[sakai2-tcc] [Building Sakai] Current browser support

Thu Aug 4 14:14:47 PDT 2011

I know there was the one big issue with Samigo and Firefox 4.
(SAM-1244<https://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/SAM-1244>
) According to some comments this was fixed in Firefox 5, but the behavior
overall is better after this patch.

It's likely the page on compatibility isn't updated because in the past it
reflected what Sakai was QA'd against. As of late there really hasn't been
any coordinated Sakai QA (AFIAK) since the 2.8 release, and I can't see any
mention of what they were testing with. This question about
"browser compatibility" comes up on the mailing list every few months, most
recently in a *huge* (~40 reply) thread back in March.

http://sakai-project-mail-list-archives.1343168.n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Support-for-additional-browsers-td6224521.html

The real answer is aside from a few fixed or filed issues, the latest
support Sakai (2.7 & 2.8) are compatible and work with all 4 of the latest
browsers (except IE 9.0 needs the compatibility header, which is enabled in
2.7+) They also work with the latest mobile Android and iPhone browsers via
the pda portal. If any issues come up they are filed and fixed. However,
there might be issues that get missed as they aren't part of any automated
or manual testing if something is browser specific.

It is much easier to support the future than the past though. IE 7.0 and
Fire Fox 2 being  on the list that was linked are probably no longer
accurate for Sakai 2.7+. The TCC could probably lay out a direction for
support and say something like "IE 7.0 and FireFox 2.x specific issues will
no longer be addressed in a future version of Sakai", but anyone is still
free to contribute patches.

At Michigan we run 2.7.1 and locally QA with Firefox 3 on OSX and Windows
and IE8 on Windows. Most developers use Firefox 5, Chrome or Safari. Our
users are split almost evenly (20-25% each) between FireFox (mostly 5), IE
(mostly 8.0, 9.0 defaults to 8.0 compatibility mode), Safari and Chrome.

-Matthew

On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 4:47 PM, Venstra, Elizabeth <erytting at indiana.edu>wrote:

>  Hi, Sakai dev list—I’m copying the documentation list because Josh’s
> question about browser support leads to a documentation question on my part.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Regarding browser support, this is what we are currently telling end users
> in the Sakai help: https://www.indiana.edu/~sakaikb/display.cgi?docid=asxg
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> (Note that this entry in the Sakai KB states that it applies to Sakai 2.7
> in the title, but the same content is currently being delivered for Sakai
> 2.8 as well.  This should appear in the Sakai help tool; it is available to
> that domain, though I don’t know where in the help tool it would be found.)
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> The content here is based on recommendations from folks at Indiana
> University.  However,****
>
> ** **
>
> **a)      **I could create a different version of the document for Sakai
> if the Sakai community wants something different from IU, and****
>
> ** **
>
> **b)      **The IU Sakai group has recently discussed changing this
> document to get away from the idea of “supported” vs. “unsupported”
> browsers, and just tell people what browser versions we are testing
> instead.  Those changes haven’t been finalized yet; when they were done, I
> had intended to contact some Sakai folks and ask if Sakai wanted to go along
> with that, or leave the Sakai version as is, or something different.****
>
> ** **
>
> More detail: Our Sakai admins specifically suggested that we warn users
> away from Firefox 4 and IE 9 when they came out.  The IE 9 issue turned out
> to be solved (I believe) by using Compatibility View.  Mozilla, of course,
> has declared FF 4 to be at the end of its life.  I have not yet heard a
> definitive answer to whether there are any issues with FF 5 when it comes to
> Sakai, at least in our implementation.****
>
> ** **
>
> For me to change the document I referenced above, I would want to hear
> either some kind of consensus among the dev and/or documentation list as to
> what the content should be, or else one authoritative (or
> authoritative-sounding) individual speaking up strongly and saying “thus it
> shall be”.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Best,****
>
> ** **
>
> Elizabeth Venstra****
>
> Knowledge Management team****
>
> University Information Technology Services****
>
> Indiana University****
>
> erytting at indiana.edu****
>
> 812-855-0459****
>
> ** **
>
> Josh wrote:****
>
> ** **
>
> Message: 16****
>
> Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2011 11:05:23 -0700****
>
> From: Joshua Swink <joshua.swink at gmail.com>****
>
> Subject: [Building Sakai] Current browser support****
>
> To: Sakai-Dev <sakai-dev at collab.sakaiproject.org>****
>
> Message-ID:****
>
>                 <CAFS8oBQgaFi2tu6w-EA7+SQhya4Hir=
> D0xUgG5sJERY38y+uUQ at mail.gmail.com>****
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1****
>
> ** **
>
> Is this page about Sakai's browser support up to date?****
>
> ** **
>
> https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/QA/Browser+Support****
>
> ** **
>
> It states that the supported version of Internet Explorer is 7. Is that
> correct?****
>
> ** **
>
> Josh****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
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