We encourage the use of modern, reliable, safe browsers and WCMS sites support every one of them.
This means that the core content of every site should be available to any of these browsers, but doesn't necessarily mean that the content will look or function exactly the same in every browser.
Some features or functionality may only be available to newer browsers.
We use the Baseline initiative as our guideline for use of new and emerging standards - anything that is considered "widely available" (supported across browsers for at least 30 months) can be used for core content. Features classed as "newly available" (more recently supported across the latest version of all core browsers) can only be used for features that will not harm browsers that don't support it. Features that are only available in selected browsers must be used sparingly and only as progressive enhancements.
Access for all
Underlying our browser support policy are two foundational principles:
- Website content and core functionality should be accessible to everyone.
- It’s okay for websites to look different in different browsers.
If content is unreadable in some browsers, that’s a bug that we will fix.
If content is displayed slightly differently in some browsers, we consider that to be a facet of the web, not a bug. This means that there will sometimes be subtle visual and functional differences from browser to browser. We deem this acceptable provided content and core functionality are unaffected.
(Thank you to Clearleft for the inspiration for this document.)