Web Browser / Operating System Compatibility List for Blackboard

The following table shows the Operating Systems and Web Browsers that are supported by the University's current Blackboard installation.

OS and Browser Compatibility

Microsoft Windows


Internet Explorer 9 Internet Explorer 8 Firefox (Final Release Channel) Firefox 3.6 Google Chrome (Stable Channel)
Windows XP (32-bit) Unsupported Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible
Windows Vista (32-bit) Certified  Compatible Certified Compatible Compatible
Windows Vista (64-bit) Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible
Windows 7 (32-bit) Certified  Compatible Certified Compatible Certified
Windows 7 (64-bit) Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible

Apple Mac


Safari 5.1 Safari 5.0 Firefox (Final Release Channel) Firefox 3.6 Google Chrome (Stable Channel)
Mac OSX 10.5 "Leopard" Unsupported Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible
Mac OSX 10.6 "Snow Leopard" Compatible Certified Certified Compatible Certified
Mac OSX 10.7 "Lion" Compatible Unsupported Compatible Compatible Compatible

Note that Safari 6 is reported to have major issues.  We recommend using Firefox or Chrome instead of Safari 6.

Key

Certified: fully tested and supported
Compatible: key application areas tested

  • Blackboard Learn requires the latest version of Sun JRE 6. The JRE can be downloaded from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.  JRE 7 is not supported.
  • Both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have moved to a rapid release cycle.  At the time of testing, Chrome 16.0 and Firefox 9.0 were the latest available versions.  Since then, new stable versions may have been released and widely adopted.  Blackboard is supporting all newer stable versions of Chrome and Firefox.

Internet Explorer 8/9 users may find certain features work better by putting the browser into compatibility mode:

  1. Launch IE8
  2. Select Tools
  3. Select Compatibility View Settings
  4. Type blackboard.soton.ac.uk in the Add this website text box
  5. Click Add
  6. Click Close
  7. Restart IE8, Blackboard will now always use Compatibility Mode.