Testing Websites In Different Browsers: A Complete Guide

Testing Websites

Are you struggling to test the website in different browsers? We know that this process can get very complex for new testers. So, we are here for you! We will help you understand all the complexities of testing websites on different browsers. We will also include the techniques and tools that will help ensure the flawless functioning of a website for every user visit. 

The most effective way to test a website in different browsers and ensure its proper functioning is to implement cross-browser testing. Although this advanced process offers significant benefits, it also presents challenges that can be daunting for those new to testing.

Understanding Cross-Browser Testing

Cross-browser testing is the process of checking the website’s functioning across different browsers. This process aims to ensure that all of your users have the same experience irrespective of their browsers or browser versions. 

In the modern app generation, new browser versions and browsers come to the market almost every day. So, testers and developers must continuously repeat the chain of cross-browser testing to ensure the compatibility and functioning of their web applications. 

Let us now divert our attention towards some of the most important points that justify the importance of cross-browser testing in the modern generation:

  • We all know that modern browsers run on different web engines. Due to this variation, they interpret the web codes in a different format, which can cause inconsistencies in the elements being displayed or functioning on these browsers. Cross-browser testing helps remove these inconsistencies and provides a smooth user experience.
  • By including compatibility for all the popular browsers like Chrome or Firefox, you are extending your application to a wide range of users. On the other hand, if you ignore any browser from the list, you will alienate a huge segment of possible customers.
  • A website that does not function properly on all the common browsers will bring about a negative brand reputation. This is because users will perceive your website and your entire business practices as unprofessional or unreliable. 

Importance of Implementing Cross-Browser Compatibility

Cross-browser compatibility will provide the ease of mind that a website is functioning smoothly irrespective of the various changes in terms of device version, browser version, or operating system.

By the term proper functioning of a website, we mean not only the proper placement of the visual aspects but also the performance, back-end functioning, and security of the website. 

Let us also understand some other major benefits that are included with the implementation of cross-browser compatibility:

  • By providing a consistent and reliable experience, the companies will encourage users to engage with the website which will further increase the user satisfaction rates and user retention rates.
  • Companies can expand their overall market reach by serving a wide range of audiences and also by including users who are currently using outdated or less popular devices.
  • By implementing cross-browser compatibility testing, the testers can identify and fix issues that prevent users with disabilities from accessing the website. This implementation helps ensure compliance with accessibility standards that are crucial in terms of international laws. 
  • Finally, search engines favor websites that provide a good user experience. So, by implementing cross-browser compatibility, the developers can massively improve the search engine rankings and also elevate the organic traffic on the website. 

Common Challenges of Cross-Browser Testing

While testing websites on different browsers, the developers will come across various obstacles that might hamper the speed and productivity of this process. To shed more light on this segment, we have mentioned some of the major challenges of implementing cross-browser testing on modern web apps:

  • As we already mentioned earlier, different browsers use different rendering engines. These variations will determine changes in the interpretation of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. So, it becomes very difficult for the testers to factor in all these changes while creating the cross-browser test cases.
  • Currently, each modern browser has multiple functional versions that are available in the market. Each of these versions has different rendering factors and dependencies which can impact the functioning of the web application and also the testing process. So, it becomes a time consuming process to test across all these versions.
  • Modern customers can access your web application from various devices which have different screen sizes, resolutions, and capabilities. So, it becomes almost impossible for the testers to generalize the device implementation process during cross-browser testing.
  • As you all know, different browsers have different ways of handling performance optimizations. Therefore, there will be massive changes when testing load times and responsiveness of your web application across different browsers.
  • Finally, not all browsers support the latest web standards and features. So, the testers will have to integrate an additional layer of fallback solutions to ensure the compatibility of the modern web features on older browser versions.

