlabs, comes free with some adobe products and it realy works

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9411/ssac.png

You could also use

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The best way to check compatibility is to set up virtual machines with different browsers in them. Microsoft offers them for free.

http://adamthetech.com/2012/02/microsofts-free-virtual-machine-images/

Keep in mind…compatibility libraries like modernizer rely heavily on javascript, which means it has to be enabled and it uses a fair amount of resources in a visitor’s browser.

It’s simply not practical to use HTML5 elements at this time (which is the primary reason for libraries like modernizer), as mainstream browser support hasn’t fully caught up to it yet. You can build websites without needing to implement HTML5-specific tags and compatibility libraries.

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