Why do so many websites not work with Safari?

proper web developers will write webpages to support Trident (IE), Gecko (Firefox) and WebKit (Safari) which are the majority of browser engines (there are more). but some will just ignore Safari and only write for IE and Firefox. some will even write for just IE and request that activex must be enabled.

it basically comes down to standards. but youll find the majority of websites these days work on all three.

Web standardization is needed.

cohibadad said:

Web standardization is needed.

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Easier said than done.

There is web standardization but as previously stated, a lot of developers do not follow it.

The DOM (Document Object Model) for the browsers differs as well. They will translate CSS (most of the time it has to do with CSS) differently in their own way. IE is the worse but has gotten better since IE 7.

Also, some browsers stay on top of 'cutting edge' css tricks etc and allow some stuff that other browsers will not since the DOM is either outdated or just to strict.

There's also the development tool of choice. Let's say Visual Studio for example will take certain things and translate them into <SPAN>, <DIV>, and the actions/events will translate into Javascript. Those will pretty much 100% work in IE of course but there's no guarentee they will work in Firefox or Safari.

As 'new' ways of doing things is developed, the W3C who decides the baseline standard for how objects are handled (not so much translated) are trying to keep up.

Handled - Can the browser understand the tags and script
Translated - How the browser displays the understood tags and script

Each of the above is different for sure. Firefox may handle a div tag properly but it's not displayed how you wanted it or how IE displays/translates it.

It's crazy like this but it's what us programmers go through each time we code a page.

Then there's also ADA (American Disability Association) standards that some companies need to follow. Those are even more strict and MUST conform to a certain set of rules in addition to the W3C standards and if not, lawsuits can actually be drawn up against the company (doesn't happen often but it CAN happen).

Web dev is rough ..... but fun.

also keep in mind that the standard are changing as well, CSS 1, 1.1, 2.1, 3. Javascript 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.0, HTML 4, 4.1, 5 etc... they can be quite different sometimes, compare to the browser developing circle, I seriously suggest W3C getting a better way of organize the whole thing.

joefinan said:

Ah. I didn't realise. I thought the internet was various standards that the browsers had to keep up with. I just guessed that it was Apple who weren't supporting the sites, not the other way around.

In which case: curse you eBay! (even more than normal)

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Also keep in mind, some sites have a requirement to support older browsers. CSS, etc can look differently from say IE 3.1 to IE 6, etc. The developers/Company should also continuously check to ensure that the nuances are not drastic as browser technology changes as well and remove compatibility for extremely outdated browsers.

However, some say (in regards to ADA) word readers are based on older browsers and MUST be supported. I doubt eBay is requried to be ADA compliant, but there is probably a reason for it's incompatibility.

clevin said:

also keep in mind that the standard are changing as well, CSS 1, 1.1, 2.1, 3. Javascript 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.0, HTML 4, 4.1, 5 etc... they can be quite different sometimes, compare to the browser developing circle, I seriously suggest W3C getting a better way of organize the whole thing.

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Considering the W3C is a volunteer organization you can't demand to much. They do a good job. The ever changing items mentioned DO have to pass the W3C to be considered a standard. There are ISO (International Standards Organization) requirements all the technologies have to pass before approved by W3C but that doesn't mean that browsers and/or developers have to support them or code for them.