Browser and System Requirements Usage Guideline

This guideline lists the browser and system requirements recommended to view and use Oracle Web Applications.

Guideline Contents

• General Principles
• Desktop System Requirements
• Supported Browser Versions
• Browser Functionality
• Screen Width
• Color Palettes and Color Depth
• Image Size
• Mobile Device Requirements

Related Guidelines

General Principles

Purpose:

Specify supported browsers and screen and color requirements for browser-based FusionFX applications.

Desktop System Requirements

Supported Browser Versions

See the Browser Certification Matrix on the Oracle Technology Network pages for browsers supported by FusionFX applications.

When a FusionFX application is launched in an unsupported browser, a message dialog displays the message: "You are using an unsupported browser. The supported browsers are Internet Explorer 7 and higher, Firefox 2.0.0.2 and higher, Safari 3.1.2 and higher, and Google Chrome 1.0 and higher." FusionFX applications may have limited functionality on unsupported browsers, but as these browsers are untested, results could be unpredictable. Customers are not advised to use unsupported browsers, and product teams may consider blocking access to these browsers if they raise serious usability or data integrity concerns.

Browser Functionality

FusionFX applications allow continued access to browser functionality, including menus and toolbar buttons, and should not modify the behavior of any browser-level function.

If users set their browser preferences, these preferences should be maintained in the application, including link color options and font face, size, and style options.

Screen Width

Page layouts are optimized for a minimum screen width of 1024 pixels. Many FusionFX page designs may scroll vertically depending on content, but it is recommended to avoid horizontal scrolling whenever possible.

FusionFX applications should be designed for a width of 1024 pixels or less for one- and two-column layouts, even though many desktop and notebook systems now support widths higher than 1280 pixels.

• Some users, especially on older laptops, may not be able to see the entire page without horizontal scrolling. See the Horizontal Scrolling section in the Table Elements guideline for more information on the issues associated with horizontal scrolling.
• Any calculation of page width must reserve horizontal space for vertical scroll bars, window borders, and page borders, which vary depending on operating system and browser.
• Translated applications require more space for text elements. Although the English-language version of an application is designed for a window that is 1024 pixels wide, versions in other languages, such as German, may exceed the 1024-pixel limit.
• More is not necessarily better. Pages designed for larger screens can become cluttered, causing users to overlook some page elements.
• Teams may target screen widths of up to 1280 pixels to accommodate three-column layout designs. See the Page Layout Designs section of the Page Layout guideline for information on column layouts.

Color Palettes and Color Depth

FusionFX applications commonly use one of three color palettes that are optimized for display on supported browsers. See the Color Palettes section of the Input/Choose Color guideline for details on each of the palettes.

The recommended color depth for images in FusionFX applications is 32-bit or less.

Image Size

When an image is displayed only on desktop or notebook systems, the image should be sized to fit within its parent content region or parent component without horizontal scrolling at a screen width of 1024 pixels. The maximum size depends on both the size of the parent region and the presence of other elements in the same region, and must allow room for region and browser borders, padding, and scrollbars. See the Page Layout guideline for a description of different content regions.

Consequently, after subtracting space for a vertical scroll bar and padding, the widest possible image in a FusionFX application would be 1000 pixels for a single-column layout. In practice, however, most images should be much smaller.

When creating an image for use on both desktop systems and mobile devices, product teams must either minimize the image's file size or provide a resized version of the image for mobile devices.

Mobile Device Requirements

ADF supports both mobile client components that run natively on mobile platforms, and JSF components that run in mobile Web browsers. The following guidelines apply only to browser-based components.

See the Mobile Browser Certification Matrix on the Oracle Technology Network pages for a list of mobile operating systems and browsers supported by FusionFX applications.

Mobile devices have the same general requirements as desktop systems, except as listed below:

• Mobile devices are not subject to page-width restrictions, because the mobile browser optimizes the page layout for the target device screen size, which may range between 170 and 480 pixels in width.
• Applications running on mobile devices must impose strict limits on the number and size of images:
• Mobile devices run on cellular networks, which have much lower bandwidth than computer networks.
• Mobile devices have severely limited cache memory, and discard downloaded files if they are too large. Wherever possible, image files should be less than 20 KB in size.
• Images must have smaller pixel dimensions than the parent content region on the mobile device screen, which varies depending on device and application. As a general rule, limit image size to less than 160 pixels in width and less than 200 pixels in height.