CSS Assignment 2

The CSS Standards and Browser Implementation

Welcome to my assignment for week two of the Cascading Styles Sheets course. Having read Chapter 3 of the "Web Designer's Guide to Style Sheets" book I became a bit concerned about the differences in browser support. Given that none of the browsers are 100% CSS Level I compatible in their current versions (Netscape 4.x, Internet Explorer 4.x and Opera 3.51), and that the deficiencies need to be coded around .... what happens on the day that the browsers are CSS level I compatible? I mean, (for example) the current support for "colliding rules" is not correct in IE and NN, so, as and when they are correct (version 5?????) all of the pages using CSS may change colour!

I have therefore created a style sheet for each of the following browsers:

• Opera
• Internet Explorer 3.x
• Internet Explorer 4.x
• Netscape Navigator 3.x (I know it doesn't support CSS)
• Netscape Navigator 4.x
• Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator 5.x plus (Not tested)

Then, to control which style sheet is used behind this HTML document I have used some JavaScript code to modify the <LINK> tag.

For example, the Link tag for Netscape Navigator 4.x will be:

<LINK REL=stylesheet HREF="nn4.css" TYPE="text/css">

The changes in effect caused by the different styles sheets is not significant in this very simple document. You will be able to tell the browser type, and if appropriate, the version by the background colour of this document:

• Black indicates that the browser either does not support CSS, or the .CSS file could not be located (e.g. Netscape Navigator 3.x)
• Blue indicates Netscape Navigator 4.x
• Red indicates Internet Explorer 3.x (not tested as I do not have access to IE 3.x)
• Green indicates Internet Explorer 4.x
• Yellow indicates Opera
• Pink indicates version 5 of Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator (not tested)

The Style Sheets can be viewed here:

1. ie3.css for Internet Explorer 3.x
2. ie4.css for Internet Explorer 4.x
3. nn3.css for Netscape Navigator 3.x (just to prove to myself that it doesn't support styles because if it did the screen would be gray)
4. nn4.css for Netscape Navigator 4.x
5. opera.css for Opera
6. css.css for Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator 5.x plus

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