Blog: Category ‘Graded Browser Support’

YUI Target Environments

We recently updated the matrix of browsers in which YUI is tested. We decoupled the Browser Test Baseline matrix from Graded Browser Support last year, but today we’re taking this a step further…

Introducing YUI Target Environments

We’ve added a new page to our site: YUI Target Environments. Here’s the matrix of the environments which YUI currently targets:

Internet Explorer 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
Chrome † Latest stable
Firefox † Latest stable
Safari Latest stable (desktop) iOS 4.† iOS 5.†
WebKit Android 2.2.† Android 2.3.† Android 4.†
Node.js* 0.4.† 0.6.† 0.8.†

Notes:

  • † The dagger symbol (as in “iOS 5.†”) indicates that the most-current non-beta version.
  • Certain modules have native Node.js support, while others are DOM dependent.

Our Graded Browser Support page has been doing double-duty, both promoting progressive enhancement development practices and defining YUI’s supported browsers. This led to confusion that the matrix was a recommendation about where your application should work. To reduce this confusion we have created a separate page, YUI Target Environments, to house the matrix of YUI’s target environments (both browsers and Node.js).

There’s a good chance the set of environments that you’re targeting for your project is either the same as or a subset of the ones YUI targets. However, we understand that the audience for each app is different; data gathered from your web analytics should be used to make informed decisions when choosing which environments you’re going to target. These are engineering and business decisions which require weighing the tradeoffs—a one-size-fits-all recommendation will not account for these specifics.

Why Does YUI Still Target IE 6 and 7?

Based on our internal browser data gathered from Yahoo!’s worldwide traffic, the percentage of users on IE 6 and 7 is still relatively high. While Yahoo!’s traffic is a great representation of general browser usage, your app’s browser usage statistics may be very different. For a JavaScript library like YUI, it’s important to target the popular and emerging environments which people are using. This way if your app needs to support older versions of IE, you can feel confident when using YUI because the library is fully tested on them. IE 6 and 7 are still popular enough to warrant YUI’s continued support for these environments.

Additionally, the modular architecture of YUI supports capability-based loading for those environments which need additional code or alternate implementations of features (like old versions of IE.) This means IE 6/7-specific code will only be downloaded and executed in those environments which need it. A person using your app in the latest version of Google Chrome will not incur the cost or overhead of loading code needed for old versions of IE. Capability-based loading is seamless and will be taken care of for you—it’s baked into YUI’s core.

Node.js

The environments which YUI targets are not all browsers. YUI is tested in and designed to work in a Node.js server environment. Over the past year, a lot of work has been done in YUI to target Node.js as a first-class environment.

It’s important to note that YUI support in Node.js is on a module-by-module basis. Node.js differs from browser environments in a drastic way—it does not come with an implementation of the DOM APIs. YUI does not come with server-side DOM support either. In fact, we recommend against running a DOM on the server for performance reasons. This means that only a subset of YUI modules will run natively within a Node.js environment: those modules which do not depend on DOM APIs. If you’re inclined to run a DOM on the server, refer to this example.

The new YUI Target Environments page contains a section on Node.js with two lists of modules: those with native Node.js support, and those which are DOM dependent.

Being able to use YUI on the server opens up many opportunities to share code between the browser and server environments; a great example being Mojito, which takes full advantage of this.

The Future of Graded Browser Support

Our plan is to phase out the term “Graded Browser Support” (GBS) in favor of “Progressive Enhancement” (PE) shortly. The core idea behind graded browser support is progressive enhancement, so really this is a change to what we call it.

We will continue to promote the concepts and strategy of taking a progressive enhancement approach to web development, while separating it from the matrix of specific environments which YUI targets. We want to help developers use this information to make informed decisions about which environments they’ll target for their projects.

By Eric FerraiuoloAugust 21st, 2012

Graded Browser Support Update: Q3 2012

GBS Changes

Specific changes for this update include:

  • Revised support for fast iterating Firefox browser; Firefox testing coverage is now recommended for the latest major, stable version of the browser.
  • Revised support for Safari browser on non-mobile; Safari testing coverage is now recommended for the latest major, stable version of the browser on desktop operating systems.
  • Discontinue coverage for Safari on iOS 3.
  • Add coverage for Safari on iOS 5.
  • Add coverage for WebKit on Android 2.2.† and 2.3.† explicitly.
  • Add coverage for WebKit on Android 4.†.

