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Handling common HTML and CSS problems

  • Overview: Cross browser testing

With the scene set, we'll now look specifically at the common cross-browser problems you will come across in HTML and CSS code, and what tools can be used to prevent problems from happening, or fix problems that occur. This includes linting code, handling CSS prefixes, using browser dev tools to track down problems, using polyfills to add support into browsers, tackling responsive design problems, and more.

The trouble with HTML and CSS

Some of the trouble with HTML and CSS lies with the fact that both languages are fairly simple, and often developers don't take them seriously, in terms of making sure the code is well-crafted, efficient, and semantically describes the purpose of the features on the page. In the worst cases, JavaScript is used to generate the entire web page content and style, which makes your pages inaccessible, and less performant (generating DOM elements is expensive). In other cases, nascent features are not supported consistently across browsers, which can make some features and styles not work for some users. Responsive design problems are also common — a site that looks good in a desktop browser might provide a terrible experience on a mobile device, because the content is too small to read, or perhaps the site is slow because of expensive animations.

Let's go forth and look at how we can reduce cross browser errors that result from HTML/CSS.

First things first: fixing general problems

We said in the first article of this series that a good strategy to begin with is to test in a couple of modern browsers on desktop/mobile, to make sure your code is working generally, before going on to concentrate on the cross browser issues.

In our Debugging HTML and Debugging CSS articles, we provided some really basic guidance on debugging HTML/CSS — if you are not familiar with the basics, you should definitely study these articles before carrying on.

Basically, it is a matter of checking whether your HTML and CSS code is well formed and doesn't contain any syntax errors.

Note: One common problem with CSS and HTML arises when different CSS rules begin to conflict with one another. This can be especially problematic when you are using third party code. For example, you might use a CSS framework and find that one of the class names it uses clashes with one you've already used for a different purpose. Or you might find that HTML generated by some kind of third party API (generating ad banners, for example) includes a class name or ID that you are already using for a different purpose. To ensure this doesn't happen, you need to research the tools you are using first and design your code around them. It is also worth "namespacing" CSS, e.g. if you have a widget, make sure it has a distinct class, and then start the selectors that select elements inside the widget with this class, so conflicts are less likely. For example .audio-player ul a .

For HTML, validation involves making sure all your tags are properly closed and nested, you are using a DOCTYPE, and you are using tags for their correct purpose. A good strategy is to validate your code regularly. One service that can do this is the W3C Markup Validation Service , which allows you to point to your code, and returns a list of errors:

The HTML validator homepage

CSS has a similar story — you need to check that your property names are spelled correctly, property values are spelled correctly and are valid for the properties they are used on, you are not missing any curly braces, and so on. The W3C has a CSS Validator available too, for this purpose.

Another good option to choose is a so-called Linter application, which not only points out errors, but can also flag up warnings about bad practices in your CSS, and other points besides. Linters can generally be customized to be stricter or more relaxed in their error/warning reporting.

There are many online linter applications, the best of which are probably Dirty Markup (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and CSS Lint (CSS only). These allows you to paste your code into a window, and it will flag up any errors with crosses, which can then be hovered to get an error message informing you what the problem is. Dirty Markup also allows you to make fixes to your markup using the Clean button.

safari not rendering html

However, it is not very convenient to have to copy and paste your code over to a web page to check its validity several times. What you really want is a linter that will fit into your standard workflow with the minimum of hassle.

Many code editors have linter plugins. For example, see:

  • SublimeLinter for Sublime Text
  • Notepad++ linter
  • VSCode linters

Browser developer tools

The developer tools built into most browsers also feature useful tools for hunting down errors, mainly for CSS.

Note: HTML errors don't tend to show up so easily in dev tools, as the browser will try to correct badly-formed markup automatically; the W3C validator is the best way to find HTML errors — see Validation above.

As an example, in Firefox the CSS inspector will show CSS declarations that aren't applied crossed out, with a warning triangle. Hovering the warning triangle will provide a descriptive error message:

The developer tools cross out invalid CSS and add a hoverable warning icon

Other browser devtools have similar features.

Common cross browser problems

Now let's move on to look at some of the most common cross browser HTML and CSS problems. The main areas we'll look at are lack of support for modern features, and layout issues.

Browsers not supporting modern features

This is a common problem, especially when you need to support old browsers or you are using features that are implemented in some browsers but not yet in all. In general, most core HTML and CSS functionality (such as basic HTML elements, CSS basic colors and text styling) works across all the browsers you'll want to support; more problems are uncovered when you start wanting to use newer HTML, CSS, and APIs. MDN displays browser compatibility data for each feature documented; for example, see the browser support table for the :has() pseudo-class .

Once you've identified a list of technologies you will be using that are not universally supported, it is a good idea to research what browsers they are supported in, and what related techniques are useful. See Finding help below.

HTML fallback behavior

Some problems can be solved by just taking advantage of the natural way in which HTML/CSS work.

Unrecognized HTML elements are treated by the browser as anonymous inline elements (effectively inline elements with no semantic value, similar to <span> elements). You can still refer to them by their names, and style them with CSS, for example — you just need to make sure they are behaving as you want them to. Style them just as you would any other element, including setting the display property to something other than inline if needed.

More complex elements like HTML <video> , <audio> , <picture> , <object> , and <canvas> (and other features besides) have natural mechanisms for fallbacks to be added in case the resources linked to are not supported. You can add fallback content in between the opening and closing tags, and non-supporting browsers will effectively ignore the outer element and run the nested content.

For example:

This example includes a simple link allowing you to download the video if even the HTML video player doesn't work, so at least the user can still access the video.

Another example is form elements. When new <input> types were introduced for inputting specific information into forms, such as times, dates, colors, numbers, etc., if a browser didn't support the new feature, the browser used the default of type="text" . Input types were added, which are very useful, particularly on mobile platforms, where providing a pain-free way of entering data is very important for the user experience. Platforms provide different UI widgets depending on the input type, such as a calendar widget for entering dates. Should a browser not support an input type, the user can still enter the required data.

