An Introductory Guide to Cross Browser Testing for Beginners:
Cross Browser Testing is the act of evaluating an application’s compatibility across various browsers. It is designed to guarantee that the application performs as anticipated and handles gracefully on all supported browsers.
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Many times, when faced with website problems, tech support will advise using a different browser. It’s surprising how often this simple approach solves the issue, leaving us feeling foolish even when we work in the tech industry.
You’ve all had this happen at least once, haven’t you?
However, it’s not really our mistake. Most of the time, websites have not been thoroughly tested for cross-browser compatibility, meaning that end-users end up detecting these bugs.
Here’s What You Will Learn:
Introduction
We frequently encounter websites that don’t display correctly in specific browsers, making us suspect that the site is malfunctioning. Yet, when we load the same site on another browser, it operates flawlessly. This discrepancy underlines the significance of considering browser compatibility during website development.
Recommended read =>> The Top 10 Browsers for PC
Different browsers interpret web pages in their own ways, and some may lack the necessary features for your site, leading to a disjointed appearance. For instance, errors on the signup form and the variation in text color and font could vary between browsers.
Given the wide array of browser options currently available, it is inadequate to ensure that a website works correctly on just one browser. Users should have the ability to use your application on any browser they choose. Therefore, it is essential to assess your website’s compatibility with a variety of browsers, like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
With this in mind, let’s delve into our primary topic today – Cross Browser Testing.
As is standard practice at STH, we’ll start with the foundational concepts. We believe that understanding basic questions like “What, why, how, who, when, and where” makes any topic clearer.
So, let’s dive in.
What is Cross Browser Testing?
#1) Cross-browser testing is a method of testing your website or application on various browsers to ensure a consistent functional quality and reliability.
#2) This form of testing is applicable to both web and mobile applications.
#3) What kind of applications are tested in this manner? – Ones that interact directly with customers. While all applications serve customers in one way or another, consider this example for clarity:
Application 1: A proprietary application for a company’s internal inventory tracking.
Application 2: An application for clients to buy products from the company.
- In terms of browser compatibility testing, it’s more logical to focus on testing Application 2 as you can’t control which browsers/platforms/versions your end-users will use.
- Conversely, if the company’s internal computers all run on Windows 8 machines with Chrome, there’s no necessity to test Application 1 on other browser versions.
Why Is It Performed?
Why do we execute any testing initially?
- To spot and correct errors.
- To enhance efficiency, user experience, and overall business prospects.
- To foresee and tackle potential obstacles.
More specifically, the objectives of cross-browser testing can be condensed into two points:
- To make sure web pages are displayed consistently across different browsers and to mark any significant inconsistencies.
- To validate the functionality and performance of the application on various browsers.
Who Performs This Testing?
- You may now ponder, “With so many browsers, their multiple versions, and platforms, how do we decide which to test on?” Fortunately, this decision isn’t made by the tester alone. The client, business analysis personnel, and marketing teams play a significant part in determining the browsers to be supported. Additionally, businesses use usage stats to define the most commonly utilized browsers, environments, and devices.
- The entire project team, including time, resources, and infrastructure, should be invested in cross-browser testing.
- This testing may be handled by the QA team, or it could be the design team’s responsibility to evaluate the application’s performance across multiple browsers.
- Regardless of whether it’s the QA team or another, the design and development teams review the results and implement the necessary modifications.
How to Perform Cross Browser Testing?
Now for the thrilling part!
Firstly, should you run manual tests or use tools?
While manual testing allows you to run the same test cases on different browsers and observe their behavior, it has its restraints when it comes to browser coverage and major version testing. Manual cross-browser testing is also expensive and time-consuming.
On the other hand, automated testing is a more effective method.
Cross-browser testing entails executing the same set of test cases on numerous browsers. As this is a repetitive task, it’s more suited for automation. As a result, employing tools to automate this testing process is more cost and time-efficient.
Thankfully, there is a variety of tools on the market designed to facilitate cross-browser testing.
These tools bring different functionalities to the table:
- They offer a Virtual Private Machine (VPN) that enables testers to connect to distant machines and evaluate the performance and rendering of Java, AJAX, HTML, and Flash pages. However, it’s essential to be cautious about sharing sensitive data with third-party services.
- They take screenshots of pages and links to show how they appear in multiple browsers, providing a static visualization.
- They synchronize multiple browsers, allowing operations to be carried out simultaneously on one browser and presenting results specific to each browser.
- They show how a page appears at varying screen resolutions.
- They record videos or take screenshots when issues arise, aiding further analysis.
- These tools usually support both web and mobile applications.
- They can test private pages requiring authentication and can also handle the testing of local, private network/firewall pages.
Recommended Tools
#1) LambdaTest
LambdaTest is a cloud-oriented cross-browser testing platform that lets users carry out both automated and manual compatibility testing on their websites or web applications across over 2000 different browser and operating system combinations.
You can run Selenium automation tests on an easy-to-scale, secure, and reliable cloud-based Selenium grid. Plus, perform live interactive cross-browser testing on public or locally hosted sites or web apps.
#2) CrossBrowserTesting
CrossBrowserTesting, offered by SmartBear, is a cloud-based platform for testing web and mobile sites. It enables the testing of applications on any browser or mobile device for a impeccable web experience in their cloud-focused real device lab. By circumventing the need for virtual machines and device labs, you can smoothly carry out manual, visual, and Selenium tests on over 2050 real desktop and mobile browsers.
For non-technical users aiming to expedite their testing process, their Record & Replay feature allows you to record a live test and parallelly rerun it.
#3) Selenium
Selenium is praised for its automated testing capabilities for web-based applications. By allowing users to effortlessly switch between browsers, it simplifies the process of running the same test cases on various browsers.
#4) BrowserStack
BrowserStack is a cloud-based platform for testing web and mobile applications that facilitates testing applications on-demand across various browsers, operating systems, and real mobile devices.
#5) Browserling
Browserling offers a live interactive service that provides easy testing for web developers and designers. By providing swift access to popular browsers on different operating systems, Browserling simplifies compatibility testing.
=> Further Reading: Complete compilation of Cross Browser Testing tools
When to Start This Testing?
The most appropriate time for initiating cross-browser testing depends on your testing methodology and timeline.
This testing can be begun at various stages:
#1) As early as possible:
Start testing as soon a single web page is ready for testing. Test each page on multiple browsers. As more pages become ready, repeat the process. This piece-by-piece approach helps early detection and resolution of errors, leading to cost-effective fixes.
#2) Upon application completion:
Begin testing when the application development is done. This involves testing the full application on an array of browsers. Although fixing errors may not be as cost-friendly as in the first scenario, this approach ensures that bugs are resolved before the application is released to the users.
#3) Post application release:
Executing cross-browser testing after the application release isn’t ideal but is still preferable to providing the end-users with a sub-standard experience. In this case, the testing can be performed as a part of change requests. However, this approach is expensive and may necessitate multiple deployments based on the necessary fixes.
Cross-browser testing needs testers who are familiar with testing tools. Business users or developers can perform high-level, targeted testing on specific browsers, whereas comprehensive testing involving multiple browsers should be carried out by the team responsible for functional and non-functional testing.
To perform cross-browser testing, testers must have access to the necessary browsers. Browsers can be made available through the following ways:
- Local installation on the tester’s machine
- Virtual machines or other accessible machines for the tester
- Tools that provide their own set of browsers and versions for testing
- Cloud-based browser access, which lets multiple testers use browsers as needed
Cross-browser testing can be performed in a development, test, QA, or even a production environment, depending on the application’s availability.
What to Test?
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