Browser Test Baseline

Internet Explorer 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
Chrome † Latest stable
Firefox † Latest stable
Safari Latest stable (desktop) iOS 4.† iOS 5.†
WebKit Android 2.2.† Android 2.3.† Android 4.†

Notes:

  • The dagger symbol (as in “iOS 5.†”) indicates that the most-current non-beta version at that branch level receives support.
  • No guidance is given on iOS or Android OS device usage. The recommendation is that you choose the devices that are most representative of your user base for each OS.

GBS Forecast

  • Discontinue coverage for Safari on iOS 4.
  • Add coverage for Safari on iOS 6.
  • Add coverage for Chrome on Android 4.1.
  • Add coverage for IE 10.

GBS Archive

By Eric FerraiuoloJuly 26th, 2012

Graded Browser Support Update

GBS Changes

Specific changes for this update include:

Browser Test Baseline

Internet Explorer 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
Firefox 3.† 4.† 5.†
Chrome † Latest stable
Safari 5.† iOS 3.† iOS 4.†
Webkit Android 2.†

Notes:

  • The dagger symbol (as in “Firefox 4.†”) indicates that the most-current non-beta version at that branch level receives support.
  • No guidance is given on iOS or Android OS device usage. The recommendation is that you choose the devices that are most representative of your user base for each OS.

Removing Grades from the Browser Test Baseline

This edition of the GBS update represents a departure from our previous updates in that we are moving away from mapping browsers directly to experience grades (e.g. “A-grade” and “C-grade”). Rather than prescribe what user experience is appropriate for which browsers, we’ll focus on defining an efficient baseline test strategy that maximizes test coverage and minimizes the testing surface. For example, IE6′s still-significant global marketshare warrants continued testing; however today’s GBS allows for the IE6 user experience to be different from the IE9 experience.

Removing Operating Systems from the Browser Test Baseline

In order to streamline testing and minimize resource requirements, we no longer specify which operating system should be tested on. The only exception is when the browser is tightly coupled with the OS version, in which case we refer to the OS version rather than the browser version (e.g. “Safari iOS 4″). This allows us to focus test coverage on browser versions, and minimize redudant testing across platforms. Issues with the same browser across versions are negligible, and generally related to higher-level OS differences, such as key handling and available fonts. Code that is known to touch upon cross-platform issues should be tested on as many platforms as possible, but this testing generally can be isolated to the specific issues rather than running a full regression test of all features. We recommend aligning operating system testing priority with your user base.

Why is IE6 Still on the List?

IE6 still has a significant enough global market share to warrant a verified acceptable user experience. One common misconception with the Progressive Enhancement strategy has been that once a browser enters “C-grade” that it becomes “unsupported”, when in fact it really means that it should be delivered the HTML-only experience. Now that we no longer prescribe which browsers receive what experience, this is left for projects to decide based on their users and resources. The GBS focuses on specifying which browsers need a verified usable experience based on factors such as market share and influence. Defining what is “usable” and specifiying acceptable levels of degradation are left for teams to decide. We still promote a simple Progressive Enhancement model, and discourage projects from creating new tiers without accounting for the additional costs in development, testing, and maintenance resources.

GBS Forecast

We expect to make the following changes in the next update:

  • Discontinue coverage for Safari on iOS 3.
  • Add coverage for Webkit on Android 3.
  • Add coverage for Firefox 6.
  • Add coverage for Safari iOS 5.

The GBS Archive

By Jenny Donnelly and Matt SweeneyJuly 12th, 2011

Graded Browser Support Update: Q4 2010

This post announces an update to Graded Browser Support, Yahoo!’s recommended browser testing matrix. The GBS page on the YUI site always has the most current GBS table. This post includes:

Reminder: Graded Browser Support is a QA philosophy, not a report card on the quality of popular browsers. It is designed to provide guidance for QA teams about how best to use their limited testing resources (and to frontend engineers about how to sanely cross-check work across a finite set of browsers). The goal is to be conservative and calculating: We want to test the smallest possible subset of browser/platform combinations, leveraging implicit coverage by testing the most commonly shared core browser engines.

