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HTML

Posted by Callum Anderson
Callum Anderson
8,837 Points

Are <header>, <main> and <footer> supported by older browsers, such as IE6?

What is the best approach in terms of backwards compatibility for older browsers such as IE6/7/8?

Will they ignore header, main and footer? If so, would they simply skip them and proceed to the next nested element?

In the example below, would older browsers process <body>, then skip to the nested <div> element?

If the header is styled, would the styling be lost in older browsers?

<body> <header> <div id="title"> <h1>Page title</h1> </div> </header> </body>

Thanks in advance!

2 Answers

Brice Roberts
Brice Roberts
22,415 Points

They are not very backwards compatible. The trick is using some javascript-fu to create new elements for those tags. There are many, many, many different ways that you can design responsive web pages to account for older browser support, and even "trick" browsers into showing content that they don't believe they can.

And, on top of that, even as a seasoned developer, you will constantly be battling this. Browser support comes and goes. New APIS, plugins, and languages will come and marginalize all of the effort that you have put in to make fixes.

At a certain point, you have to focus on YOUR SITE'S target audience, and not try to develop for thousands of "what-ifs".

Sites like Google and Facebook, can focus on "hacking" browser support, but is it worth your time to spend designing content for those who aren't looking for your content?

For business applications, you may most certainly have to design for older browsers, because the business sector can sometimes be slow to adapt to new technology, but if you are designing for consumers...

Do you think the person who hasn't updated from ie6 will truly miss seeing modern content? They have gotten used to it.

Here is a pretty in depth stackoverflow

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5367526/header-footer-nav-tags-what-happens-to-these-in-ie7-ie8-and-browsers-than-don

And, a great introduction to HTML 5

http://fortuito.us/diveintohtml5/

Callum Anderson
Callum Anderson
8,837 Points
Callum Anderson
Callum Anderson
8,837 Points

Thanks Brice, that's a great answer. I guess you're right, it must be literally impossibly to cater for ALL browsers, without severely limiting your content. I'd also hazard a guess that most people have access to multiple browsers, and may try different browsers if a certain website doesn't work properly in the default browser.

For example, in my previous job we were stuck with an old version of IE as the default browser because many of the web-based applications used within the organisation hadn't been tested and approved for newer browsers. Chrome and/or Firefox were available for general use though.

I'll have a look at those articles you posted, thanks again for your very informative reply!