The following example shows date and time inputs:

The output of this code is as follows:

Note: You can also see this running live as forms-test.html on GitHub (see the source code also).

If you view the example, you'll see the UI features in action as you try to input data. On devices with dynamic keyboards, type-specific keypads will be displayed. On a non-supporting browser, the inputs will just default to normal text inputs, meaning the user can still enter the correct information.

CSS fallback behavior

CSS is arguably better at fallbacks than HTML. If a browser encounters a declaration or rule it doesn't understand, it just skips it completely without applying it or throwing an error. This might be frustrating for you and your users if such a mistake slips through to production code, but at least it means the whole site doesn't come crashing down because of one error, and if used cleverly you can use it to your advantage.

Let's look at an example — a simple box styled with CSS, which has some styling provided by various CSS features:

A red pill button with rounded corners, inset shadow, and drop shadow

Note: You can also see this example running live on GitHub as button-with-fallback.html (also see the source code ).

The button has a number of declarations that style, but the two we are most interested in are as follows:

Here we are providing an RGB background-color that changes opacity on hover to give the user a hint that the button is interactive, and some semi-transparent inset box-shadow shades to give the button a bit of texture and depth. While now fully supported, RGB colors and box shadows haven't been around forever; starting in IE9. Browsers that didn't support RGB colors would ignore the declaration meaning in old browsers the background just wouldn't show up at all so the text would be unreadable, no good at all!

Hard to see pill button with white text on an almost white background

To sort this out, we have added a second background-color declaration, which just specifies a hex color — this is supported way back in really old browsers, and acts as a fallback if the modern shiny features don't work. What happens is a browser visiting this page first applies the first background-color value; when it gets to the second background-color declaration, it will override the initial value with this value if it supports RGB colors. If not, it will just ignore the entire declaration and move on.

Note: The same is true for other CSS features like media queries , @font-face and @supports blocks — if they are not supported, the browser just ignores them.

Selector support

Of course, no CSS features will apply at all if you don't use the right selectors to select the element you want to style!

In a comma-separated list of selectors, if you just write a selector incorrectly, it may not match any element. If, however, a selector is invalid, the entire list of selectors is ignored, along with the entire style block. For this reason, only include a :-moz- prefixed pseudo class or pseudo-element in a forgiving selector list , such as :where(::-moz-thumb) . Don't include a :-moz- prefixed pseudo class or pseudo-element within a comma-separated group of selectors outside of a :is() or :where() forgiving selector list as all browsers other than Firefox will ignore the entire block. Note that both :is() and :where() can be passed as parameters in other selector lists, including :has() and :not() .

We find that it is helpful to inspect the element you are trying to style using your browser's dev tools, then look at the DOM tree breadcrumb trail that DOM inspectors tend to provide to see if your selector makes sense compared to it.

For example, in the Firefox dev tools, you get this kind of output at the bottom of the DOM inspector:

safari not rendering html

If for example you were trying to use this selector, you'd be able to see that it wouldn't select the input element as desired:

(The date form input isn't a direct child of the <form> ; you'd be better off using a general descendant selector instead of a child selector).

Handling CSS prefixes

Another set of problems comes with CSS prefixes — these are a mechanism originally used to allow browser vendors to implement their own version of a CSS (or JavaScript) feature while the technology is in an experimental state, so they can play with it and get it right without conflicting with other browser's implementations, or the final unprefixed implementations.

For example, Firefox uses -moz- and Chrome/Edge/Opera/Safari use -webkit- . Other prefixes you may encounter in old code include -ms- , used by Internet Explorer and early versions of Edge, and -o , used in the original versions of Opera.

Prefixed features were never supposed to be used in production websites — they are subject to change or removal without warning, may cause performance issues in old browser versions that require them, and have been the cause of cross-browser issues. This is particularly a problem, for example, when developers decide to use only the -webkit- version of a property, which implied that the site won't work in other browsers. This actually happened so much that other browser vendors implemented -webkit- prefixed versions of several CSS properties. While browsers still support some prefixed property names, property values, and pseudo classes, now experimental features are put behind flags so that web developers can test them during development.

If using a prefix, make sure it is needed; that the property is one of the few remaining prefixed features. You can look up what browsers require prefixes on MDN reference pages, and sites like caniuse.com . If you are unsure, you can also find out by doing some testing directly in browsers. Include the standard non-prefixed version after the prefixed style declaration; it will be ignored if not supported and used when supported.

Try this simple example:

  • Use this page, or another site that has a prominent heading or other block-level element.
  • Right/Cmd + click on the element in question and choose Inspect/Inspect element (or whatever the option is in your browser) — this should open up the dev tools in your browser, with the element highlighted in the DOM inspector.
  • Look for a feature you can use to select that element. For example, at the time of writing, this page on MDN has a logo with an ID of mdn-docs-logo .
  • Store a reference to this element in a variable, for example: js const test = document . getElementById ( "mdn-docs-logo" ) ;
  • Now try to set a new value for the CSS property you are interested in on that element; you can do this using the style property of the element, for example try typing these into the JavaScript console: js test . style . transform = "rotate(90deg)" ;

As you start to type the property name representation after the second dot (note that in JavaScript, CSS property names are written in lower camel case , not kebab-case ), the JavaScript console should begin to autocomplete the names of the properties that exist in the browser and match what you've written so far. This is useful for finding out what properties are implemented in that browser.

If you do need to include modern features, test for feature support using @supports , which allows you to implement native feature detection tests, and nest the prefixed or new feature within the @supports block.

Responsive design problems

Responsive design is the practice of creating web layouts that change to suit different device form factors — for example, different screen widths, orientations (portrait or landscape), or resolutions. A desktop layout for example will look terrible when viewed on a mobile device, so you need to provide a suitable mobile layout using media queries , and make sure it is applied correctly using viewport . You can find a detailed account of such practices in our guide to responsive design .

Resolution is a big issue too — for example, mobile devices are less likely to need big heavy images than desktop computers, and are more likely to have slower internet connections and possibly even expensive data plans that make wasted bandwidth more of a problem. In addition, different devices can have a range of different resolutions, meaning that smaller images could appear pixelated. There are a number of techniques that allow you to work around such problems, from media queries to more complex responsive image techniques , including <picture> and the <image> element's srcset and sizes attributes.