GBS Changes for Q4 2010

Specific changes for Q4 2010 include:

  • Revised support for the fast-iterating Chrome browser; Chrome A-grade testing coverage is now recommended for the latest major, stable version of the browser on Windows XP.
  • Dropped A-Grade coverage for Firefox 3.0.† (moves to X-grade).
  • Dropped A-Grade coverage for Safari 4 on Mac OS 10.5.† (moves to X-grade).
  • Updated Safari coverage to 5.† on Mac OS 10.6.
  • Initiated A-grade coverage for WebKit browsers on iOS and Android OS.
  • Forecast A-grade coverage for Firefox 4.† and Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7 upon their GA release.
  • Addition of Firefox versions prior to 3.0 to C-grade list.
  • Forecast discontinuation of A-grade coverage for Internet Explorer 6 in Q1 2011; we expect to move IE6 to the C-grade browser list as of the next update.
Win XP Win 7 Mac 10.6.† iOS 3.† iOS 4.† Android 2.2.†
Safari 5.† A-grade
Chrome † (latest stable) A-grade
Firefox 4.† A-grade (upon GA release) A-grade (upon GA release)
Firefox 3.6.† A-grade A-grade A-grade
IE 9.0 A-grade (upon GA release)
IE 8.0 A-grade A-grade
IE 7.0 A-grade
IE 6.0 A-grade
Safari for iOS A-grade A-grade
WebKit for Android OS A-grade

Notes:

  • The dagger symbol (as in “Firefox 3.6.†”) indicates that the most-current non-beta version at that branch level receives support.
  • Code that may be used on pages with unknown doctypes should be tested in IE7 quirks mode.
  • Code that may appear in IE8′s “compatibility mode,” which emulates but is not identical to IE7, should be tested explicitly in compatibility mode.
  • No guidance is given on iOS or Android OS device usage. The recommendation is that you choose a device most representative of your user base for each OS.

C-Grade Browser List (Draft)

This list represents browsers from which CSS and JavaScript should be withheld. This list remains in draft status.

  • IE < 6 (including Mac OS versions)
  • Safari < 3
  • Firefox < 3
  • Opera < 9.5
  • Netscape < 8

GBS Forecast

We expect to make the following changes in the Q1 2011 GBS update:

  • Discontinue A-grade for Internet Explorer 6, moving it to C-Grade.
  • Discontinue A-grade for Firefox 3.6.† on Windows XP.
  • Move Chrome support from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Discussion

This update implements the guidance we provided in Q1 2010. Of interest in this update:

  1. Internet Explorer 6: We are forecasting the transition of Internet Explorer 6 from A-grade to C-grade in the next GBS update. The calculus here is simple: The proliferation of devices and browsers on the leading edge (including mobile) requires an increase in testing and attention. That testing and attention should come from shifting resources away from the trailing edge. By moving IE6 to the C-grade, we ensure a consistent baseline experience for those users while freeing up cycles to invest in richer experiences for millions of users coming to the internet today on modern, capable browsers. Note: This forecast should not be taken as an indication that IE6 users will see an abrupt change in their experience of Yahoo! websites in Q1 2011; the change in philosophy toward IE6 will be reflected in new development and products and applied in ways that make sense based on product needs.
  2. Chrome: Chrome has been progressing rapidly through versions, and Google has communicated its intent to continue rapid development and short release cycles. As a result, we’ve modified our GBS strategy for Chrome to advise testing on the latest GA release of Chrome as soon as it is issued, with prior versions moving to X-grade as soon as they are superseded.
  3. Mobile: We’re taking a conservative approach to the addition of mobile browsers to the QA matrix, beginning in this release with the current Android version (2.2) and the two latest releases of Apple’s iOS (which covers the current OS version for iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch devices). We recommend including devices running these operating systems at minimum in your QA battery. Depending on your resources and your focus, you may want to be much more aggressive in supporting variants of Android and other operating systems (like Palm/HP’s WebOS). This GBS recommendation provides a testing surface of 15 browser/platform combinations (once IE 9 and Firefox 4 reach GA), bringing in this first wave of A-Grade mobile browsers while keeping the testing surface at a level consistent with previous quarters.

