NN4 is trying to kill me
By Oli
At 9:31 AM · Saturday, 26 April · 2003
To CSS · Coding
Somebody shoot me. I’ve been asked to redesign a sub-website for a University still using a lot of Netscape Navigator 4 browsers. I want to make something that is standards-compliant (preferably XHTML), uses CSS not tables for layout, and appears similar in both modern browsers and the evil NN4. After consulting Pixellated!’s Navigator 4-compatible CSS guide (it’s a quick read), and RichInStyle’s Netscape Navigator 4 bug guide (parts 1 and 2), I’m starting to think I should just embrace the font tag and drink more. A lot more.
Considering our well-stocked bar, this is a worrying thought for someone working from home. Vodka with your cereal, anyone?
Discussion...
- 1. Comment by klio · 31 Oct, 2004 · 9:00 PM
I understand you, you don’t know how much….
:-(
Klio
how do you get a two cols layout with a right navigation bar in nn4??? using css and xhtml…
- 2. Comment by Oli · 1 Nov, 2004 · 12:27 PM
Hi Klio,
In addition to the links above, check these out:
- Salia: CSS Layouts for NN4, with links to one, two and three column layouts
- ElderWeb: How to design for NN4
- CrossBrowser: NN4 hacks (for DHTML but still relevant)
- and RealWorldStyle: using CSS with NN4 (their 2-col layout is already linked above) lots of other information here
However my best advice is just don’t do it. It’s not worth the time and effort supporting such an unused browser (what % in your logs? >1%? I doubt it). Also most users still stuck with it will be used to seeing unstyled semantic content by now. If you’re forced to because of an intranet’s installed base, consider making the business case that upgrading to a newer browser will pay for itself in user productivity and savings in your time.
I ended up using CSS with transitional
HTML because I lacked access to the logs - I couldn’t argue it wasn’t worth supporting NN4 without knowing what % of users were using it. But now I just wouldn’t bother. NN4 is dead, and the sooner IE6 dies a grisly death the better.PS thanks for being my first non-spam commenter in a while! You’ve made my day ;-)