Finding help

There are many other issues you'll encounter with HTML and CSS, making knowledge of how to find answers online invaluable.

Among the best sources of support information are the Mozilla Developer Network (that's where you are now!), stackoverflow.com , and caniuse.com .

To use the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN), most people do a search engine search of the technology they are trying to find information on, plus the term "mdn", for example, "mdn HTML video". MDN contains several useful types of content:

  • Reference material with browser support information for client-side web technologies, e.g. the <video> reference page .
  • Other supporting reference material, e.g. the Guide to media types and formats on the web ,
  • Useful tutorials that solve specific problems, for example, Creating a cross-browser video player .

caniuse.com provides support information, along with a few useful external resource links. For example, see https://caniuse.com/#search=video (you just have to enter the feature you are searching for into the text box).

stackoverflow.com (SO) is a forum site where you can ask questions and have fellow developers share their solutions, look up previous posts, and help other developers. You are advised to look and see if there is an answer to your question already, before posting a new question. For example, we searched for "disabling autofocus on HTML dialog" on SO, and very quickly came up with Disable showModal auto-focusing using HTML attributes .

Aside from that, try searching your favorite search engine for an answer to your problem. It is often useful to search for specific error messages if you have them — other developers will be likely to have had the same problems as you.

Now you should be familiar with the main types of cross browser HTML and CSS problems that you'll meet in web development, and how to go about fixing them.

Troubleshooting HTML/CSS Rendering: A Guide for Beginners self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let a=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=a.clientWidth,c=a.clientHeight,i=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;i+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(a):process.env.NODE_ENV==="development"&&console.warn("The browser you are using does not support the ResizeObserver API. Please consider add polyfill for this API to avoid potential layout shifts or upgrade your browser. Read more: https://github.com/shuding/react-wrap-balancer#browser-support-information"))};self.__wrap_b(":R4mr36:",1)

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Understanding HTML/CSS Rendering Issues

Common html/css rendering problems and solutions.

Welcome to our beginner-friendly guide on troubleshooting HTML/CSS rendering! As you embark on your journey to becoming a web developer, you'll inevitably run into issues with your HTML and CSS code. Your web pages might not look the way you intended, or certain elements might not be behaving as expected. Don't worry, you're not alone! In this blog post, we'll discuss common HTML and CSS rendering problems and how to solve them. We'll also provide clear explanations and code examples to help you get a better understanding of how to troubleshoot these issues.

Before diving into specific problems, it's important to understand the general concept of rendering in the context of web development. Rendering refers to the process of converting HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code into a visual representation on the screen. Browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari interpret the code and display the web page according to the instructions provided by the code.

When issues arise during the rendering process, it usually means that the browser is not interpreting the code as intended. This could be due to various reasons, including incorrect syntax, conflicting styles, or browser compatibility issues.

Now, let's take a look at some common HTML and CSS rendering problems and their solutions.

1. Missing or Incorrect DOCTYPE

Problem: The web page looks different in various browsers, or certain elements are not displaying as expected.

Explanation: When a browser reads an HTML file, it needs to know which version of HTML the document is using. The DOCTYPE declaration tells the browser which version of HTML is being used, allowing it to render the page correctly.

Solution: Always include the correct DOCTYPE declaration at the very beginning of your HTML file. For HTML5, the DOCTYPE declaration is:

2. Syntax Errors

Problem: The web page has unexpected formatting, broken elements, or missing content.

Explanation: Syntax errors are often the result of typos, missing tags, or incorrect attribute values. These errors can cause browsers to misinterpret your code, leading to rendering issues.

Solution: Review your HTML and CSS code for syntax errors. Some common syntax errors include:

  • Missing closing tags (e.g., not closing a <div> or <p> tag)
  • Using incorrect attribute values (e.g., using text-align: center instead of text-align: center; )
  • Misspelled or incorrect property names (e.g., using backgound-color instead of background-color )

Tools like W3C's HTML Validator and W3C's CSS Validator can help you identify and correct syntax errors in your code.

3. CSS Specificity and Cascade Issues

Problem: Styles are not being applied as expected, or some styles are being overridden by others.

Explanation: CSS specificity determines the order in which styles are applied to elements. When multiple styles target the same element, the one with the highest specificity takes precedence. The cascade refers to the order in which styles are applied to elements, based on the order they appear in the stylesheet.

Solution: To solve CSS specificity and cascade issues, consider the following:

  • Make sure that your styles are targeting the correct elements. Use more specific selectors if necessary.
  • Use the !important rule sparingly and only when necessary, as it can override other styles and make your CSS code harder to maintain.
  • Organize your CSS code so that styles are applied in the correct order. This often means placing more general styles at the beginning of your stylesheet and more specific styles towards theend.

Here's an example to demonstrate CSS specificity and cascade:

Suppose you have the following HTML code:

And the following CSS code:

In this case, the text color will be blue because the .text selector has higher specificity than the .container p selector. If you want to change the color to green and ensure it takes precedence, you could either use an even more specific selector or use the !important rule:

4. Browser Compatibility Issues

Problem: The web page looks fine in one browser but has rendering issues in another.

Explanation: Not all browsers interpret HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the same way. Some features may not be supported by older browsers, or they may be implemented differently across various browsers.

Solution: To address browser compatibility issues, follow these best practices:

  • Use feature detection to check whether a specific feature is supported by the user's browser before using it. For example, you can use the @supports rule in CSS to test for support of a specific CSS feature.
  • Use vendor prefixes for CSS properties that may have different implementations across browsers. For example, to apply a CSS transition, you might need to include multiple versions of the transition property with different vendor prefixes:
  • Consider using a CSS reset or normalization stylesheet to help create a consistent starting point for your styles across browsers.
  • Test your web pages in multiple browsers and browser versions to identify and resolve compatibility issues.

Q: Why isn't my external CSS file being applied to my HTML document?

