Minimum version of browsers and OSes supported by Phaser

[plicatibu]

From time to time I post about Phaser's games not working on some browsers (some really old ones and others not so old like BlackBerry PlayBook ).

 

So I'm wondering whether it would be possible to have a list of browsers / operating systems that work for sure with Phaser's games no matter what Phaser's feature were used or at least the minimum version of operating systems and browsers that work with a specific version of Phaser. 

 

 

It would be nice if we could know before hand if a specific browser is supported or not.

 

Any suggestion? Do guys think it's feasible? 

[spencerTL]

From my experience it seems that no list could be definitive. Stuff I've done has worked on all tested browsers and then a slight change and it doesn't work on one but continues to work on all of the others. You could say it doesn't work on that one in all cases but not that it definitely works on all of the others as you may just not have tried a certain function with a certain value etc. It'd also be a shame to write off a browser when the conflicting function may never be used in a game or may have a very simple workaround.

While different browsers exist I suspect thorough testing is the only way to go and even then it is hard to be certain. To my mind Phaser does a fantastic job regarding compatibility, the few cross browser issues are nothing compared to what I'd encounter without it.

[rich]

It would probably be wise to set some "base levels", i.e. the minimum version of which we know things will work. I don't actually have time to do this right now though, sorry, but if someone does I can add it to the site/docs.

[plicatibu]

I though a solution could be:

 

1 - to make a program that shows all capabilities of Phaser (similar to AndEngine example program. You can get the apk from here and get an idea what I mean)

 

2 - a wiki page updated by users where we would put:

 

All important information (model, brand, OS version) from devices used in tests

Phaser version used

Browser used (stock browser, Chrome, Firefox, and so on)

a line for each feature in the test program (scaling, rotation, ability to play wav, mp3 files, and so on) saying if that feature worked or not in that browser

 

Moreover, a rating system where other users could say if that information is right or not so if 20 users made the same test the information could be filled just once but confirmed (or not) by the other 19 users. It's something similar to what is used by Wordpress to allow users say whether plugins work or not with its new versions.

 

Regards.

[David]

@plicatibu:  The wiki sounds like a great idea.  However, I'd also like to point out that this could be a bit of a trap in terms of support.  Attempting to support every browser everywhere is an admirable goal, but likely will stretch developmet attention a bit thin.

 

With more limited resources, it might be prudent to enumerate the specific browsers that are supported rather than compile the bugs of all browsers.

 

Note that this is the approach taken by many very popular libraries like lodash and even jquery.  They test for only the browsers specified and if they happen to work in others, then that's a nice suprise.

[plicatibu]

You're right.