Ariadne's Web: Considerations on Building Sites for Use with Multiple Browsers.

This site (Poetry at Ariadne's Web) should work with various browsers that are compliant with the HTML standards.

Statistics on browser usage in 2002 on four relevant sites concerning poetry, nature, and spirituality showed:

9% use Netscape (6% of visitors use Communicator 4.x; 2% use earlier versions; 1% use later versions).
90% use Internet Explorer (58% use 5.x; 2% use earlier versions; 30% use later versions).
1% use other (Alexa, WebTV, etc.).

We made these changes for cross-platform support:

Adopted Strategies on Improved Use of Style Sheets.
Replaced bit-map images with GIF and JPEG images. [".bmp" denotes a Windows-proprietary format. Internet pages should be in common file formats. Excluded any single-platform image file format that cannot be viewed under other operating systems outside a browser.]
Removed spaces in file names. [The SP character is disallowed by HTTP 1.1 protocol as an unsafe character. Omitted the spaces. Otherwise it needs to be escaped as "%20".]
Omitted quotes from the specification of color in the style sheets, e.g., Background-Color : #FFCCDD; Color : navy. [According to CSS definitions, 'A <color> is either a keyword or a numerical RGB specification.' Without double-quotes, it is seen as a 'value'; enclosed in double-quotes, it is regarded as 'string'.]
Wrote additional CSS rules to work around old browser limitations. [Some versions of both Netscape and Explorer fail to cascade styles, most commonly where tables are included.]
Removed FONT from HTML. [Used CSS instead. FONT is deprecated in HTML 4.0.]

Helpful resources:

HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide, Fifth Edition by Elizabeth Castro.
How to code HTML and create efficient web pages.
Step-by-step instructions and screenshots.
Text formatting, page layout, creating links, applying styles, and adding tables and forms.
Includes XHTML syntax and web pages for mobile devices.

Cascading Style Sheets: Designing for the Web by Håkon Wium Lie and Bert Bos.
Learn all about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the easy and manageable way to add style and layout to Web pages.
Perfect introduction for beginners. Fully informative for the more experienced designer.
Many helpful color screen shots, diagrams, examples. Clear, detailed, and uncluttered presentation.
Easy to read and learn about CSS (levels 1 and 2), HTML, and XML.
Author Håkon Wium Lie originated CSS.
Bert Bos is a key member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), where he has focused on style sheets and the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

Katsuhiko Momoi Katsuhiko Momoi (Netscape Senior International Manager, Web Standards/Developer Support) for comprehensive and comprehensible technical advice.

Len Anderson Len Anderson of Poetry Santa Cruz. Len beta-tested Poetry at Ariadne's Web and reported the initial problems that this site caused for Netscape Communicator 4.7.

Additional resources recommended by Katsuhiko Momoi:

CSS definitions.
W3C's CSS validator.
W3C's HTML validator service. You give it your web page. It tells you what you need to do to be web-friendly.

[Thanks for visiting.]

	HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide, Fifth Edition by Elizabeth Castro. How to code HTML and create efficient web pages. Step-by-step instructions and screenshots. Text formatting, page layout, creating links, applying styles, and adding tables and forms. Includes XHTML syntax and web pages for mobile devices.
	Cascading Style Sheets: Designing for the Web by Håkon Wium Lie and Bert Bos. Learn all about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the easy and manageable way to add style and layout to Web pages. Perfect introduction for beginners. Fully informative for the more experienced designer. Many helpful color screen shots, diagrams, examples. Clear, detailed, and uncluttered presentation. Easy to read and learn about CSS (levels 1 and 2), HTML, and XML. Author Håkon Wium Lie originated CSS. Bert Bos is a key member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), where he has focused on style sheets and the Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Katsuhiko Momoi	Katsuhiko Momoi (Netscape Senior International Manager, Web Standards/Developer Support) for comprehensive and comprehensible technical advice.
Len Anderson	Len Anderson of Poetry Santa Cruz. Len beta-tested Poetry at Ariadne's Web and reported the initial problems that this site caused for Netscape Communicator 4.7.