Comments on: Graded Browser Support Update

By: Nate Koechley

Nate Koechley — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:09:15 +0000

Note that the chart has been corrected to include Safari 3.1†, replacing Safari 3.0†. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks,
Nate

By: Nate Koechley

Nate Koechley — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:49:29 +0000

@Peter - No budget, but I try to maintain empathy for all my developer and tester friends.

@Chris - C-grade chart is in the works. Safari on Windows receives X-grade support. Safari will be 3.1 shortly.

@Matt - thanks for the testimonial. That’s been my experience as well.

By: Art Duszynski » Found Elsewhere » Yahoo: Graded Browser Support Update

Art Duszynski » Found Elsewhere » Yahoo: Graded Browser Support Update — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:07:15 +0000

[…] Yahoo! has upgraded their browser support gradings. From the Yahoo! User Interface Blog: […]

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:34:22 +0000

Re: the GNU/Linux comments — I develop using Firefox on Ubuntu and YUI 2.5.1 and I’ve never had any problems. Makes sense that you’d like more official support but I thought I’d throw that out there.

By: Chris Griego

Chris Griego — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:13:15 +0000

Why was the choice made for Yahoo to extend A-grade support to Safari 3.0 on Mac and not to 3.1 or to Safari on Windows?

Could you also provide a list of what Yahoo extends C-grade support to separate from the chart?

By: Peter Michaux

Peter Michaux — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:45:24 +0000

Nate,

Interesting about your compromise for FF2. I had wondered the same thing. Do you have a budget for the number of A-grade green boxes you are allowed in the table?

Thanks,
Peter

By: Compatibilità « i blog di MP

Compatibilità « i blog di MP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:25:44 +0000

[…] Browser compatibilità […]

By: Nate Koechley

Nate Koechley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:47:20 +0000

@David,

First, while many people have updated to Firefox 3, there are still many Firefox 2 users. So I think it’s important to continue to provide some test coverage for the Firefox 2 branch.

Second, each instance of A-grade support is expensive in terms of resources, because we run comprehensive tests on each instance. Therefore, reducing instances is beneficial.

Since Mozilla strives for cross-OS consistence, I’m more concerned with testing the FF2 branch as a branch instead of each OS instance of that branch.

The compromise I arrived at was to provide A-grade support to the Firefox 2 branch on one Windows and one Mac OS instance.

Make sense? Suggestions? Comments?

Thanks,
Nate

By: Nate Koechley

Nate Koechley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:41:21 +0000

@Thomas, @Tonci,

As the documentation for GBS says, “The only practical difference between A- and X-grade browsers is that QA actively tests against A-grade browsers.” Mozilla ensures that Firefox is highly consistent across various operating systems; we ensure that the YUI experience on Firefox on the platforms used most by our users is highly consistent. Following the GBS approach, we therefore trust that a solid experience in A-grade environments will also provide a solid experience in X-grade environments.

If you find cases where this is not true, please be sure to report them for analysis.

Please also read my response to a similar question from an earlier post.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,
Nate

By: David Owens

David Owens — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:54:43 +0000

Hi,

We use a similar chart based on a mixture of this and the BBC’s version.

I’m interested in the decision to continue support for FF2 in Windows XP but not Vista. Could you explain the thinking there?

David