Browser Bugs

As you've probably seen by now, building a Web page that displays well on all browsers isn't easy. To make matters worse, sometimes you've done everything right, and your page still doesn't display correctly under one specific browser. It's not your fault - you've just encountered a browser bug.
Unfortunately, browser bugs are a fact of life for Web designers. Each browser has its own unique set of errors and quirks that you have to adapt to. That's especially true with Version 4 of Netscape Navigator, whose early editions were rushed out the door to beat Internet Explorer to market. A columnist for WebReference recently called Navigator Version 4 "truly terrible browser."

For example, take perhaps the most widely encountered browser bug in existence. The HTML standards say that when you build an HTML table, you don't have to explicitly close each table cell with a closing tag. This closing tag is optional. Yet unless you explicitly close your table cells, Navigator 4 will not display your table if it is nested inside another table. Since nesting tables is common practice to control page layout, this bug wrecks many well-designed pages.

Netscape isn't the only browser prone to bugs. Internet Explorer for the Macintosh has a number of bugs and quirks in the way it handles text spacing.
When you
encounter a browser bug, it often means resorting to trial-and-error debugging to remove the problem. But before you resort to that, check our free Webmaster Tips Newsletter archive. It contains many tips related to browser bugs that can save you valuable time.