Site navigation below

Full media guide

Conformance guides for print, projection, screen and all media stylesheets.

Test case results for aural, braille, embossed, handheld, TTY and TV media are equivalent.

Get noticed

Place your text ad here.

World class data recovery software and renowned raid recovery services

WestNIC provides reliable web hosting services

Free software downloads and drivers download resources

Ahosting.biz reseller hosting, managed dedicated server with 24/7 support

The media stylesheet browser conformance tables below are part of the Code Style CSS2 media monitor subsection, a test suite and compatibility guide to media dependent cascading style sheets. Each test case document includes summary analyses of how the named browsers handle these methods of stylesheet attachment.

The latest versions of mainstream Web browsers now support CSS2 print media stylesheets, which can be used to print documents in a style better suited to the medium. The main difficulty is to ensure print media styles are not rendered in standard screen mode with earlier browser versions. No method of print stylesheet attachment is universally compatible because of the poor CSS implementations in Netscape 4, Internet Explorer 3.0 and Internet Explorer 4.01 for Mac. The least problematic option is to use media dependent link elements (see test case 1).

No further results will be posted for Opera, Netscape/Mozilla and Safari, whose latest releases fully conform to the media style sheet standards. Results for Netscape 7.1 apply to all subsequent browser releases based on the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine, including Firefox, Galeon, Camino, Chimera, K-Meleon and Phoenix.

See legend and key to abbreviations below.

Table 1: Print media browser conformance, with media attribute.
Test case documents: Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="..." media="print" />
Additional style rules: - @import @import
Additional media rules: - - @media print
Media mode: Sc. Pr. Pj. - Sc. Pr. Pj. - Sc. Pr. Pj. -
Windows Internet Explorer 3.0 N N N/A - C N N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 4.0 Y Y N/A - N C N/A - N N N/A -
Macintosh Internet Explorer 4.01 N C N/A - B B N/A - B B N/A -
Macintosh Internet Explorer 4.5 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - C N N/A -
Macintosh Internet Explorer 5.0 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 5.0 Y Y N/A - N C N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 5.5 Y Y N/A - N C N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Macintosh Netscape Navigator 4.7 C N N/A - C N N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Netscape Navigator 4.73 C N N/A - C N N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Netscape Navigator 6.0 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Netscape Navigator 7.1 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Opera 3.62 Y Y N/A - N N N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Opera 4.0 Y Y Y - N C N - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 5.0 Y Y Y - N C N - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 5.11 Y Y Y - N C N - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 6.01 Y Y Y - N C N - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 7.11 Y Y Y - Y Y Y - Y Y Y -
Macintosh Safari 1.2 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Table 2: Print media browser conformance, no media attribute.
Test case documents: Test 4 Test 5 Test 6
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="..." />
Additional style rules: - - @import
Additional media rules: @media print @import print @media print
Media mode: Sc. Pr. Pj. - Sc. Pr. Pj. - Sc. Pr. Pj. -
Windows Internet Explorer 3.0 N N N/A - C N N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 4.0 N N N/A - C N N/A - N N N/A -
Macintosh Internet Explorer 4.01 C N N/A - H H N/A - B B N/A -
Macintosh Internet Explorer 4.5 C N N/A - Y Y N/A - C N N/A -
Macintosh Internet Explorer 5.0 C N N/A - Y Y N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 5.0 Y Y N/A - C N N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 5.5 Y Y N/A - C N N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 Y Y N/A - C N N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 Y Y N/A - C N N/A - Y Y N/A -
Macintosh Netscape Navigator 4.7 C N N/A - C N N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Netscape Navigator 4.73 C N N/A - C N N/A - C N N/A -
Windows Netscape Navigator 6.0 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Netscape Navigator 7.1 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Opera 3.62 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -
Windows Opera 4.0 Y Y Y - Y Y Y - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 5.0 Y Y Y - Y Y Y - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 5.11 Y Y Y - Y Y Y - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 6.01 Y Y Y - Y Y Y - Y Y Y -
Windows Opera 7.11 Y Y Y - Y Y Y - Y Y Y -
Macintosh Safari 1.2 Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A - Y Y N/A -

Conformance key

The Code Style CSS2 media monitor subsection is a guide to media stylesheet conformance and cross compatibility for a range of CSS browsers. The test case results are largely for Windows platforms. If you would like to report results for other browsers and platforms please use the article feedback form below.

Y = Yes, CSS2 conformant

A specific form of media stylesheet attachment is rendered correctly in all supported browser display modes. Conformance with the W3C CSS2 recommendation requires appropriate media stylesheet rendering in all media modes. Browsers may be conformant or compatible but not actually support a particular media mode.

C = Compatible, but not CSS2 conformant

Specific media styles are rendered "correctly", but for the wrong reasons. For instance, if a browser correctly renders screen media styles in standard screen mode but these styles are also incorrectly rendered in print, the browser is marked C for compatible instead of Y for conformant.

N = No, not conformant or compatible

The media stylesheet syntax is not rendered correctly or completely.

B = Buggy, non-conformant and incompatible

A browser handles some aspect of media dependent stylesheet attachment in an inconsistent or unreliable way. The cases classified as bugs are fundamental CSS errors that are practically more significant than improper media stylesheet handling in their own right.

H = Hazardous, use with caution

Some browsers, notably Internet Explorer 4.01 for Mac, will crash if they encounter certain forms of media dependent stylesheet attachment and may hang the operating system. Authors should use these forms of media stylesheet attachment with caution.

N/A = Not applicable

A specific media mode may not be available for a particular browser. In all cases screen and print media mode are assumed where screen display and print options are available respectively, even where media dependent stylesheets are evidently not supported.

Abbreviations

Pr. = Print mode
For backwards compatibility purposes, any print facility is assumed to be relevant, whether CSS2 is explicitly supported or not. Print functionality is also considered part of the all media collection.
Pj. = Projection mode
Presently only supported by Opera version 4 and above. For multiple media compatibility, it is essential that other media styles do not carry over into projection mode.
Sc. = Screen mode
For backwards compatibility purposes, all screen display facilities are assumed to be relevant, whether CSS2 is explicitly supported or not. Any screen display is also considered part of the all media collection.

Other media modes

The following media types are not supported in any of the CSS browsers tested to date, but are included in the CSS2 media monitor for interest as a backwards compatibility reference for future browser implementations.

Au. = Aural media
Br. = Braille media
Em. = Embossed media
Hh. = Handheld media
Tt. = TTY (teletype) media
TV = TV (television) media

Print media test pages

Article feedback

Your comments on this article will be appreciated, please use the form below to submit your views. If you would like a reply or article update notification, include your email address.

Information: Your email address will not be mis-used. If you include your address you may be sent a personal reply, you will not be added to any mailing list unless you request update notification. Read the site privacy statement for details.

Style warning - please read

Home · CSS · Java · Javascript · HTML · Help · Log