A: Ensure that your CSS file is properly linked in the HTML document using the <link> tag within the <head> section. Double-check the file path and ensure it's correct. For example:

Q: How can I check if my HTML and CSS code is valid?

A: Use online validation tools like W3C's HTML Validator and W3C's CSS Validator to check your code for syntax errors and compliance with web standards.

Q: How can I debug my HTML/CSS rendering issues in the browser?

A: Most modern browsers have built-in developer tools that allow you to inspect and modify your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code directly in the browser. You can open the developer tools by right-clicking an element on your web page and selecting "Inspect" or by using keyboard shortcuts (e.g., Ctrl + Shift + I on Windows, Cmd + Opt + I on macOS).

Q: What are some good resources for learning more about HTML and CSS?

A: Some popular resources for learning HTML and CSS include:

  • Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) and MDN CSS documentation: These resources provide comprehensive and up-to-date information on HTML and CSS features, along with interactive examples.
  • W3Schools and W3Schools CSS : W3Schools offers beginner-friendly tutorials and examples for HTML, CSS, and other web development topics.
  • CSS-Tricks : CSS-Tricks is a blog that covers a wide range of CSS techniques, tips, and tricks, as well as general web development topics.
  • freeCodeCamp : freeCodeCamp is an interactive learning platform that offers a free, self-paced curriculum covering HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more.

Q: Can I use JavaScript to help with rendering issues?

A: Yes, JavaScript can be used to dynamically modify your HTML and CSS code, enabling you to create responsive and interactive web pages. However, it's essential to remember that JavaScript should not be used as a replacement for proper HTML and CSS coding practices. Focus on writing clean and well-structured HTML and CSS code first, and then use JavaScript to enhance your web pages further.

Q: What is the difference between inline, internal, and external CSS?

A: There are three ways to apply CSS to your HTML document:

  • Inline CSS: Inline CSS is applied directly to an HTML element using the style attribute. For example:
  • Internal CSS: Internal CSS is written within a <style> tag inside the <head> section of your HTML document. For example:
  • External CSS: External CSS is written in a separate .css file and linked to your HTML document using a <link> tag inside the <head> section. For example:

Each method has its pros and cons, but using external CSS is generally considered the best practice, as it helps separate your content (HTML) from your presentation (CSS), making your code more modular and maintainable.

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Top 8 Ways to Fix Safari Not Loading Websites and Pages on Mac

Thanks to the groundbreaking Apple M1 chip , the popularity of the Mac lineup is rising to new heights. On macOS, most users stick with what comes out of the box and that includes the Safari browser. While it gets the job done with a nice look and a good set of extension lists, sometimes, you run into websites not loading issues on the Safari browser. Mac not loading websites and pages mostly happens on Safari browser, sometimes due to Webkit. Before you go ahead and download Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge for macOS, do check out the troubleshooting guide below to fix the issue. 

Fix Safari on Mac Not Loading Websites Issue

There are many factors behind the strange behavior. We will go through some of the basic steps and jump to extreme actions only if it doesn’t solve the issue. 

1. Check Internet Connection

This one is obvious. You should check if the Mac is properly connected to the internet. A sketchy internet connection might interfere with the website loading performance. It’s especially true when you try to load heavy web pages with lots of images and videos in Safari. 

internet connection not working on mac

Go to the macOS menu bar and click on the Wi-Fi icon. Make sure that it’s connected to the 5G network and not the 2.4G. I usually face this issue on my MacBook Air. Every now and then, my MacBook Air decides to connect to the 2.4G band and not the 5G band. The practice results in extremely long webpage loading times. 

2. Reset Router

Sometimes, the real culprit can be the router that you are using for the Wi-Fi connection. In such cases, you won’t be able to connect to the internet on any device, let alone loading websites on the Mac. 

reset router to load websites in mac

In such cases, you need to reset the router or upgrade the firmware to the latest version available. Try connecting to the internet and browse the web comfortably.

3. Disable Extensions

Extensions play a major role in any browser’s ecosystem. The Safari browser is no exception here. Apple tightly controls the whole experience and only allows legitimate extensions from the App Store. 

However, some extensions might go out of date or become incompatible with the new macOS version resulting in Safari not loading websites on Mac. 

It can be hard to determine which extension is causing Safari to not load pages. In such cases, you need to disable all extensions and try your luck with the web browser again. Follow the steps below. 

1. Open the Safari browser. 

2. Click on the Safari option in the Menu bar. 

3. Go to Preferences . 

safari preferences menu on macOS

4. Move to the Extensions menu. 

5. On the right side, you will find all the installed extensions. 

disable safari extensions on macOS

6. Select an extension one by one and use the Uninstall button from the right side to remove them. 

4. Uninstall AdBlocker

No, I’m not talking about the Adblocker extension in a browser . Many users opt for a system-wide adblocker such as AdLock to remove any kind of ads from the OS. 

These programs might affect the webpage performance on the device. If you are using such software then you need to uninstall the program.

Open the Finder menu on Mac. Go to the Applications option. Identify the culprit app and move it to the Trash . 

5. Disable VPN

VPN apps allow you to establish a secure and private network connection . Some websites might not be accessible from the selected VPN location. You need to disable VPN and try the website loading again. 

quit vpn on mac

Most VPN apps for Mac offer a shortcut through the menu bar. Click on the VPN icon in the menu bar and turn off the service. 

6. Clear Cache

A bad cache can ruin the day. It’s always advisable to clear cache and cookies from the browser at a regular interval. We are going to apply the same trick here to fix the website not loading issue on the Mac. Go through the steps below. 

clear history in safari on mac

3. Go to the Clear History menu. 

4. The following menu will offer to delete all the browsing history along with cookies and related website data. 

clear cache on safari in mac

7. Update macOS

Safari not loading pages issue might be due to the recent macOS bug. Thankfully, Apple is quick to fix such annoyances. Go to the System Preferences > Software Update and install the latest macOS build. 

update macos

8. Switch to a Chromium Browser

Chromium is a universally accepted rendering engine. Some websites are specifically designed keeping Chromium in mind. The Safari browser uses a Webkit rendering engine to load web pages. You can switch to the Safari rival such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and try accessing the website again. 

