Cross browser testing is a crucial part of the design process of a website. Releasing a website not suitable for certain browsers is always a risk because you could lose a consistent percentage of users that visit your pages. There are many interesting online tools to test how a specific browser renders the code of a webpage such as Adobe Browser Labs or Litmus but their limit is they only generate a screenshot of tested pages so you can’t have a full control of the code.
For cross browser testing I use an useful feature of Dreamweaver called “Browser Compatibility” that helps check HTML/CSS code by providing alerts and suggestions about how to solve eventual issues related to a certain browser. Then before publishing a website I take a look at the final result with IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. And you, which tool do you use?
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Cross Browser Testing: Which Tool Do You Use?
by Antonio Lupetti / October 18, 2009 / Posted in: Web Design
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Antonio Lupetti is an italian engineer, pro blogger, Mac user, founder of woorkup.com. He lives in Rome, Italy. Follow Antonio on Twitter or take a look at his Facebook Profile.
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October 18, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Snow Leopard’s Safari 4.
October 18, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I do my HTML/CSS coding all in espresso and check my progress with Safari as I go along. Then once I’m done, I’ll check the site with the other browsers and look for inconsistencies. To check for IE bugs, I run WinXP in parallels. So I guess I don’t really use any browser testing tools. Just old fashioned manual labor.
October 18, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I test in the actual browsers themselves – nothing like seeing it natively and being able to interact with it to make sure everything is working as expected, and at various window sizes.
I run several different VMWare virtual machines to test the various versions of Internet Explorer. I’ve tried using those multiple IE apps in the past but they don’t always work correctly and/or render exactly as they should natively.
October 18, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I do my programming in Coda and check results in Safari for various browser.
October 18, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Most of problems are due to IE so i develop testing in FF and check my work in IE with Multiple IE.
Multiple ie is a free soft that let me rum multiple version of IE.
Every big part developed I check my work in Safari, Opera and Chrome too.
If you are Firebug addicted like me, try to use the lite version of this soft (http://getfirebug.com/lite.html) which let you use it in all browser.
Other test strategy is to use the xenocode browsers emulators; now you can find them at spoon.net/browsers.
I hate IE.
October 18, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Thanks Luca, useful information here.
October 18, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I code in notepad++ and do the initial building in google chrome. Then, I open up safari, firefox and IE7-8 and test the page in those browsers as well. IE6 is no longer on my radar.
October 18, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I use http://spoon.net/browsers/ and IEtester
October 18, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Also, I can suggest you Internet Explorer Collection (http://www.hwupgrade.it/download/file/4102.html). This is a collection of IE releases in standalon version so, if you develp under microsoft os, you can test with all version of IE.
Note: I found it a little buggy with Vista64.
Hate IE more and more…
October 18, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Another vote for IEtester.
The IEtester link:
http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
October 18, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Another vote for IEtester
October 18, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Coding in CuteHtml for Chrome
then checking in firefox browser (current version) and IE (with IEtester, IE6-IE8)
used multiple IE before, but switched because it used to crash oftentimes
October 18, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I am not a web developer, but I am an aware user of the web. With all due respect, I find it mind-boggling that any web developer who would label himself “professional” would not invest the relatively little bit of money it takes to own machines and software which would allow him to test his product on both Mac and Windows platforms or would not test on all modern browsers. An unwillingness to invest the money in “tools of the trade” to accomplish the first or lack of dedication to the craft to perform the latter surely disqualifies anyone from this standing, in my book.
As an Opera user, I am dissapointed to see so few people mentioning they test in that browser.
It might be an interesting topic to ask people how they handle site compatibility. I am finding a disturbing trend toward browser blocking which I find unacceptable. Worse, I often find that when I misidentify my browsers to bypass the block, they perfom just fine, which means the developer hasn’t tested and just doesn’t care if it works or not. This might further lead to a further exploration of how this topic is discussed with clients and the relative drawbacks of handling a site with known compatibilty issues (and why this can of worms might make it worth the additional investment of time and money to design for full compatibility).
