Cross-Browser Testing Techniques for Web Developers

Every business today realizes the importance of having an online presence and a website for connecting with their customers, building their brand, and growing their sales. As per Forbes, there are around 200 million active websites in the world as of 2023, and the numbers are poised to increase in the coming years. Moreover, most customers prefer buying their products or availing of services online, as they find it more convenient than traveling to shops for their purchases.

With multiple device and browser options available, users expect a consistent user experience across all of them. So, if you have tested your website only across a specific browser and if it doesn’t perform well on others, it may create a poor impression of your website and business.

This is why you need to conduct cross-browser testing to evaluate if your website performs as expected across different browsers, devices, and assistive technologies. This article explores the importance of performing cross-browser testing and the different techniques web developers can use.

Significance Of Cross-Browser Testing

Even though most browsers follow the common web standards, such as HTML and CSS, they may render code in different ways due to these factors:

Disparities in the engines that process web instructions
Usage of assistive technologies like screen readers
Variations in user-defined settings, such as screen resolution
Different default settings on browsers or operating systems

Cross-browser testing helps testers detect these differences and prevent their negative impact on the application’s performance. Testing platforms such as TestGrid allow teams to test applications across different browsers and devices, making it easier to identify compatibility issues and inconsistencies before they reach end-users. This helps ensure that applications deliver a consistent experience regardless of the browser or device being used.

Different Cross-Browser Testing Techniques

Cross-browser testing can be performed using various techniques, such as manual testing, automated testing, or a combination of both. Selecting the most suitable method depends on your project’s requirements and constraints, if any. Let us discuss these techniques in more detail.

1. Manual Cross-Browser Testing

It involves noting changes in functionality manually or executing test scripts with manual methods. This technique is suitable for small websites and applications. The manual process is less expensive and offers more control to testers.

Disadvantages of manual testing:

The risk of human error is higher, and critical bugs and inconsistencies may be overlooked
The manual testing process is repetitive and tedious, impacting productivity and efficiency
It can be time-consuming, especially when the web application under test is complex and requires comprehensive testing

2. Automated Cross-Browser Testing

As we have seen, testing every single element and page manually across multiple browsers and platforms is a huge challenge due to the many browsers, OS, and devices available today. It is impractical to conduct such an extensive testing process manually. Hence, automated cross-browser testing is the preferred choice of most website developers.

Benefits of automated cross-browser testing:

Automated tools can perform cross-browser testing more efficiently and quickly than manual testing, especially in the case of complex web applications
There will be greater consistency while performing testing across different browsers and devices
Automated testing reduces human error risk and ensures every issue and inconsistency is resolved

Implementing Cross-Browser Testing Effectively

To ensure success for your automated cross-browser testing, keep these pointers in mind:

1. Develop a strategy

Make a cross-browser testing plan or software testing strategies that matches your product goals. Identify what needs to be tested and where it should be tested. You also need to set the deadline for your testing project.

2. Identify the browsers and devices to be tested

Pick the browsers and devices that your target audience uses the most to access the web application. It will help you verify that the application performs well on these platforms and provides a good user experience. You also need to consider older and outdated browsers while testing since some users may still be using them.

3. Perform tests based on real user data and scenarios

This practice will help ensure that the website or web application functions as intended under real user conditions. Ideally, you need to test across different testing speeds, browser settings, and user locations.

4. Regularly monitor and update test scripts and tools

For consistent results, you need to update your test scripts to reflect the modifications in the application. In addition, you must keep updating the testing tools to leverage the functionalities and features.

Features To Verify in A Web-Browser Test

To perform cross-browser testing effectively, create a test specification document that outlines the essential features to test:

1. Functionality

Evaluate that the website works well on most browser-OS combinations. Check if all form fields function correctly. Verify if the touch input is responsive and smooth across devices like mobiles or tablets. Ensure that the website correctly stores and retrieves first-party cookies.

2. Accessibility

Verify if the website follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and if differently-abled users can access the website.

3. Responsiveness

Check if the design of the website is adaptable and responsive to different screen orientations and sizes.

4. General browser compatibility

Check that the technical and critical features of the website are functioning correctly, namely DOCTYPE, CSS, SSL, HTML, and XHTML.

5. Design

Verify that the website’s appearance, with respect to elements like fonts, layout, and pictures, matches the criteria.

Conclusion

With these best practices, web developers can ensure that their cross-browser testing is efficient and that there is no risk of bugs and inconsistencies in the final product. The success of your cross-browser testing will depend a lot on the automated testing platform you use. Ideally, you need to select a tool that offers features like real device testing, parallel testing, integration with CI/CD pipelines, ease of use, security, and cost-effectiveness.

You can get all these features and other advantages by leveraging the codeless automation testing platform TestGrid for your cross-browser testing needs.TestGrid’s secure cloud-based infrastructure allows testers to perform automated testing across thousands of real devices and browsers. The platform’s AI-powered features let you speed up your end-to-end cross-browser testing and deliver glitchless software earlier to the market.

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Bogdan Sandu

Bogdan Sandu is a front-end developer at TMS Outsource with 8+ years of experience in web technologies. He writes about developer tools, software platforms, and web workflows based on daily hands-on use.