Website enhancements for modern browsers
9 November 2012
As you know we try to stay ahead of the curve on new technologies that can help our clients and their users. Here are just some of the new features that have been incorporated into our CMS recently, making them available to all our hosted website, which will work only in modern browsers:
HTML5 Form Validation
Using new HTML5 standards your browser can now recognise in an online form which fields need to be completed and what formats are allowed for different input types.
Our custom style sheets use this information to create visual clues inside form fields as you type so that you can see when you have skipped a required field or used the wrong format for a link or email address. Some browsers, notably Firefox, Opera and Chrome, also provide in-browser feedback messages.
All of this is on top of the regular form validation using JavaScript, server-side scripting and database constraints.
Checking and preview of file uploads
When you're uploading a photo or document we can now check in advance that the format and file size is correct. For example, when adding a photo we restrict the file type to image/* and display an alert if the file type is another format such as PDF or Word which cannot be displayed as an image online.
When working with editable content, and if you are using a modern browser such as Safari, Chrome or Firefox you will also see a preview of the image as it will appear, re-sized, on the page, without the file even being uploaded.
Finally, when uploading images or other files as attachments we check that the file size is not over the server limit. This prevents you from uploading a huge file and having to wait ages just to see that it was rejected for being too large.
HTML5 Local Storage
One of the keys to website speed is caching. On the server side we cache database query results and some generated content. We also send proper server headers to allow your browser to cache many elements of the page, and have started serving some shared elements using a content delivery network (CDN)
Using HTML5 Local Storage we can now also store common website elements, such as the Latest News column on this page, directly in your browser so they don't need to be downloaded again as you move from page to page.
Advanced CSS3 Styles
The CSS standards evolve slowly with differing levels of support between browsers for new features. This can range from simple effects such as rounded corners on box elements and drop shadows to special hover effects and animations.
Getting a modern browser
Internet Explorer is updated less frequently than other browsers and is generally very slow in accepting emerging standards. Fortunately it's easy (and free) to download and install a range of other browsers, and they also provide better security and a more intuitive interface.
Try one and see what you've been missing:
Internet Explorer 10, to be releases in preview this month, will include a lot of new features already present in other browsers, but by that time the other browsers will have moved on.
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