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Summary
Browsers that are supported for use with the RPM application.
Full Support
Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/) 2, 3
Microsoft Internet Explorer (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx) 6, 7, 8
Apple Safari (http://www.apple.com/safari/) 4, 5 and iPhone (http://www.apple.com/iphone/)
Google Chrome (http://gears.google.com/chrome/?hl=en)
Opera Desktop (http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/) 10
Not supported, but should work
We don't test these browsers, but they should work. We don't officially support them, but could relatively easily if there was demand.
- Desktop browsers not listed above using Gecko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecko_%28layout_engine%29) 1.8.1 and up, Trident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_%28layout_engine%29) 7 and up, WebKit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webkit) 523 and up, KHTML (http://konqueror.kde.org/features/browser.php) 412.
- Apple Safari 3
- Opera Desktop 9
Not supported yet
If the demand was justified we could likely add full support within one RPM release for:
- Modern mobile WebKit-based browsers including those on the Palm Pre, Nokia S60, and Android.
- Opera Mobile 8, 9 (Symbian and Windows Mobile devices)
- Opera Mini 4.1 (BlackBerry and other Java devices)
- BlackBerry browser 4.6 and newer (Bold and Storm)
- Skyfire (http://www.skyfire.com/) (Nokia and Windows Mobile devices)
Not supported
- Internet Explorer 5 and earlier, Internet Explorer for UNIX, Internet Explorer Macintosh, MSN Explorer, IE Mobile
- Firefox 1, Netscape Browser 8, Galeon, and other early Gecko-based browsers. Netscape Navigator/Communicator 7 and earlier.
- BlackBerry Browser 4.5 and earlier, NetFront (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetFront), simple or older mobile browsers
- Opera Desktop 8 and earlier, Opera for devices (including Nintendo DS and Wii), Opera Mini 3 and earlier, Opera Mobile 7 and earlier
- Safari 2 and other browsers using WebKit 4xx (http://developer.apple.com/internet/safari/uamatrix.html) builds and earlier. Konqueror 3.4 and earlier.
- iCab 3 and earlier, Lobo (http://www.lobobrowser.org/java-browser.jsp), Amaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaya_%28web_browser%29), Swift (http://try.swift.ws/), Tkhtml (http://tkhtml.tcl.tk/index.html), NetSurf (http://www.netsurf-browser.org/), Aros browser (Traveller), Sputnik, ABrowse, Dillo, IBrowse, AWeb, Voyager, ViolaWWW, Mosaic, HotJava, SlipKnot, and NetPositive
- Any AOL before AOL Explorer
- Any text-based browser like Lynx, Links, and ELinks
FAQ
Why not more support?
There is a lot of variety (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers) when it comes to Internet browser software. The differences in the way these applications interpret and render websites become more important when advanced functionality is used, as with RPM.
- RPM makes heavy use of the XHTML doctype, CSS, and JavaScript
- In order for us to support a browser we have to have a test environment setup for it. This requires hardware and software resources as well as testing time. If a browser has differences it may require development time for compatibility.
Why support some obscure browsers?
- First, many browsers are based on a common rendering engine. For example, Firefox, Camino, Netscape 9, Flock, and many more use the Gecko engine. That means if we make RPM work with one, it will work with all of them.
- Second, nearly all modern browsers follow the published standards quite well. The only notable exception is Internet Explorer. For example, if something is made to work in Firefox, it doesn't take much work for it to also work in Safari, Opera, Konqueror, etc. On the other hand, Internet Explorer always requires special work, even between versions.
- Supporting Safari and Opera has allowed us to support the two most popular smart phones in North America, BlackBerry and iPhone.
How long will RPM keep Internet Explorer 6 support?
It would be desirable to drop IE6 support (http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/07/ie6_on_its_way_out), but we will support IE6 for as long as our customers require it.
- Microsoft has committed to support IE6 until 2014 (http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/08/18/microsoft-support-ie6-2014/).
- Google will phase out IE6 support in 2010 (http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html).
Browser usage stats
Public browser usage:
- Top 8 Browser Versions in the US for 2009 (http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-US-monthly-200901-200912) and 2010 (http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-US-monthly-201001-201012) StatCounter
- Browser Statistics (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp) (W3 Schools)
- Usage share of web browsers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers) (Wikipedia)
History
- Version 1: RPM is launched with support for Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6.
- Jupiter: IE7 support added.
- Europa: Firefox 2, Safari 3, Opera 9, and others added. IE5.5 dropped.
- Pioneer: IE8 support added through "use IE7" tag.
- Judge: Opera Mini and IE8 standards mode added. Google Analytics added to RPM app.
- Push Play: Nicer formatting on the iPhone
- This page was last modified 16:48, 8 Jun 2010.
- This page has been accessed 15012 times.