Wrap Up: Safari in Mac Not Loading Websites

Go through the troubleshooting tips above and one of them should easily fix the website not loading on Mac issue. For me, the cache and VPN tricks work all the time to fix the website loading issues on Safari.

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Parth previously worked at EOTO.tech covering tech news. He is currently freelancing at TechWiser, Android Police, and GuidingTech writing about apps comparisons, tutorials, software tips and tricks, and diving deep into iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows platforms.

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How browser rendering works — behind the scenes

safari not rendering html

Editor’s note: This article was reviewed and updated in June 2021.

how browser rendering works css js html feature image

The purpose of this article is to explain, in very simple terms, the steps your browser takes to convert HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into a working website you can interact with. Knowing the process your browser takes to bring websites to life will empower you to optimize your web applications for faster speed and performance.

Let’s get started.

An overview of how browsers render websites

How exactly do browsers render websites? I’ll deconstruct the process shortly, but first, it’s important to recap some basics.

A web browser is a piece of software that loads files from a remote server (or perhaps a local disk) and displays them to you — allowing for user interaction. I know you know what a browser is 🙂

However, within a browser, there’s a piece of software that figures out what to display to you based on the files it receives. This is called the browser engine.

The browser engine is a core software component of every major browser, and different browser manufacturers call their engines by different names. The browser engine for Firefox is called Gecko, and Chrome’s is called Blink, which happens to be a fork of WebKit.

You can have a look at a comparison of the various browser engines if that interests you. Don’t let the names confuse you — they are just names.

Illustration Of Our Fictional Universal Browser Engine

Sending and receiving information to the browser

This is not supposed to be a computer science networks class, but you may remember that data is sent over the internet as packets sized in bytes.

How Browser Rendering Works Computers Receive Packets Of Data In Bytes

The point I’m trying to make is that when you write some HTML, CSS, and JS, and attempt to open the HTML file in your browser, the browser reads the raw bytes of HTML from your hard disk (or network).

Computer receiving data

Got that? The browser reads the raw bytes of data, and not the actual characters of code you have written. Let’s move on.

The browser receives the bytes of data, but it can’t really do anything with it; the raw bytes of data must be converted to a form it understands. This is the first step.

safari not rendering html

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safari not rendering html

From raw bytes of HTML to DOM

What the browser object needs to work with is a Document Object Model (DOM) object. So, how is the DOM object derived? Well, pretty simple.

First, the raw bytes of data are converted into characters.

Bytes are converted to characters

You may see this with the characters of the code you have written. This conversion is done based on the character encoding of the HTML file.

At this point, the browser’s gone from raw bytes of data to the actual characters in the file. Characters are great, but they aren’t the final result. These characters are further parsed into something called tokens.

Characters Are Converted To Tokens

So, what are these tokens?

A bunch of characters in a text file does not do the browser engine a lot of good. Without this tokenization process, the bunch of characters will just result in a bunch of meaningless text, i.e., HTML code — and that doesn’t produce an actual website.

When you save a file with the .html extension, you signal to the browser engine to interpret the file as an HTML document. The way the browser interprets this file is by first parsing it. In the parsing process, and particularly during tokenization, every start and end HTML tag in the file is accounted for.

The parser understands each string in angle brackets (e.g., <html> , <p> ) and understands the set of rules that apply to each of them. For example, a token that represents an anchor tag will have different properties from one that represents a paragraph token.

Conceptually, you may see a token as some sort of data structure that contains information about a certain HTML tag. Essentially, an HTML file is broken down into small units of parsing called tokens. This is how the browser begins to understand what you’ve written.

A Conceptual Illustration Of A Token

Nodes are great, but they still aren’t the final results.

Now, here’s the final bit. Upon creating these nodes, the nodes are then linked in a tree data structure known as the DOM. The DOM establishes the parent-child relationships, adjacent sibling relationships, etc. The relationship between every node is established in this DOM object.

Now, this is something we can work with.

An Example DOM Tree Graphic

If you remember from web design 101, you don’t open the CSS or JS file in the browser to view a webpage. No — you open the HTML file, most times in the form index.html . This is exactly why you do so: the browser must go through transforming the raw bytes of HTML data into the DOM before anything can happen.

HTML Goes In First

Depending on how large the HTML file is, the DOM construction process may take some time. No matter how small, it does take some time, regardless of the file size.

From Tokens To Nodes And The DOM

But wait — what about fetching CSS?

The DOM has been created. Great.

A typical HTML file with some CSS will have the stylesheet linked as shown below:

While the browser receives the raw bytes of data and kicks off the DOM construction process, it will also make a request to fetch the main.css stylesheet linked. As soon the browser begins to parse the HTML, upon finding a link tag to a CSS file, it simultaneously makes a request to fetch that.

As you may have guessed, the browser also receives the raw bytes of CSS data, whether from the internet or your local disk. But what exactly is done with these raw bytes of CSS data?

From raw bytes of CSS to CSSOM

You see, a similar process with raw bytes of HTML is also initiated when the browser receives raw bytes of CSS.

In other words, the raw bytes of data are converted to characters, then tokenized. Nodes are also formed, and, finally, a tree structure is formed.

What is a tree structure? Well, most people know there’s something called the DOM. In the same way, there’s also a CSS tree structure called the CSS Object Model (CSSOM).

You see, the browser can’t work with either raw bytes of HTML or CSS. This has to be converted to a form it recognizes — and that happens to be these tree structures.

CSS Bytes Are Converted Into The CSSOM

CSS has something called the cascade . The cascade is how the browser determines what styles are applied to an element. Because styles affecting an element may come from a parent element (i.e., via inheritance), or have been set on the element themselves, the CSSOM tree structure becomes important.

Why? This is because the browser has to recursively go through the CSS tree structure and determine the styles that affect a particular element.

All well and good. The browser has the DOM and CSSOM objects. Can we have something rendered to the screen now?

