Acid2
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Acid2 is a test case designed by the Web Standards Project to identify web page rendering flaws in browsers and authoring tools. It is a modern take-off of the Box Acid Test, also known as Acid1, from 1997.[1]
Acid2 employs certain features of HTML and, more prominently, CSS. The purpose of employing such features is to highlight the problems with browsers that do not display it correctly. The Acid2 test should render correctly on any browser that follows the W3C HTML and CSS 2.0 specifications. Any browser which does not correctly and completely support all of the features which Acid2 uses will not render the page correctly. Because Acid2 tests how web browsers deal with faulty code, the test is intentionally not written to W3C CSS standard specifications. Thus it will fail W3C CSS validation. This is expected and was the intention of its designers.
The Web Standards Project has created a special version of Acid2 test,[2] because the data: URIs used in the original test have never been formally standardized.
Acid2 is not designed for browsers with very small screens, such as those for mobile phones or PDAs.[3]
Compliant applications
If rendered correctly, Acid2 will appear as a smiley face below the text "Hello World!" in the user's browser, with the nose turning blue when the mouse cursor hovers over it. At the time of the test's release, no browsers could render Acid2 correctly, but now a number of applications pass the test by rendering it correctly:
- WebCore-based applications
- Konqueror, a web browser for Linux
- Prince, an XML-to-PDF converter for Windows and Linux
- iCab, a web browser for Mac OS and Mac OS X
- Presto-based browsers
- Opera, a web browser for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and BSD
- Internet Channel, a version of the Opera browser for the Nintendo Wii game console.
- Gecko-based browsers (1.9 or higher)
- Mozilla Firefox 3.0 beta 1
Non-compliant applications
Although Internet Explorer has also been moving towards better CSS compliance, Microsoft has publicly stated that Acid2 is not one of their primary focuses, and that Internet Explorer 7 does not pass the test. Microsoft described Acid2 as a "wish list" of features rather than a true test of standards compliance.[4]
Browsers based on the current version of the Gecko layout engine, such as Firefox, Camino, and SeaMonkey, do not pass. However, Acid2 support is planned for Gecko 1.9, and so these browsers are expected to pass Acid2 once Gecko version 1.9 is finished. This includes Mozilla Firefox 3.0, which is currently under development.
The PlayStation 3 web browser, based on NetFront, also fails the test.
Passing conditions
A passing score is only considered valid if the browser's default settings were used. Changing font sizes, zoom level, applying user stylesheets etc can break the display of the test. This is expected and is not relevant to a browser's compliance.[5]
Ian Hickson, the author of the test, has provided WaSP with clarifications about the Acid2 test and how things should behave.[6]
The following browser settings and user actions may affect the rendering of Acid2 page without bearing on the browser's compliance:
- Scrolling. A part of the face remains fixed when you scroll.
- Zooming to any level other than 100% (default).
- Disabling images.
- Opera's Fit to width and SSR (Small Screen Rendering) modes. These are off by default, and the test is not valid when they are enabled.
- User colors, fonts etc.
- User style sheets, Opera's user mode for styling.
- User JS.
Timeline of successful browsers
The Acid2 test was officially released on April 13, 2005. The following is a list of releases noting significant builds of applications that passed the test.
