With the availability of a wide range of web browsers, the end-users are using a great variety of web browsers to access the web applications. Thus, it has now become crucial to test web applications on multiple browsers. The client components like JavaScript, AJAX requests, Applets, Flash, Flex etc. may behave differently on different browsers. Also, the process of request handling for different browsers also varies.
Cross-browser testing is necessary to ensure that your web application or website is performing accurately on all the browsers due to the fact that browsers have a different method of presenting the site, in which case differences and errors might occur in the layout, feature or functionality. Cross Browser Testing is a process that allows the testing of web applications across multiple browsers. It involves checking the compatibility of your application across multiple web browsers. Cross-Browser testing involves testing both the client-side and server-side behaviour of the Web application when it is accessed using different Web Browsers.
Fortunately, there are several tools that are available and can be used depending upon the requirements. Let us study these tools briefly one by one.
1. BrowserShots: BrowserShots is the best known and oldest cross-browser testing tool used by developers. It is free of cost and captures the screenshots of the website in different browsers.
Features:
i) It supports a wide range of browsers that range from Chrome, Dillo, Epiphany, Firefox, Iceweasel, Konqueror, Links, Laukit, Opera, SeaMonkey, and Safari.
ii) It can be used to test desktop resolutions from 640 px to 1600 px.
2. BrowserStack: BrowserStack is a very popular web-based browser testing tool and is used by some very big brands such as Microsoft, jQuery, Twitter, Bose, and Wikipedia. It gives an instant access to a virtual machine with dev tools. It provides hassle-free debugging making it a good experience.
Features:
i) It provides the user with real browsers installed on real devices making it a good experience.
ii) It is a blend of 6 OS X and 5 Windows versions.
iii) It supports a variety of browser versions including Firefox, IE, Edge, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and mobile versions such as iPhone, Nexus, and Samsung Galaxy.
iv) It can be used to test desktop resolutions from 800×600 to 2048×1536.
3. CrossBrowserTesting: Cross-browser testing is a cross-browser testing service that was launched in 2008. With this, the website can be tested in a variety of browsers and real devices providing instant results. It uses real physical devices for performing the tests.
Features:
i) It supports a large number of browsers that are Chrome, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox. In total, this count is more than 1000.
ii) It provides an automated screenshot feature that allows the user to generate screens across hundreds of different platforms in few minutes.
iii) It supports more than 60 operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and many more.
4. Sauce Labs: Sauce Labs is a tool that performs testing of a site throughout different browser versions and operating systems. When you are working with Sauce Labs, just choose your operating system and all the browsers you want to test and run it.
Features:
i) It offers testing for over 250 different versions of browsers and devices. It supports browsers that range from every version of Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Firefox along with some mobile browsers also.
ii) They offer both manual and automated testing features.
iii) It supports various operating systems that range from Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Linux, and OS X along with the mobile versions.
5. TestingBot: TestingBot is a cross-browser testing tool that offers both automated and manual testing features. It was launched in 2011.
Features:
i) It supports a wide range of browsers that include most versions of Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Firefox. They also have mobile browsers.
ii) It supports variety of operating systems that include Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Linux, and iOS along with the mobile versions.
6. IE NetRenderer: IE NetRenderer is again a screenshot service that allows the user to see the display of a website on various versions of Internet Explorer. This tool is available online and is suited for web designers working on Mac and Linux.
Features:
i) It supports a wide range of browsers range from Internet Explorer 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5.5.
ii) It is available free of cost and it allows the user to process a large count of capturing jobs in real-time and parallel.
iii) Maximum usable when viewed on 800×600 and 1024×768 displays.
7. Litmus: Litmus is quite known for its email inbox testing. It allows the users to see how the pages are going to appear in popular web browsers on both the desktop and mobile platforms. This is really very useful for designers but could also be a help for developers.
Features:
i) It supports browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, IE 9, IE 10, IE 11, Safari, and mobile versions.
ii) the Best thing about Litmus is its UI. Its tools are fast and easy to navigate. In this, the designers or developers can share the pages allowing them to see it.
iii) It supports operating systems such as Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.
8. Browser Sandbox: Browser Sandbox is a tool that is run by turbo.net and lets you test the web browser issues.
Features:
i) It supports browsers that range from Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 11, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari.
ii) It requires no install, you can directly click to run.
