Drop-down Menus: What if the visitor has old browser?

[-db-]

There are some folks (my Dad for example) who do not upgrade their computers, operating systems or browsers very often. With so many drop-down menus these days, I'm wondering what gets displayed in their older browsers? What do these people see when they visit sites with drop-down navigation menus?

 

[enlytend]

Depends on how it's coded. Some degrade more gracefully than others. Surprisingly, there are only a tiny number of REALLY obsolete browsers still out there. IE6 is the most prevalent one you need to worry about, and at least that supports css and gets the box model more or less right (as long as the page doctype makes it render in standards mode, not quirks mode). IE5 (which had the incorrect box model) is down to only around 0.03%. (Numbers from Hitslink MarketShare)

There are sites which can show you how a specific site looks in a range of browsers - old and new.

 

[-db-]

Thanks for the reply enlytend.

I like drop-down menus, but was just worried about using them on my sites, in fear that I might be neglecting some visitors. I'm glad to hear it's not as bad as I thought. I remember a website from a couple years back that allowed you to test various browser versions. It even gave a checklist so you could choose which versions (old or new) you wanted to test. It was a cool service, and free at the time. But I don't recall the name... do you?

 

[enlytend]

Browsershots.org (screenshots only - free) and Browsercam.com (screenshots OR lets you actually remote access and test on different os/browser combos - paid, but there's a free trial). Browsercam is really nice, but it's not cheap.

 

[Kate]

Dropdown menus usually rely on Javascript but there are pure CSS implementations too. I think it's more an issue of Javascript disabled than an old browser.
PS: look at your traffic stats to see what kind of browsers visit your site.

 

[WebIntellects - Rob]

I think they see the same as you are when do not click on the links with drop down menus.