The render tree

What we have right now are two independent tree structures that don’t seem to have a common goal.

The DOM and CSSOM are independent tree structures

The DOM and CSSOM tree structures are two independent structures. The DOM contains all the information about the page’s HTML element’s relationships, while the CSSOM contains information on how the elements are styled.

OK, the browser now combines the DOM and CSSOM trees into something called a render tree.

DOM-CSSOM-render-tree

The render tree contains information on all visible DOM content on the page and all the required CSSOM information for the different nodes. Note that if an element has been hidden by CSS (e.g., by using display; none ), the node will not be represented in the render tree.

The hidden element will be present in the DOM but not the render tree. This is because the render tree combines information from both the DOM and the CSSOM, so it knows not to include a hidden element in the tree.

With the render tree constructed, the browser moves on to the next step: layout!

Laying out the render tree

With the render tree constructed, the next step is to perform the layout. Right now, we have the content and style information of all visible content on the screen, but we haven’t actually rendered anything to the screen.

Well, first, the browser has to calculate the exact size and position of each object on the page. It’s like passing on the content and style information of all elements to be rendered on the page to a talented mathematician. This mathematician then figures out the exact position and size of each element with the browser viewport.

Layout In Progress

This layout step (which you’ll sometimes hear called the “reflow” step) takes into consideration the content and style received from the DOM and CSSOM and does all the necessary layout computing.

Let the artist out

With the information about the exact positions of each element now computed, all that is left is to “paint” the elements to the screen. Think about it: we’ve got all the information required to actually display the elements on the screen. Let’s just get it shown to the user, right?

Yes! That’s exactly what this stage is all about. With the information on the content (DOM), style (CSSOM), and the exact layout of the elements computed, the browser now “paints” the individual node to the screen. Finally, the elements are now rendered to the screen!

Render blocking resources

When you hear render blocking, what comes to mind? Well, my guess is, “Something that prevents the actual painting of nodes on the screen’.”

If you said that, you’re absolutely right!

The first rule for optimizing your website is to get the most important HTML and CSS delivered to the client as fast as possible. The DOM and CSSOM must be constructed before a successful paint, so both HTML and CSS are render-blocking resources.

The point is, you should get your HTML and CSS to the client as soon as possible to optimize the time to the first render of your applications.

But wait — what about JavaScript?

A decent web application will definitely use some JavaScript. That’s a given. The “problem” with JavaScript is that you can modify the content and styling of a page using JavaScript. Remember?

By implication, you can remove and add elements from the DOM tree, and you may modify the CSSOM properties of an element via JavaScript as well.

This is great! However, it does come at a cost. Consider the following HTML document:

It’s a pretty simple document.

The style.css stylesheet has a single declaration as shown below:

And the result of this is:

basic HTML page rendered

A simple text and image are rendered on the screen. From previous explanations, the browser reads raw bytes of the HTML file from the disk (or network) and transforms that into characters.

The characters are further parsed into tokens. As soon as the parser reaches the line with <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css"> , a request is made to fetch the CSS file, style.css The DOM construction continues, and as soon as the CSS file returns with some content, the CSSOM construction begins.

What happens to this flow once we introduce JavaScript? Well, one of the most important things to remember is that whenever the browser encounters a script tag, the DOM construction is paused! The entire DOM construction process is halted until the script finishes executing.

The DOM Construction Is Halted Until Scripts Finish Executing

This is because JavaScript can alter both the DOM and CSSOM. Because the browser isn’t sure what this particular JavaScript will do, it takes precautions by halting the entire DOM construction altogether.

How bad can this be? Let’s have a look.

In the basic HTML document I shared earlier, let’s introduce a script tag with some basic JavaScript:

Within the script tag, I’m accessing the DOM for a node with id and header , and then logging it to the console.

This works fine, as seen below:

The DOM operation was successful.

However, do you notice that this script tag is placed at the bottom of the body tag? Let’s place it in the head and see what happens:

Once I do this, the header variable is resolved to null .

The DOM operation failed

Why? Pretty simple.

While the HTML parser was in the process of constructing the DOM, a script tag was found. At this time, the body tag and all its content had not been parsed. The DOM construction is halted until the script’s execution is complete:

Screenshot of code Where the DOM construction is halted

By the time the script attempted to access a DOM node with an id of header , it didn’t exist because the DOM had not finished parsing the document!

This brings us to another important point: the location of your script matters.

The Location Of Your Script Matters

And that’s not all. If you extract the inline script to an external local file, the behavior is just the same. The DOM construction is still halted:

Again, that’s not all! What if this app.js wasn’t local but had to be fetched over the internet?

If the network is slow, and it takes thousands of milliseconds to fetch app.js , the DOM construction will be halted for the thousands of milliseconds as well! That’s a big performance concern, and still, that’s not all. Remember that JavaScript can also access the CSSOM and make changes to it. For example, this is valid JavaScript:

So, what happens when the parser encounters a script tag but the CSSOM isn’t ready yet?

Well, the answer turns out to be simple: the Javascript execution will be halted until the CSSOM is ready.

JavaScript Execution Will Be Halted Until The CSSOM Is Ready

So, even though the DOM construction stops until an encountered script tag is encountered, that’s not what happens with the CSSOM.

With the CSSOM, the JS execution waits. No CSSOM, no JS execution.

The async attribute

By default, every script is a parser blocker! The DOM construction will always be halted.

There’s a way to change this default behavior though.

If you add the async keyword to the script tag, the DOM construction will not be halted. The DOM construction will be continued, and the script will be executed when it is done downloading and ready.

Here’s an example:

The critical rendering path (CRP)

This whole time, we have discussed the steps taken between receiving the HTML, CSS, and JS bytes and turning them into rendered pixels on the screen.

This entire process is called the critical rendering path (CRP). Optimizing your websites for performance is all about optimizing the CRP. A well-optimized site should undergo progressive rendering and not have the entire process blocked.

An Illustration Of The Critical Rendering Path

This is the difference between a web app perceived as slow or fast.

