Welcome!

[Linda]

What browser support matrix do you use? By this I mean which browsers do you insure pixel-perfection in, which ones do you support functionally but not visually, and which do you not support at all?

At the moment, I aim for pixel perfection in the following:
Webkit:
Safari (latest)
Konqueror (latest)
Google Chrome (latest)
Gecko:
Firefox 3.x (latest)
Netscape 9 (latest)
IE:
IE6
IE7
IE8
EDIT: I forgot Opera! Full support in latest version of Opera is a must, being in Norway and all=)

Why only the latest versions? Because people who use these browsers are pople who know what a browser is and tend to update them. Most companies I have contracted for support Firefox 2.0, but of the about 200 000 firefox users that have visited (my company's) website this year, none used Firefox 2.0, so I have decided to drop it. I test in XP and on mac.

A quarter of our site's user use IE6. It makes me want to cry but there's nothing I can do about it.

We have had visitors using IE5.0, IE5.5 and Netscape 4. Too bad. They're on their own. (The site actualy looks rather good in IE5.0. But I'm not gonna check from now on. Unless I'm feeling curious.)

[Monime]

One good news! I don't know if it's official stuff or not. I use to keep for testing on my PC, beside other browsers the fatty old IE6, because still lot of people use it. About a month ago, with one windows update came the gorgeous IE7. So they might try to get rid of it but maybe I'm just dumb

All the best

[Parallax]

Same as the OP, with attention paid to mac vs PC flavors where applicable.

[Linda]

Same as the OP, with attention paid to mac vs PC flavors where applicable.

I've only really experienced problems (diffrences) with IE on a mac. In that it works correctly without my ie css overrides...

[Piry]

IE6 is being used by less users every day, I guess most of them upgraded to IE7 (which is a very good step).

I believe that as a designer you shouldn't have to make your designs with backward compatibility. Browser updates are and will remain FREE, which mean no person on this planet has a good excuse NOT to update their browser to the latest version, especially when most browsers can do it automatically.

So there you go, when Firefox 3.5 gets in the final version, you won't have to check Firefox 2.x or even Firefox 3.0.

[Linda]

That might be true for firefox users.

But out of the nearly 100 000 unique visitors my site (Oslo City Council) has had so far this year, an alarming 24% were using IE6.
XP was and still is a very popular platform, that came with IE6. So many people don't know how to upgrade or that upgrading is free.

[Parallax]

Same as the OP, with attention paid to mac vs PC flavors where applicable.

I've only really experienced problems (diffrences) with IE on a mac. In that it works correctly without my ie css overrides...

Yep, 95% of the time it's no big deal. My OCD will not allow me to launch w/o testing many scenarios though =D

[Laxon]

We must not forget that, like the example given in the opening post, IE6 is situational.

On most of the sites I have IE6 is under 2% of total visitors.
The question I asked myself is: Why? Well I run interactive sites for digital artists, when most of IE6 users are unfortunate employees of companies that have not upgraded their systems yet. Thats why it stays at a solid percentile. And if your site is not something that a cubicle worker would visit on a daily basis [like mine], for the most part you can forget about IE6.

[unless of course someones hiring department still runs on it, then you better have your portfolio site compatible xD]

[m00min]

I believe that as a designer you shouldn't have to make your designs with backward compatibility. Browser updates are and will remain FREE, which mean no person on this planet has a good excuse NOT to update their browser to the latest version, especially when most browsers can do it automatically.

Rubbish.

Not everyone is competent or comfortable at upgrading their software. Some corporate environments won't allow an upgrade (usually down to some badly built app they rely on).

Don't blame your inability to build a site that works in the real world on other peoples lack of current software.