October 18, 2009 at 7:24 pm
I use Notepad++ for markup/css and check in the latest versions of Chrome, FF, and IE on my local computer….then I check for layout stability at http://browsershots.org/
October 18, 2009 at 8:12 pm
thanks for the sharing. actually i have problem of my blog, which doesnot preview well in IE…http://alisoft7.blogspot.com :(
October 18, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I use Adobe’s Browserlabs to check in IE7 and 8. I quit developing for IE6, unless the client pays a whole bunch extra. Browserlabs does a pretty good job, and since it’s pretty much the only option for Mac users to test in IE, I’m sticking with it for now.
October 18, 2009 at 11:53 pm
I’ve got 15 browsers installed and while creating I check in the most problematic ones first. Somehow I don’t trust some “tool”, I prefer the real browsers. (It’s not a problem to install and run multiple versions of most browsers, only older IE versions – for those I use virtual pc)
October 19, 2009 at 12:51 am
At home I develop in Firefox and test in Internet Explorer 7, and at work I do it the other way around. I then also test in Internet Explorer 6 via Multiple IEs, Safari, Opera, and Chrome.
To be honest, most of the time if it works in IE7 and Firefox, it will work in Safari, Chrome and Opera, which is a relief!
October 19, 2009 at 1:00 am
I wrote a post on my blog about this sort of thing not long ago. The best tool I found was this one: http://spoon.net/Browsers/
You can run standalone versions of multiple browsers from their website.
October 19, 2009 at 1:22 am
I develop in Textmate and check progress in Safari.
Once finished I check in Windows browsers using Parallels and in Ubuntu (very often Linux users have different fonts rendered).
October 19, 2009 at 1:25 am
Firefox requires a lot of computer resources
October 19, 2009 at 1:51 am
Definitely http://spoon.net/Browsers. I think is the best.
October 19, 2009 at 2:11 am
In Windows
Firefox, Opera, Safari, IEtester (for multiple Internet Explorer version tests)
In Mac OS X
Firefox, Opera, Safari, Parallels + WinXP + IEtester
October 19, 2009 at 4:15 am
I like http://crossbrowsertesting.com
But I am biased. It is a good way to test in multiple browsers (like IE6, firefox and safari) and OS combinations.
October 19, 2009 at 4:43 am
I think the best way to test an web app is to run it on a virtual machine with a clean installation of each browser. I use this to test my work on IE6, for example.
In the other hand you can test on IETester wich it´s a great tool.
Always under windows, I test my work on FF, IE6, IE7, Opera, Chrome and Safari.
You always find someone who use your site on a IE6, or some no-common browser.
I know, I´m in debt with moviles.
October 19, 2009 at 5:10 am
IETester , Multiple IE and the like can be unreliable for js-heavy sites.
Currently developing on a Mac (Safari, FF 3.5, Chromium) and then using 3 testing PCs (IE6, IE7 with blocked updates and a fully updated one running IE8, Chrome and FF 3.5)
That also gives a lot of flexibility if you want to test with different version of Flash (when there are flash components) and as they have different specs, a much better vision of real-world behaviour of your site.
October 19, 2009 at 7:37 am
We use CrossBrowserTesting. http://crossbrowsertesting.com And mostly the live testing service. As served us very very well. Like it better than screen shots since we use jquery for certain effects.
October 19, 2009 at 7:56 am
On mac testing with FF, Safari and opera, IE tester on Xp sp3 on Fusion. But I’m tired of all this mess!
October 19, 2009 at 8:13 am
Have tested 99% of testing products out there and by far the best is http://spoon.net/browsers
The only thing that doesn’t work properly (on my box at least) is transparency with dd_belated in ie6.
Screenshot testing doesn’t make sense for me.
