Microsoft, Google address browser compatibility issues

The companies have partnered to improve browser compatibility across five CSS features to address developer pain points.

Editor at Large, InfoWorld |

Microsoft, Google address browser compatibility issues — robynmac / Getty Images

Microsoft and Google are partnering to promote web browser compatibility around a number of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) features, with an effort called #Compat2021.

Also involving open source software consulting firm Igalia and the broader web community, #Compat2021 aims to improve compatibility in five specific areas:

The joint working group involved in the project identified these focus areas based on the number of related bugs in each vendor’s tracking system, feature usage data, survey feedback, CanIUse data, and web-platform-tests test results.

While working group members will focus on their respective implementations, the Microsoft Edge team plans to contribute fixes to the Google-sponsored Chromium project to pass all CSS Grid tests in 2021 and to support improving interop across browsers.

#Compat21 was announced on March 22. Progress on the project can be tracked on the Compat 2021 dashboard.

Paul Krill is an editor at large at InfoWorld, whose coverage focuses on application development.