Follow-up on SharePoint Browser Compatibility
A few months ago I wrote a post on SharePoint browser compatibility issues. For those thinking of using SharePoint 2007 in an internet or extranet facing application (where you can't control the end users browser selecttion) this poses a potential for a "less than ideal" user experience. If you read the chart I referenced you saw that when visitors use a non-IE (Internet Explorer) browser there is potential for a degraded user experience. Pretty scary... but what does that mean? I found the chart below in a Microsoft TechNet article. For those planning SharePoint deployments to external users, design considerations (very early in the process!) should be dedicated to this information.
|
Connect to Outlook/Client |
Y (1) |
Y (1) |
Y (1) |
Y (1) |
Y (1) |
|
Context menu |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
Drag and Drop (of Web Parts) |
Y (2) |
Y (2) |
Y (2) |
Y (2) |
Y (2) |
|
Edit in Datasheet view |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
Edit In (Microsoft Office application) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
Explorer view |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
List attachments |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N (3) |
|
Multiple file upload |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
New Document |
Y (4) |
Y (4) |
Y (4) |
Y (4) |
Y (4) |
|
Part to Part Connections |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
People Picker |
Y (5) |
Y (5) |
Y (5) |
Y (5) |
Y (5) |
|
Rich text Toolbar |
N (6) |
N (6) |
N (6) |
N (6) |
N (6) |
|
Send To |
Y (7) |
Y (7) |
Y (7) |
Y (7) |
Y (7) |
|
Web Discussions |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
Web Part menu |
Y (8) |
Y (8) |
Y (8) |
Y (8) |
Y (8) |
|
Export to Spreadsheet |
Y (9) |
Y (9) |
Y (9) |
Y (9) |
Y (9) |
|
Date Picker Control |
N(10) |
N(10) |
N(10) |
N(10) |
N(10) |
|
Summary Links Web Part |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y (11) |
|
Excel Calculation Services |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
|
Slide Library |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
Excel Web Access |
Y(12) |
N |
Y(12) |
Y(13) |
N |
|
Open in Excel |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
Open Snapshot |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
Sorting and Filtering (Excel Services) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
Signing forms (Forms Server) |
Y (14) |
Y (14) |
Y (14) |
Y (14) |
Y (14) |
|
Rich Text (InfoPath) |
N (15) |
N (15) |
N (15) |
N (15) |
N (15) |
|
Rich text editing in Forms Server forms |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
Table Key:
Y - Compatible. All or most aspects of the user experience are equivalent. See Numbered Notes for any differences in user experience.
N - Not compatible. Item either is not available from the menu or will not function. Unless otherwise noted, this feature requires ActiveX controls, which run only in Internet Explorer.
Numbered Notes:
(1) These browsers will use the Connect to Client menu item on the Actions menu. This will open a client application that is registered to handle the stssync:// protocol, such as Microsoft Outlook.
(2) Web Parts cannot be placed by using drag and drop. You must click edit on the Web Part, select Modify Web Part, and select the zone from the Layout section of the Web Part properties page.
(3) This functionality is not supported because of an issue with the browser.
(4) Although the New button will not work, you can use the Upload Document button.
(5) Does not convert DOMAIN\Username to display name. If the name is not recognized, an error will be displayed.
(6) The toolbar will not be displayed; however, you can use HTML tags to display styled text. A link to a Help topic that describes the HTML tags supported will be provided under the rich-text field.
(7) With these browsers, and with Internet Explorer without the Microsoft Office client application installed, files cannot be sent from one farm to another farm. For files sent from a server to another server in the same farm, ASPX pages will be used instead of Windows dialog boxes.
(8) The drop-down list menu (triangle on the side of the control) has a different user experience, but the functionality is similar.
(9) This feature might work properly in these browsers. It downloads a file that has the .iqy extension to the browser. If Microsoft Office Excel is not installed, and no other application is configured to open this file, this feature will not work.
(10) Users can still enter dates into the date fields.
(11) When you click for a new link, the pop-up dialog box is the wrong size and the OK and Cancel buttons are partially obscured.
(12) You cannot sort or filter Pivot Tables. There is no work around for this.
(13) The Navigator 8.1 browser must be configured to render in Internet Explorer mode. For more information about switching modes, see the browser documentation.
(14) You cannot sign documents, but you can view signatures.
(15) The rich text is read-only by default. If you try to edit the text, all rich-text formatting is lost.