The GBS Archive

By Eric Miraglia and Matt SweeneyNovember 3rd, 2010

Graded Browser Support Update: Q1 2010

This post announces an update to Graded Browser Support. The GBS page on the YUI site always has the most current GBS table. This post includes:

GBS Changes for Q1 2010

Specific changes for Q1 2010 include:

  • Initiated A-Grade support for Chrome 4.0.† on Windows XP
  • Replaced Windows Vista with Windows 7 in the testing matrix (dropping IE7 from that platform while retaining it on XP)
  • Moved Opera 10.† to X-Grade from A-Grade
  • Replaced Firefox 3.5.† with Firefox 3.6.† in the testing matrix
Win XP Win 7 Mac 10.5.† Mac 10.6.†
Firefox 3.0.† A-grade
Firefox 3.6.† A-grade A-grade A-grade
Chrome 4.0.† A-grade
IE 8.0 A-grade A-grade
IE 7.0 A-grade
IE 6.0 A-grade
Safari 4.0.† A-grade A-grade

Notes:

  • The dagger symbol (as in “Firefox 3.6.†”) indicates that the most-current non-beta version at that branch level receives support.
  • Code that may be used on pages with unknown doctypes should be tested in IE7 quirks mode.
  • Code that may appear in IE8′s “compatibility mode,” which emulates but is not identical to IE7, should be tested explicitly in compatibility mode.

GBS Forecast

We expect to make the following changes in the Q2 2010 GBS update:

  • Discontinue A-grade for Firefox 3.0.†, moving it to X-grade.

Discussion

This update implements the guidance we provided in Q4 2009. That update generated significant discussion, and high-quality input from Opera is included in the comments thread; I encourage you to refer to that update for more details. Of interest in this update:

  1. Chrome: Chrome’s continued growth argues compellingly for its inclusion in the A-Grade. Discussion among members of the GBS committee focused around when, not if, Chrome would be promoted into the testing matrix, and there was a strong consensus that it belongs there today.
  2. Opera: Refer to the Q4 2009 GBS update for a discussion of the decision to move Opera to X-Grade. Worth noting here is that YUI specifically and Yahoo more broadly continue to support Opera — just as we continue to support X-Grade browsers in general. The GBS provides guidance for formulating QA testing matrices, and our recommendation as of Q1 2010 is that Opera be grouped in the X-Grade along with other high-quality, low-marketshare browsers. Opera is an excellent browser — we expect Opera users to have a good experience on Yahoo! sites and YUI-based sites, and we’ll continue to investigate bugs related to Opera as they are identified.
  3. Windows Vista and Windows 7: By volume, client-side defects that are specific to a single version of Windows (as opposed to a version of Internet Explorer) are relatively low. Our experience has been that Vista-specific testing has not led to a significantly differentiated set of bugs compared with testing on XP. With that in mind, we’ve decided to replace Vista in the testing matrix with the newer and ascendant Windows 7 platform, keeping the testing surface to 4 unique platforms while bracketing the Windows continuum with the evergreen XP and the newer Windows 7. While Vista remains a popular operating system, and QA engineers and developers should retain access to Vista environments to investigate bugs when reported, we advise QA departments to begin migrating their automated testing platforms to Windows 7 at this point.

Our quarterly reminder: Graded Browser Support is a QA philosophy, not a report card on the quality of popular browsers. It’s designed to provide guidance for QA teams about how best to use their limited testing resources (and to frontend engineers about how to sanely cross-check work across a finite set of browsers). The goal is to be conservative and calculating: We want to test the smallest possible subset of browser/platform combinations, leveraging implicit coverage by testing the most commonly shared core browser engines.

The GBS Archive

By Eric MiragliaFebruary 16th, 2010

Graded Browser Support Update: Q4 2009

This post announces an update to Graded Browser Support. The GBS page on the YUI site always has the most current GBS table. This post includes:

GBS Changes for Q4 2009

With this update, Mac OS 10.4 Tiger drops from the A-Grade testing matrix (replaced with Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard) and the testing surface is reduced to 12 browsers on 4 OS platforms (down from 14 browsers on 4 platforms). Specific changes include:

  • Initiated A-Grade support for Firefox 3.5.† on Mac OS 10.6.†
  • Initiated A-Grade support for Opera 10.0.† on Windows XP
  • Discontinued A-Grade support for Firefox 3.0.† on Mac OS 10.5.†
  • Discontinued A-Grade support for Firefox 3.5.† on Mac OS 10.5.†
  • Discontinued A-Grade support for Safari 3.2.† on Mac OS 10.4.†
  • Discontinued A-Grade support for Opera 9.6.† on Windows XP
Win XP Win Vista Mac 10.5.† Mac 10.6.†
Firefox 3.0.† A-grade
Firefox 3.5.† A-grade A-grade A-grade
Opera 10.0.† A-grade
IE 8.0 A-grade A-grade
IE 7.0 A-grade A-grade
IE 6.0 A-grade
Safari 4.0.† A-grade A-grade

Notes:

  • The dagger symbol (as in “Firefox 3.5.†”) indicates that the most-current non-beta version at that branch level receives support.
  • Code that may be used on pages with unknown doctypes should be tested in IE7 quirks mode.
  • Code that may appear in IE8′s “compatibility mode,” which emulates but is not identical to IE7, should be tested explicitly in compatibility mode.