Date | Browser | Type | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
April 27, 2005 | Safari | non-public build[7] | |
May 18, 2005 | iCab | non-public build | |
May 20, 2005 | iCab | build public to members only | |
June 4, 2005 | Konqueror | non-public build[8] | |
June 6, 2005 | iCab | public build | Although the Web Standards Project web site states that this version of iCab passes Acid2, it technically falls short by displaying a scrollbar on the viewport. A correctly rendered test should not have a scrollbar.[9] |
October 31, 2005 | Safari 2.02 | official release | Included in Mac OS X 10.4.3. First official browser to pass test. |
November 29, 2005 | Konqueror | official release[10] | Available with KDE 3.5. First Linux-compatible browser to pass the test, except for hiding the scrollbar. |
December 7, 2005 | Prince 5.1 | official release[11] | First non-web browser to pass test |
March 10, 2006 | Opera | public weekly build[12] | First Windows-compatible browser to pass the test and also the first Linux-compatible browser to fully pass the test. A public beta was released on April 20, also successful. |
March 14, 2006 | Shiira | official release | |
March 24, 2006 | iCab 3.0.2b400 | build public to members only | Adds a switch to hide the scrollbars |
March 28, 2006 | Konqueror 3.5.2 | official release[13] | Although previous releases passed, their compliance was questionable. This version did not wrongly show scrollbars. |
April 12, 2006 | Firefox | semi-public build[14] | The "reflow branch" nightly builds, whose code was branched from the Gecko 1.9/Firefox 3.0 trunk and was merged back into the trunk on December 8, 2006. |
May 24, 2006 | Opera Mobile | non-public build[15] | First mobile browser to pass test |
June 20, 2006 | Opera 9.0 | official release[16] | |
June 30, 2006 | Obigo Browser | non-public build[17] | Second mobile browser to pass test |
August 17, 2006 | iCab 3.0.3 | official release | First public release that hides the scrollbars |
September 7, 2006 | Tkhtml Html Viewer 3 Alpha 10 | public build | Alpha release |
December 8, 2006 | Firefox, Camino, SeaMonkey | public nightly build[18] | Firefox 3 reflow-refactoring branch lands on main Gecko trunk. Firefox/Camino/SeaMonkey trunk builds now pass Acid2, barring other regressions. |
See also
References
- ^ "CSS1 Test Suite: 5.5.26 clear". Retrieved 2006-05-16.
- ^ "Molly Says: March 3rd, 2006 at 2:24 am". Microsoft IE7 Progress: Sneak Preview of MIX06 Release. Molly.com. 1 March 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Willison, Simon (2006-05-11). "Opera Mini 2.0". Simon Willison’s Weblog. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
- ^ Wilson, Chris (July 29, 2005). "Standards and CSS in IE". IEBlog. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Altman, Tim (2006-07-19). "Tim's Opera Bits v1.1". Tim's blog. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Acid2 and Opera 9 Clarifications: Yes, Opera 9 Passes the Test". Retrieved 2006-07-22.
- ^ "Safari Passes the Acid2 Test (Updated)". Retrieved 2006-06-14.
- ^ carewolf (06/04/2005). "Konqueror now passes Acid2". Retrieved 2006-05-16.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|year=
(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Overflow: the 'Overflow' Property". W3C CSS working draft. World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
- ^ "K Desktop Environment 3.5 Released". November 29, 2005. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "The Acid2 Test". Retrieved 2006-05-16.
- ^ "Acid2 - Rows 4 and 5 AKA Opera passes the Acid2 test!". Tim's blog. 2006-03-10. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
- ^ "KDE 3.5.2 Release Announcement". March 28, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Braniecki, Zbigniew (2006-04-12). "Meet Mr. Face". Stream of Thoughts. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Opera for Symbian passes Acid2". Retrieved 2006-05-24.
- ^ "Welcome to Opera 9.0". Retrieved 2006-06-20.
- ^ "Obigo Browser". Retrieved 2006-06-30.
- ^ "Mozilla Bug 289480". Retrieved 2006-12-08.
External links
- Acid2 test
- Acid2 press release
- Article in CNET that proposed the Acid2 test
- Safari first gold browser to pass Acid2
- Mozilla Foundation's Acid2 tracking bug
- Acid2 in major browsers - Shows Acid2 rendered in Safari, Prince, Opera, iCab, Konqueror, Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox, and Internet Explorer, showing their progressive improvements
- Complete overview of Opera's Acid2 fixes
- Press release from YesLogic: Prince 5.1 passes rigorous Acid2 test
- Acid2 - the truth about Safari, iCab and Konqueror