NYCPHP Meetup

[BAS]

Kristina Anderson wrote:
> Is there anything out there now that's a good comprehensive "where not 
> to go with client side dev" overview, like we used to have?

Hi Kristina,

I don't know of anything offhand. As you undoubtedly know, web 
technologies change so rapidly that it's well nigh impossible to come up 
with a definitive guide that won't be outdated by the time the next 
browser is released.

I'd say your best bet is just to be aware of current standards, bugs in 
current browsers, and make sure you have a solid understanding of the 
box model & proper doctypes (as already mentioned by someone else). IMO, 
it's also important to understand how floats work as well as the cascade 
itself (inheritance & specificity). As long as you're aware of the 
possibilities & limitations of those things, you should be fine.

Of course, knowing who your users are is probably the most important 
thing as evidenced by what David M. said about discovering that his 
intranet audience was using IE6, which screwed up his cool Web 2.0 tricks.

On a more practical & somewhat OT note, our web site clearly states 
which browsers we develop for: only mainstream, non-proprietary, modern 
browsers (nothing more than 5 years old, with the exception of IE6). We 
also educate clients on what to expect--i.e. consistency doesn't 
necessarily mean identical, pixel-perfect rendering across all 
browsers/platforms. Oh--and this is important--we let them know that 
while we follow current web standards & best practices, it is impossible 
to predict future browser bugs & technology changes, therefore we cannot 
guarantee future consistency.

Regards,
Bev