A well-thought-out CRP optimization strategy enables the browser to load a page as quickly as possible by prioritizing which resources get loaded and the order in which they are loaded.

Track how your applications render

safari not rendering html

LogRocket is like a DVR for web apps, recording literally everything that happens on your site. Rather than guessing how your app or website is rendering in specific browsers, you can see exactly what a user experienced. With LogRocket, you can understand how users interact with components and surface any errors related to elements not rendering correctly.

In addition, LogRocket logs all actions and state from your Redux stores. LogRocket instruments your app to record requests/responses with headers + bodies. It also records the HTML and CSS on the page, recreating pixel-perfect videos of even the most complex single-page apps. Modernize how you debug your React apps — start monitoring for free .

Having understood the basics of how the browser renders your HTML, CSS, and JS, I implore you to take time to explore how you may take advantage of this knowledge in optimizing your pages for speed.

A good place to start is the performance section of the Google Web Fundamentals documentation.

LogRocket : Debug JavaScript errors more easily by understanding the context

Debugging code is always a tedious task. But the more you understand your errors, the easier it is to fix them.

LogRocket allows you to understand these errors in new and unique ways. Our frontend monitoring solution tracks user engagement with your JavaScript frontends to give you the ability to see exactly what the user did that led to an error.

LogRocket records console logs, page load times, stack traces, slow network requests/responses with headers + bodies, browser metadata, and custom logs. Understanding the impact of your JavaScript code will never be easier!

Try it for free .

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29 Replies to "How browser rendering works — behind the scenes"

Wonderful!! article

such a good article keep up the great work 💯

Great article!

hey there , I have a little problem. What is V8 engine in chrome. i thought its the engine used in chrome

V8 is the JavaScript execution engine for chrome.

Great article by the way

best article to understand the rendering work behind the scene

A good read. Thanks for the article

So there are various engines in the browser: 1. The browser engine, 2. The rendering engine, 3. The JavaScript Engine These are the three main engines. The V8 engine is an example of a JavaScript engine. Chrome uses the V8 engine, Safari uses JavaScriptCore, and Firefox uses SpiderMonkey

Good Article which helped me in understanding how it works behind the scenes!

Awesome post, it’s very interesting post, such I have no idea of browser rendering process. I gets an error code 0xc0000225 when connect my HP printer. Thanks!!!

If you extract the inline to an external local file , the behavior is not the same.

“`html

body, html { height: 100%; width: 100%; padding: 0; margin: 0; }

<!– http://./1.js –>

i = 0; do { i++; } while (i < 1000000000) matrix.innerText = i;

Amazing Article. It really helped me to know why am I doing and what am I doing

this is absolutely an amazing article .these single article has cleared couple of doubts that have been tinkering in my mind for a longtime.Absolutely amazing,great work.thankyou!!!!!!!!

Very helpful. Thanks!

great article!

Awesome content which I have been searching for long time. Really excellent..

This is the most engaging tech explainer i have ever read. Simply phenomenal

Thank you very much, You have cleared lots of doubts in my mind. Awesome explanation.

Thank you so much for taking your time to share your knowledge with us. I didn’t really understand the async bit but found this Stack overflow answer really helpful. So I thought I would share it here. https://stackoverflow.com/a/39711009/1990186

Great article Ohans. So helpful!

Amazing article! Worth the read. The examples and the diagramatic explanation makes people understand the functionality much easily.

Thanks a lot! Great article

Very good explanation. Thanks a lot!

Thanks alot

Great post indeed, I loved to read it as it provides all the necessary details of what I was searching for. Thanks for great information you write it very clean. I am very lucky to get these tips from you.

Very Helpful it was simple, precise and easy to understand.

Thank you so much for this wonderful explanation

How did you create these images in the article?

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Safari Is not properly rendering Webpages

  • Thread starter iamsaifkhan
  • Start date Feb 12, 2022
  • Tags ios safari iphone 11 safari
  • Sort by reaction score
  • iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
  • iOS and iPadOS

iamsaifkhan

iamsaifkhan

Macrumors newbie.

  • Feb 12, 2022

I noticed that since I Updated my iPhone 11 to iOS 15.3.1, some websites and webpages are not rendering properly in Safari browser. I checked the same in Chrome iOS browser and found no issues on it. Example: this struggle motivational quotes in hindi and many websites are open in plain text format, no graphics and images, just plain text.  

  • Feb 13, 2022

www.swaggiestatus.com

Struggle Motivational Quotes In Hindi | 249+ New 2022 quotes

www.swaggiestatus.com

Really? Okay maybe I need to restore my iPhone ?  

Slartibart

macrumors 68030

I get a “Safari can’t open that page because the address is invalid”-error.  

macrumors 68020

I have had issues with Safari now on both iOS and MacOS. Others haven't, understood, but I have. I have spoken to others who have had issues as well, it could just be a little buggy at the moment. I use 3rd party browsers now and haven't had much in the way of issues on either platform, I do miss Safari though.  

shenfrey said: I have had issues with Safari now on both iOS and MacOS. Others haven't, understood, but I have. I have spoken to others who have had issues as well, it could just be a little buggy at the moment. I use 3rd party browsers now and haven't had much in the way of issues on either platform, I do miss Safari though. Click to expand...

macrumors G4

  • Feb 14, 2022
iamsaifkhan said: Okay, I uninstalled Adblock Safari extension from my iPhone and it fixed the problem. I checked the same websites and webpages like this one WhatsApp Status which were unable to render properly. Click to expand...

If Safari isn't loading websites or quits on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If you can't load a website or webpage, or Safari quits unexpectedly, follow these steps.

Connect to a different network

Try to load a website, like www.apple.com , using cellular data. If you don't have cellular data, connect to a different Wi-Fi network , then load the website.

If you're using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), check your VPN settings . If you have a VPN turned on, some apps or websites might block content from loading.

Restart your device

Turn off your device and turn it on again.

Restart your iPhone

Restart your iPad

Restart your iPod touch

Clear website data

You can clear website data occasionally to improve Safari performance.

Go to Settings > Safari.

Tap Clear History and Website Data.

Tap Clear History to confirm.

