Cross-Browser

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What Does Cross-Browser Mean?

Cross-browser refers to the ability of a website, HTML construct, application or even client-side script to work in several different environments, ones that provide its required features. Similar to the way a cross-platform program is one that can run across multiple computer platforms, cross-browser websites are capable of running in several browsers.

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Techopedia Explains Cross-Browser

Creating a cross-browser website is simple for basic sites. However, complex ones that require lot of HTML formatting and JavaScript need extra coding to be compatible. Different web browsers are known to interpret JavaScript and HTML in different ways. For example, Apple Safari and Internet Explorer make use of different rendering engines for HTML. Therefore, the same webpage can appear with different formatting in these browsers. So, it is necessary that developers design their sites in order for them to work across several browsers.

One way of ensuring compatibility is to use a basic coding method that weeds out incompatibilities between different browsers. However, if this is not possible, then a developer must customize the code accordingly. Cross-browser compatibility is very important for smooth functioning of web applications.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.