Preparing For Cross-Browser Testing

Before initiating cross-browser testing, the testers must prepare themselves thoroughly for this process. The preparation phase consists of the testing strategy, selecting the browsers for test execution, and setting up the necessary test environments. To help you further understand this process, we have mentioned all the required strategies that you must implement in this stage:

Defining The Testing Strategy

While defining the testing strategy for cross-browser testing, you must implement the following parameters to ensure a smooth execution of the process:

  • Determine your target browsers and also browser versions depending on your audience preferences. You can use the help of analytics tools to gain insights about the most popular browsers within your target audience base.
  • Based on the report that you’ve created in the previous strategy, you must divert your focus towards the most commonly used browsers during the initial stages. After you have sorted the functioning on these browsers, you can expand your reach towards the less popular browsers as per the requirements.
  • It is very important to define what you aim to achieve with cross-browser testing. Some of your most important goals can include verifying layout consistency, ensuring functionality, and also checking the overall performance of the application. 

Setting Up The Testing Environment

While setting up the actual environment for executing the cross-browser testing process, we highly recommend the application testers and developers integrate the following parameters within the test environment:

  • It is important to emphasize using local environments for testing websites. These processes can be done on different browsers that are installed on your testing machine. 
  • To test the basic features of a web app in a cross-browser testing environment, you can simply use virtual machines that will simulate the respective environment of your target browser.
  • It is very wise for the testers to use cloud-based testing platforms. These platforms will provide access to a wide range of browsers and devices without the requirements of setting up an extensive local infrastructure. A great example of such a platform is LambdaTest. 

Comparison Between Manual And Automation Testing

Now, you can either execute cross-browser testing manually or completely automate this process. While deciding between both of these approaches, most of the testers tend to get confused. To provide more clarity over this process, we have provided the upsides and downsides of both these approaches:

Manual Testing

As the name suggests, it is the process of manually verifying the cross-browser compatibility of each component present within the application. Manual testing often seems to be time and resource consuming as the developers have to individually check the functioning of the elements.

However, manual testing can be a great option for the following areas of cross-browser testing:

  • To verify the visual appearance and user experience of the website. This step is highly dependent on the expertise and knowledge of a visual tester.
  • To explore the site intuitively from a human’s perspective that will find errors that are often missed by automation testing.
  • To test the functioning of the application when subjected to real-world parameters, including user interactions and other edge cases.

Automation Testing

In this advanced process, the developers can use an automation test script to automatically initiate and run the test cases depending on various predefined parameters. 

Automation testing takes a fraction of the time compared to manual testing but can be highly expensive due to the initial investment that comes with it:

  • It is the best option for executing repetitive testing processes like regression testing and performance monitoring.
  • It has a massive role in improving the speed and scalability of the testing infrastructure, as the testers can run them quickly across numerous browser instances.
  • Since automation testing does not require human involvement, it provides consistent and repeatable results after every execution. 

Popular Cross-Browser Testing Tools

A quick survey of the modern app market will reveal that various cross-browser testing tools are easily available in the market. To help you with this understanding, we have mentioned the top two options in this list:

1.    LambdaTest

LambdaTest is an AI-powered test execution platform that lets you perform manual and automated Selenium testing at scale with over 3000 real devices, browsers, and OS combinations. Testers can also initiate automated cross-browser testing with LambdaTest. 

This platform also provides various advanced features like parallel test execution, comprehensive test reporting, and native bug tracking to improve the efficiency of cross-browser testing. 

2.    Selenium

Selenium is probably the crown bearer for being the most popular automation test suite for web automation testing. Under the Selenium suite, you will find various individual tools that will assist you at different stages of the application testing process. 

Using the Selenium Grid, the testers can initiate the test cases on thousands of different browsers at the same time. To implement this process, the Selenium Grid uses the principle of a hub that is connected to several nodes. While using this tool, you can create the automation test scripts in any of your preferred programming languages. 

The Bottom Line

Based on all our discussion areas of this article, we can safely conclude that cross-browser testing is a very important part of modern web development. It ensures that the website functions correctly and consistently across various browsers. By understanding the challenges of cross-browser testing and also preparing for the same, the testers can provide an optimal user experience for all the visitors. 

Moreover, by integrating modern tools and technologies, the testers can further elevate the inclusion and implementation of cross-browser testing. So, whether you choose to implement manual testing, automation testing, or a combination of both, investing in cross-browser testing will ultimately create accessible, reliable, and user-friendly websites. 

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