Turn on JavaScript

Turn on JavaScript if it's not already on.

Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced.

Turn on JavaScript.

Get more help

If the issue continues and only affects a certain website or webpage, check if you have Private Relay turned on. You can temporarily turn off Private Relay in iCloud Settings . If Safari still doesn't load websites and you tried all of these steps, contact the website developer for more help.

safari not rendering html

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tonyf

Safari is not rendering text on major web sites

safari not rendering html

Any ideas? It was fine last week and no settings have changed.

Posted on Feb 3, 2020 11:31 AM

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Loading page content

Page content loaded

Joseph_S.

Feb 6, 2020 6:58 AM in response to tonyf

Hello tonyf,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! I understand from the information you provided that you’re unable to read text on webpages; I'd like to help.

This can happen if fonts were removed off your Mac. The following support article provides some troubleshooting steps to try for this behavior:

Restore fonts that came with your Mac using Font Book - Apple Support

Hope this helps.

Best Regards.

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    Using Safari: File: Save to Notes The feature in Safari that allows me to save a webpage to Notes, especially when I'm on YouTube is fantastic but has a problem in that eventually every time I use it - the Save button eventually becomes dimmed, and it won't allow me to save the note. My workaround is that I close and re-open Safari and use the menu command to re-open all the windows again from ...

  4. macos

    0. Enable Develop Menu in Safari by going to Safari → Preferences → Advanced. Now hit Option + Command + r to reload the web-page from origin. The CSS for the page is missing/unreachable thereby rendering it this way. If the problem persists, wait for some time and try again.

  5. html

    Switch User Agent to iOS - iPhone ( Develop > User Agent > Safari -- iOS -- iPhone ) Resize the browser to have an approximate of a mobile device width. Open the website. Refresh the page. Expected: Page should render the same first and second time. Actual: For the first time in private mode, only a green box is visible The second time, page ...

  6. Safari does not render some html pages of…

    It seems that Safari is the less tolerant regarding html errors. Moreover, we have changed the doctype of our html web pages from xhtml1:transitional.dtd to html4:loose.dtd ; after our first tests, it seems to have corrected the bad rendering for Safari. I will make some other tests in order to validate theses results.

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    In general, most core HTML and CSS functionality (such as basic HTML elements, CSS basic colors and text styling) works across all the browsers you'll want to support; more problems are uncovered when you start wanting to use newer HTML, CSS, and APIs. MDN displays browser compatibility data for each feature documented; for example, see the ...

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    2. Syntax Errors. Problem: The web page has unexpected formatting, broken elements, or missing content. Explanation: Syntax errors are often the result of typos, missing tags, or incorrect attribute values. These errors can cause browsers to misinterpret your code, leading to rendering issues. Solution: Review your HTML and CSS code for syntax ...

  10. Why is Safari on iOS 10 not rendering some pages correctly?

    1. iPad mini 4 iOS 10.0.1. On several websites when the page loads, Safari is not rendering the page correctly. Content appears, but images, formatting, colors, etc are missing. It certainly looks like CSS are being ignored. If I close the tab, I usually can try the page again and it will render properly. There is no discernible pattern to ...

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    Displaying properties in Safari. There is a CSS appearance property used to display an element using a platform-native styling based on the users' operating system's theme. To make it work on Safari, we must set the appearance property to its "none" value. Also, use -WebKit-and -Moz-vendor prefixes.. Let's see an example, where we use this trick to make the border-radius property work on ...

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    Since upgrade to Safari 17.0 (macOS 14.0), double quotation marks appear in rendered html text. This is a bug in Safari rendering / character encoding. It seems that new line returns within the html code of the text (which are usually ignored in rendering) are translated into a double quotation ". This bug did not occur for versions < 17.0. See ...

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    7. Update macOS. Safari not loading pages issue might be due to the recent macOS bug. Thankfully, Apple is quick to fix such annoyances. Go to the System Preferences > Software Update and install the latest macOS build. 8. Switch to a Chromium Browser. Chromium is a universally accepted rendering engine.

  14. How browser rendering works

    The render tree contains information on all visible DOM content on the page and all the required CSSOM information for the different nodes. Note that if an element has been hidden by CSS (e.g., by using display; none), the node will not be represented in the render tree. The hidden element will be present in the DOM but not the render tree.

  15. If Safari doesn't open a page or work as expected on your Mac

    Reload the page. From the menu bar in Safari, choose View > Reload Page. Or press Command-R. If Safari doesn't reload the page, quit Safari, then try again. If Safari doesn't quit, you can press Option-Command-Esc to force Safari to quit. If Safari automatically reopens unwanted pages, quit Safari, then press and hold the Shift key while ...

  16. Safari Is not properly rendering Webpages

    Feb 12, 2022. #1. I noticed that since I Updated my iPhone 11 to iOS 15.3.1, some websites and webpages are not rendering properly in Safari browser. I checked the same in Chrome iOS browser and found no issues on it. Example: this struggle motivational quotes in hindi and many websites are open in plain text format, no graphics and images ...

  17. If Safari isn't loading websites or quits on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod

    Connect to a different network. Try to load a website, like www.apple.com, using cellular data. If you don't have cellular data, connect to a different Wi-Fi network, then load the website. If you're using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), check your VPN settings. If you have a VPN turned on, some apps or websites might block content from loading.

  18. Safari is not rendering text on major web…

    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! I understand from the information you provided that you're unable to read text on webpages; I'd like to help. This can happen if fonts were removed off your Mac. The following support article provides some troubleshooting steps to try for this behavior: Restore fonts that came with your Mac using ...

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    1 Answer. It appears that Safari is a bit fussy about rendering images with src provided in the form of base64 string. There are reports that the length of base64 string is supposed to be divisible by 3 or by 4. In that case you would pad the string with one, two, or three equal signs and check if your image is rendered in Safari.

  20. html

    Probably an issue related to some particular Safari versions. However there are some irregularities in your svg sode that might enhance compatibility: filter "filter0_b" doesn't seem to work. Maybe it's preventing your background circle from rendering.