Overview
Building a website that works on every browser is pretty challenging. That’s where Cross Browser Testing comes in. It makes sure that the site or application behaves correctly across different browsers, platforms, and devices. If not properly tested, bugs or poor functionality on specific browsers may be encountered, thereby hurting the user experience. In this article, we will explore why Cross Browser Testing is essential, which are some of the best tools, and most importantly, what are some of the best practices in ensuring that the website you are working with works seamlessly across all users.
What is Cross Browser Testing?
Cross Browser Testing means cross browser compatibility testing between a website or application and the appearance as well as functionality is viewed in a variety of browsers, for example, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. This guarantees that there is Cross Browser Compatibility Testing between the website and browser, which means that whatever a user chooses-this website will be working normally.
The code gets interpreted a bit differently in each browser. Something that perfectly works on Chrome looks broken or loads incorrectly in Firefox. With the help of Cross Browser Testing, developers are able to pinpoint such an issue at the earliest possible time and fix it even before users view them.
Best Tools for Cross Browser Testing
There are several tools that will make the process of Cross Browser Testing easier. Here are the top ones:
1. BrowserStack
This is one popular tool, which allows developers to test their web sites on real devices and browsers in the cloud.
- Features: Thousands of device-browser combinations, responsive testing as well as automatic testing.
- Pros: Easy to use with real-device testing and a wide range of browser versions.
- Cons: Paid service, though they have a free trial.
2. SmartBear
SmartBear offers real device testing and has the feature of screenshot testing as well as local testing.
- Features: Visual testing, automation, and testing on various resolutions, sizes of the screens.
- Pros: Very basic interface, the screenshots are too detailed, and supports various devices.
- Cons: The free version is quite limited in features.
3. LambdaTest
LambdaTest is a cloud-based solution that offers Cross Browser Testing across more than 2000 browser and OS combinations.
- Features: Supports cross-browser and mobile application testing, automates, CI/CD tool integration, and debugging tools.
- Advantages: It’s reasonably priced, easy to set up, and integrates with a lot of development tools.
- Disadvantages: Free version lacks multi-advanced features.
4. Sauce Labs
It is a company that offers its services in both Cross-Browser and mobile application testing.
- Features: Automated testing support with an option of test frameworks integration besides wide browser support
- Pros: This is very good for mobile testing, quite reliable, and allows the use of multiple testing frameworks.
- Cons: It’s pretty pricey and really best suited for large teams
Best Practices for Cross-Browser Testing
Usability testing is very important to get things right with the right tools, though it can be made smooth and effective by following the best practices. Here are some tips to get the best results:
1. Identify Target Browsers and Devices
Every website has a unique target audience, and it’s always necessary to find out which browsers and devices the users are most likely to be using. Definitely focus on the major ones to save some time and resources. For example, if your target audience includes mobile users, you’ll have to test on mobile browsers like Safari for iOS and Chrome for Android.
2. Testing early is key.
Ideally, one should do Cross Browser Testing from early development stages. That way, compatibility issues will emerge and not just when it is too close to launch time: a list of bugs. Testing early also reduces the probability of new features or updates carrying bugs.
3. Automate Routine Testing Tasks
It also saves time. For instance, in Cross Browser Testing, when you have the same tests run across numerous browsers, then in such a scenario, a lot of your precious time is saved. However, as stated above, these can be automated with the help of tools like Selenium or LambdaTest that help to make large-scale Cross Browser Testing relatively easy.
Conclusion
Cross Browser Testing is one of the aspects of ensuring the delivery of high-quality websites. This will ensure that the site leads to a seamless consistent experience on every client’s browser, no matter the device they are using. Using tools such as BrowserStack, CrossBrowserTesting, and Selenium, you can carry out Cross Browser Compatibility Testing in an efficient and effective manner. Best practices such as identification of target browsers, test automation, and responsiveness testing will help in getting a consistent user experience for all.
