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Browser Compatibility

Phenix Design System is designed to work optimally on modern browsers while maintaining a balance between cutting-edge features and practical compatibility.

Supported Browsers

Phenix officially supports the following browsers:

BrowserMinimum Version
Firefoxv63+
Chromev84+
Safariv12+
Operav64+
Edgev84+
Internet ExplorerNot supported

Mobile Browsers Support

Phenix is fully compatible with modern mobile browsers:

BrowserSupport
iOS SafariiOS 12.1+
Android Chromev84+
Samsung Internetv10+
Mobile Firefoxv63+

Modern Web Technologies

Phenix leverages modern web technologies including:

  • CSS Grid Layout
  • CSS Flexbox
  • CSS Variables (Custom Properties)
  • ES6+ JavaScript features
  • CSS Animations and Transitions
  • Modern CSS selectors

Feature Detection

Phenix uses feature detection rather than browser detection to ensure compatibility:

javascript
// Example of how Phenix checks for feature support
if ('CSS' in window && 'supports' in window.CSS) {
    const supportsGrid = CSS.supports('display', 'grid');
    // Apply appropriate styles or fallbacks
}

Graceful Degradation

For older browsers, Phenix follows these principles:

  • Core content and functionality remains accessible
  • Non-critical visual enhancements may be simplified
  • Progressive enhancement approach is used where possible

Performance Considerations

To ensure good performance across all supported browsers:

  • JavaScript is optimized for speed and size
  • CSS is organized for efficient rendering
  • Assets are kept lightweight
  • Animations are hardware-accelerated where possible

Testing Your Projects

We recommend testing your Phenix-based projects on:

  1. Multiple browsers (at least Chrome, Firefox, and Safari)
  2. Both desktop and mobile devices
  3. Different screen sizes and resolutions
  4. Various connection speeds

Development Recommendations

When building with Phenix Design System:

  • Use vendor prefixes only when necessary (the framework handles most cases)
  • Consider providing fallbacks for cutting-edge features
  • Test on a representative sample of target browsers
  • Use Phenix's built-in utilities for cross-browser compatibility

Browser DevTools Support

Phenix is built to work well with browser developer tools:

  • Clean class naming for easy inspection
  • Well-structured DOM elements
  • Logical CSS cascade
  • Commented JavaScript for easier debugging

Performance Stats

The framework is optimized for modern browsers:

  • Core CSS: 140KB (32KB gzipped)
  • JavaScript: 80KB (30KB gzipped)
  • Minimal HTTP requests
  • Efficient asset loading

WordPress Compatibility

When using the WordPress plugin (pds-blocks), we follow WordPress core browser support guidelines which include:

  • The latest two versions of major browsers
  • Android and iOS latest versions

This aligns with WordPress's @wordpress/browserslist-config which ensures compatibility with:

  • Browsers with >1% market share
  • Latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera
  • Latest versions of iOS and Android browsers

Released under the MIT License.