October 19, 2009 at 8:30 am
I code with bluefish and scite an run several browsers on several computers. Also I like http://browsershots.org
October 19, 2009 at 9:17 am
IEtester: http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
Spoon: http://spoon.net/browsers/ (for Safari/Opera/lower versions of FF)
Firefox is my default browser, any testing is usually done with Firebug activated. I also use Browerlabs (hoping the DW CS4 plugin works nicely). I think IETester is better than running multiple IE browsers because it picks up conditional comments.
October 19, 2009 at 10:14 am
I use Emulation for whole new OS, (WinXP running on VirtualPC), and install on it old version of browsers. On my actual OS I use the Newest Versions of the browsers, and that`s it :)
October 19, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Portable editions: http://twitpic.com/m60vj
:D
October 19, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I develop with FF3.5 and test with IETester in between. I check the final result with other browsers like Opera, Chrome, Safari and Konqueror.
October 20, 2009 at 4:28 am
I use http://spoon.net/browsers/ which is quick but isn’t always entirely accurate.
I also use http://browsercam.com which does both screenshots and remote access.
October 20, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I develop on a macbook using textmate. For browserchecks I have a second box running ubuntu server with VMWare server installed. From the Macbook I then log in to the second box using the app X11 included in the OS. This will let me run the VMWare client on the server and have its screen sent over the network to my macbook, kind of like VNC and its ilk.
Advantage is, that I keep my macbook resource consumption to a minimum while testing. Another is, that with one gigabyte of ram I can actually run two virtual machines with XP in parallel, giving me an isolated OS for each one of two browsers.
Next step is making integration tests that can run across my network to take advantage of having extra browsers in these virtual machines. This should yield a faster run of the tests.
October 20, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I test my page in all popular browser that has its own rendering engine:Firefox, IE, Chrome, Opera.
Then, i use IETester for testing IE compatibility. The problems usually comes at IE 6. Sometimes make me frustated, But I think it still important to keep compatibilty with IE6, because there is a large number of users still using that old browser..
IETester is great tool for this case.
October 21, 2009 at 1:48 am
Litmusapp.com. A bit on the pricey side but very nice. It also checks newsletter design compatibility in different email clients along with testing their spam filters. Very handy.
November 5, 2009 at 3:18 am
BrowserSeal is a new tool which can be very handy, if you happen to use Windows. It exploits the fact that you can actually install locally all browsers that anyone cares to use, including multiple versions of IE. BrowserSeal can use all these browsers to automatically capture the screenshot of your site. It is much faster than any web based service and it can work with web sites on your company’s intranet or local hard drive.
Moreover, after you discover some rendering inconsistency, you can actually launch the problematic browser and debug the problem.
November 10, 2009 at 8:53 am
I prefer what Luca above said – the IE standalones. The policy where I work (unfortunately) prevents me from installing old (potentially vulnerable) browsers [although I have free reign over current browsers/tools, even those not supported/allowed for other users, since I am the web interface guy]. My ideal setup was 2 jobs ago… I had a Macbook Pro [one of the big mother-f'ers] with Parallels and a big external monitor. I would merely fire up (via a script) a window in each IE standalone, as well as Safari, and Firefox. And since I had the screen real estate, I can look at and compare at least a couple at a time (not to mention see glaring mis-renders or JavaScript errors immediately).
December 5, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Try a product called “Multi-Browser Viewer”. The new version combines all the cross browser testing tools you need into one package.
* 16 Standalone, sandboxed virtualized browsers – similar to spoon, but on your local machine, so no extra downloads or installs required (incl. IE6, 7 and 8, Safari 3, 4, Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Flock etc)
* At least 45 browser/3OS combinations for full page screenshot testing (similar to browsershots, but higher quality as it is a private network)
* HTML validation and auto-correction
* All files saved locally incl, HTML source MHT and images – and all can be called up for easy historic comparison etc.
* The Free Eval version includes 6 browsers incl IE6 and Safari free for 14 days – http://www.multibrowserviewer.com/download.asp
Give it a try and let me know what you think. As web developers ourselves we think this is the easiest way to test both functionality (without the pain of Virtual machines, VNC connections etc), as well as basic look and feel with full page screenshots.