Web Services

Web Services Internal Development Standards

Browser Support

Browser Usage Statistics

In order to determine which browsers to support on campus, we should examine the Web server logs to determine which browsers are the most used. Unfortunately, we do not have actual browser usage statistics that you might expect, since those statistics are in fact not logged on the Web server, As a result, there is no way to know browsers are the most used on our site. However, there are several sites that do provide these statistics for the Web at large.

Graded Browser Support

Graded browser support is a approach to dealing with the variety of browsers (new and old) used by users and their widely varying capabilities. The graded browser support approach establishes levels of support for which we develop. Each grade provides a different level of access and fidelity to Web pages that we design. Read the original article on graded browser support.

A Grade Support

Advanced functionality and visual fidelity - This level of support is provided to modern, Web standards compliant browsers, and is designed to provide "advanced functionality and visual fidelity." These are browsers with fully capable and compliant CSS support and capable of Web 2.0 technologies, or that are so ubiquitous (Internet Explorer) that Web pages must be developed to work with them.

The current list of A grade browsers includes:

  • Internet Explorer 6 & 7 (Windows)
  • Mozilla 1.7+ (Windows/Macintosh)
  • Firefox 1.5+ (Windows/Macintosh)
  • Netscape Navigator 8+ (Windows/Macintosh)
  • Safari 2.0+ (Macintosh)

B Grade Support

Basic functionality and visual approximation of design - This level of support is provided to browsers that are not quite fully Web standards compliant, but are still capable of relative fidelity in the display of pages (not all visual elements will appear as in A grade) and basic functionality with respect to modern Web technologies. This level of support is designed to provide a close, but not necessarily perfect, visual user experience along with basic functionality.

The current list of B grade browsers includes:

  • Internet Explorer 5.5 (Windows)
  • Internet Explorer 5.2.3 (Macintosh)
  • Firefox <1.5 (Windows/Macintosh)
  • Safari <2.0 (Macintosh)

C Grade Support

Core content and basic functionality - This level of support is provided to older, non-compliant browsers, and is designed to provide accessible pages "unenhanced by decoration or advanced functionality." This level of support provides only basic functionality and a minimal visual experience.

The current list of C grade browsers includes:

  • Internet Explorer <5.5 (Windows)
  • Mozilla <1.7 (Windows/Macintosh)
  • Netscape Navigator <8 (Windows/Macintosh)
  • Opera <current (Windows/Macintosh)

X Grade Support

Unknown user experience - This level of support is provided to browsers that are not tested by Web Services. No level of visual fidelity or functionality is guaranteed. Any browser not in the A, B, or C lists is automatically placed in the X list.

X grade browsers includes:

  • Opera - current version (Windows/Macintosh)

Top

Alternative Browsers

The W3C provides a list of alternative browsers and applications, particularly for disabled users. We do not test for these except in cases where access for disabled users is a high priority. In those cases, our typical procedure is to test using JAWS and the Fangs extension for Firefox. Otherwise, this list is strictly FYI.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Browsing.html

Top

Download a Browser

The links below are for downloading the current version of the browsers listed. If you need to download an older version, evolt.org has archived virtually every browser version ever created.

Windows

Macintosh

Top