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 8 Internet Explorer 7 Firefox 3.6 Firefox 3.5 Google Chrome
Windows XP (32-bit) Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible Unsupported
Windows Vista (32-bit) Certified Compatible Certified Compatible Unsupported
Windows Vista (64-bit) Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible Unsupported
Windows 7 (32-bit) Certified Unsupported Certified Compatible Unsupported
Windows 7 (64-bit) Compatible Unsupported Compatible Compatible Unsupported

Apple Mac


Safari 5.0 Safari 4.0 Firefox 3.6 Firefox 3.5 Google Chrome
Mac OSX 10.5 "Leopard" Compatible Compatible Compatible Compatible Unsupported
Mac OSX 10.6 "Snow Leopard Certified Compatible Certified Compatible Unsupported

Key

Certified: fully tested and supported
Compatible: key application areas tested
Unsupported: Browsers such as Chrome and Opera, as well as browsers found in smartphones will usually work well.  If you experience a problem whilst using an "unsupported" browser with the University Blackboard service we would ask you to try to use a supported browser to see if the same issue occurs before reporting it to ServiceLine. Chrome will be officially supported in a future release of Blackboard. Firefox 4 was released after the version of Blackboard we have in production.

Internet Explorer 8 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.