GBS Forecast

We expect to make the following changes in the Q1 2010 GBS update:

  • Discontinue A-grade for Opera across all OSs (if current data trends continue); the latest version of Opera (currently 10.0.†) will be considered an X-grade browser as of Q1.
  • Initiate A-Grade support for the latest version of Google Chrome on Windows XP (if current data trends continue).
  • Initiate A-Grade support for IE8 on Windows 7.

Discussion

This update pares the testing surface to 12 browser/platform combinations (down from a high of 15). The most significant aspect of this update is our guidance for Q1 in which we forecast Chrome beginning to receive A-Grade support and Opera 10 moving to the X-Grade. Here are notes from the GBS committee with respect to that guidance:

  1. Chrome: The rate of growth in Chrome’s global usage has been dramatic. By some measures, including ours, it is now double that of the A-Grade Opera browser (source: StatCounter). Chrome on Windows is built around a solid WebKit core, supportive of web standards (including forward-looking HTML5 standards), and extremely performant. With Google’s backing, the project is making rapid progress both on Windows and with the not-yet-released Mac OS X version. If this growth rate continues, we conclude that Chrome will require A-Grade attention as of Q1.
  2. Opera: Opera’s marketshare, which is small and shows signs of diminishing, makes a compelling case for moving this excellent browser from the A-Grade to the X-Grade in Q1. X-Grade is a category designed to encompass modern, capable browsers with small marketshare, and Opera is squarely in that category today. Opera’s marketshare in specific Eastern European and emerging markets might argue for some developers to retain this browser on their testing matrix beyond Q1. We encourage you to watch carefully the argument presented by Opera’s Andreas Bovens and David Storey recently with respect to the “marketshare myth” and reasons why Opera’s importance transcends the global marketshare metric (source: YUI Theater).

Graded Browser Support is a QA philosophy, not a report card on the quality of popular browsers. It’s designed to provide guidance for QA teams about how best to use their limited testing resources (and to frontend engineers about how to sanely cross-check work across a finite set of browsers). The goal is to be conservative and calculating: We want to test the smallest possible subset of browser/platform combinations, leveraging implicit coverage by testing the most commonly shared core browser engines.

Inevitably (and by design), this leaves a lot of browsers out of the matrix. And, unfortunately, the percentage of users still tied to IE6 requires us to include that browser (not because we like IE6, but because we like the many tens of millions of users who rely on it).

One of the most interesting aspects of the quarterly GBS update is hearing your advice (often different than our own), and we’d love to hear your take on these issues in the comments section.

The GBS Archive

By Eric MiragliaOctober 16th, 2009

Graded Browser Support Update

This post announces an update to Graded Browser Support. The GBS page on the YUI site always has the most current information. This post includes a list of primary changes, the updated chart of browsers that receive A-grade support, and our GBS forecast.

Primary Changes

This GBS update adds A-grade support for IE8 on XP and Vista. A-grade support is discontinued for Firefox 3 on Win 2000 and Mac 10.4, keeping the A-grade testing surface at 15 platforms.

  • Initiated A-grade support for IE 8, Win XP

  • Initiated A-grade support for IE 8, Win Vista

  • Discontinued A-grade support for Firefox 3, Win 2000

  • Discontinued A-grade support for Firefox 3, Mac 10.4

  • Incremented supported version of Opera to 9.6

  • Incremented supported version of Safari to 3.2
Win 2000 Win XP Win Vista Mac 10.4.† Mac 10.5.†
Firefox 3.0.† A-grade A-grade A-grade
Firefox 2.0.† A-grade A-grade
IE 8.0 A-grade A-grade
IE 7.0 A-grade A-grade
IE 6.0 A-grade A-grade
Opera 9.6† A-grade A-grade
Safari 3.2† A-grade A-grade

The dagger symbol (as in “Firefox 3.†”) indicates that the most-current non-beta version at that branch level receives support. Put another way, † means “the most recent” instead of “all.”

GBS Forecast

In addition to the effective-immediately changes, we’re forecasting the discontinuation of A-grade support for Firefox 2 in the GBS update toward the end of June 2009.

The GBS Archive

By Nate KoechleyJanuary 28th, 2009