One of my goals for the new Perishable Press redesign was to achieve cross-browser, pixel-perfect precision [ 1 ]. Of course, due to many variables (platform, operating system, browser, extensions, fonts, etc.), it is virtually impossible to achieve complete 100% perfection, but I am certainly interested in examining the design on as many different configurations as possible. Thus, last week after launching the new design, I made an open call for screenshots. Graciously, many of you responded with some great screenshots. Thanks to you, I was able to see Perishable Press “in the wild” on many operating systems and browsers to which I simply don’t have access. Sure, I could have just went to browsershots.com or some similar service, but as Rick Beckman correctly pointed out, it is much more fun to get everyone involved in the process. So without further ado, here is the Perishable Press Quintessential Screenshot Gallery:
- Mobile Browsers
- Macintosh Leopard
- Linux Ubuntu
- Linux Kubuntu
- Windows 98 & 2000
- Windows Vista
- Windows XP
Mobile Browsers [ ^ ]
Mobile Safari 2.0 on iPhone by Paul Walker
Internet Explorer on HTC 8525 Windows Mobile 5.0 (alt view) by Jeff Starr
Minimo on HTC 8525 Windows Mobile 5.0 by Jeff Starr
- Alternate Minimo Screenshot (header)
- Alternate Minimo Screenshot (content)
- Alternate Minimo Screenshot (sidebar)
Macintosh OS X Leopard [ ^ ]
Safari 4.0 Developers Preview on Mac OS X by Chris Coyier
Firefox 3.0.3 on Mac OS X 10.5.5 by Rick Beckman
Stainless 0.1 on Mac OS X 10.5.5 by Paul Walker
Safari 4 on Mac OS X 10.5.5 by Paul Walker
L.Y.N.X 2.8.7d9 on Mac OS X 10.5.5 by Paul Walker
Fluid 0.9.3.2 on Mac OS X 10.5.5 by Paul Walker
Fluid on Mac OS X by Jordan Ogren
Safari on Mac OS X by Jordan Ogren
Camino 1.0.3 on Mac OS X 10.4.8 (1024×768) by Jeff Starr
Firefox 3.0.1 on Mac OS X 10.4.8 (1024×768) by Jeff Starr
Opera 9.23 on Mac OS X 10.4.8 (1024×768) by Jeff Starr
Safari 2.0.4 on Mac OS X 10.4.8 (1024×768) by Jeff Starr
Paparazzi on Mac OS X (full page) by Christopher Ross
Linux Ubuntu [ ^ ]
Firefox 2.0.0.17 on Ubuntu Linux 7.10 by Lee Underwood
Firefox 3.0.3 on Ubuntu Linux 8.04 @ 1280×1024 by Adam Heckler
Firefox 3.0.3 on Ubuntu Linux 8.04.1 (full page) by Aldo
Firefox 3.0.3 on Ubuntu 8.04 Linux (full screen) by lazar
Firefox 3.0.3 on Ubuntu 8.04 Linux by lazar
Linux Kubuntu [ ^ ]
Firefox 2.0.0.17 on Linux on Kubuntu 7.10 by ALtJ
Konqueror 3.5.8 on Linux on Kubuntu 7.10 by ALtJ
Windows 98 & 2000 [ ^ ]
Opera 9.52 on Windows 2000 (1024×768) by Jeff Morris
Opera 9.52 on Windows 98se (1024×768) by Jeff Morris
Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows 98se (1024×768) by Jeff Starr
Opera 8.54 on Windows 98se (1024×768) by Jeff Starr
Internet Explorer 6.0.2600 on Windows 98se (1024×768) by Jeff Starr
Windows Vista [ ^ ]
Google Chrome on Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit (full-screen @ 1600×1200) (alt view) by Matthias Kretschmann
Firefox 3.0.3 on Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit (full-screen @ 1600×1200) (alt view) by Matthias Kretschmann
Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit (full-screen @ 1600×1200) (alt view) by Matthias Kretschmann
Opera 9.52 on Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit (full-screen @ 1600×1200) (alt view) by Matthias Kretschmann
Safari 3.1.2 on Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit (full-screen @ 1600×1200) (alt view) by Matthias Kretschmann
Windows XP [ ^ ]
Safari 3.1.1 on Windows XP SP3 (1024×768) by Jeff Morris
Firefox 3.0.3 on WinXP Media Center SP3 (1280×800, full page) by Nyx
K-Meleon 1.5.0 on Windows XP (1280×1024) by nukeit
Firefox 3.1b1pre (CE build) on Windows XP (1280×1024) by nukeit
Firefox 3.0.3 on Windows XP (1280×1024 – full page) by nukeit
L.Y.N.X 2.5.8 on Windows XP SP3 by Johann Jacobsohn
Minefield 3.b1pre on Windows XP SP3 by Johann Jacobsohn
Safari on Windows XP SP3 by Jordan Ogren
Google Chrome beta on Windows XP (1680×1050) by Joshua Richardson
Internet Explorer 8 beta on Windows XP (1680×1050) by Joshua Richardson
Firefox 3.0.3 on Windows XP (1680×1050) by Joshua Richardson
IE 8 beta 2 on Win XP Pro SP3 (JavaScript disabled) by Myra R
Firefox 3.0.3 on Windows XP Pro SP3 (JavaScript disabled) by Myra R
Google Chrome on Windows XP by Mateo Yadarola
Firefox 3.0 on Windows XP by Mateo Yadarola
Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP by Mateo Yadarola
Opera 9.5 on Windows XP by Mateo Yadarola
Safari on Windows XP by Mateo Yadarola
Thank you!
Many thanks to every who helped by sending in their screenshots! Cheers! :)
Note: please contact me with any corrections regarding the screenshots and technical information presented in this article. Thanks!
- 1 That is, as many browsers as possible except Old versions of Internet Explorer. [ ^ ]
15 Responses
Jeff Starr – October 12, 2008 •
Hi KeeKee, Thanks for the feedback! I know the site’s appearance is heavy on the eyes (too busy, too dark, etc.), and so I have set aside some time this week to work on improving some of these usability issues. Until now, I had been thinking about improving readability by increasing the opacity of the content panels, but now thanks to your comment I may also try toning the background image itself down a notch or two. Thanks for the excellent advice ;)
Paul Walker – October 12, 2008 •
@Jeff Star
Mac OS fails badly when it comes to light on dark text, its sub pixel rendering was clearly optimised for dark on white. That’s why the texts looks rather bold/awful on the OS X screenshots. There are ways to stop OS X using subpixel rendering for your site, such as setting text-shadow to #000 0 0 0. Minorly hacky, but it helps.
OS X will still render the text thicker than windows, but this is because windows itself renders fonts thinner than they are, at small sizes (it tries to make strokes exactly 1 px in width, when most fonts are over that at this size).
Jeff Starr – October 12, 2008 •
@Paul: I was unfamiliar with the
text-shadowtrick.. I will definitely be trying it out. Hopefully it will provide some relief. Does it affect text-rendering on all Mac browsers, or just Safari? I am so used to looking at Windows-rendered fonts that Mac rendering always frustrates me. I would simply make the fonts smaller, but then there are other issues.. In any case, thanks for the tip!