The Modern Web Developer

Posted September 28, 2011 @ 11:53 am

Let’s take it as read that a modern Web developer should focus on using technologies that were introduced during the last two years. With that in mind, here’s a quick (though not exhaustive) overview of the browsers and display resolutions that a modern Web developer would consider supporting.

Desktop Browsers

• Safari (versions 5, 5.1)
• Chrome (versions 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
• Firefox (versions 3.6, 4, 5, 6, 7)
• Internet Explorer (versions 8, 9)
• Opera (versions 10, 10.5, 11)

Mobile Browsers

• Safari (versions 4, 5)
• Webkit on Android (versions 2.x, 3.x, 4.x)
• IE Mobile (versions 7, 9)
• Opera Mini (versions 5, 6, 6.1)
• Opera Mobile (versions 10, 11, 11.1)

iOS Display Resolutions

• 240x320
• 480x960
• 768x1024

Android Display Resolutions

• 240x320
• 240×400
• 320×480
• 360×640
• 480×800
• 480×854
• 540x960
• 800x600
• 1024×600
• 1280×800
• 1366×768

Typical Desktop Display Resolutions

• 1024x768
• 1280x800
• 1280x1024
• 1366x768
• 1440x900

Overview

• 10 browsers
• 30 browser versions
• 15 screen resolutions ¹

A Dose of Realism

This is an untenable situation. Even if you decide not to support Opera—which a lot of developers tend to do—you’re still looking at 7 browsers and 21 versions. And you’re still going to have to deal with all of those screen resolutions if you’re interested in your site looking good on the majority of phones and tablets. I hope you’ve caught up on responsive design.

Those browsers and resolutions represent an awful lot of testing that we’re being forced to do because we have no control—no input, even—into the development process of browsers and devices.

When I started to write this article, I knew the situation was bad. I didn’t realize it was this bad.

“I’m talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude. Across this line, you DO NOT…”

I think it’s time that Web developers stopped letting browser and device vendors dictate the shape and focus of our work. Today, Amazon’s introducing yet another tablet—the Kindle Fire—with yet another Webkit fork. The tablet’s going to sell well; there’s little doubt of that. This concerns me for two reasons:

1. How often will Amazon update its proprietary browser to keep up with standards?
2. The tablet’s resolution is a bit of an oddball size at 1024x600.

About ten years ago, my wife—who wasn’t my wife at the time—told me something that’s only become more true as I’ve aged: as you get older, you have to pick your battles.

I’m getting older. You’re getting older. The Web’s getting older. At what point do we decide that we’re done trying to support all of these browsers and resolutions and devices? Where’s our line in the sand?

Personally, I’m tired of spending time coding for specific use cases instead of making websites. The focus has been lost, and the work is far more tedious and a helluva lot less interesting.

Not every browser is worth coding for, nor is every device.

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