Cross Browser Compatibility Testing

In the world of multiple browsers and their versions, it is mandatory for web applications to support multiple browsers and their versions and on multiple platforms. A web page works well in Firefox on Windows, may not work as expected on Firefox on Linux, same is the case with Safari on Windows and Safari on Mac. As Mozilla is releasing more frequent releases of Firefox, testing and development teams have to gear up to support the last available versions of browser.

Browser compatibility testing is one of the important non-functional testing types in any product release. You cannot develop an application, assuming the end users use one or two browsers, and you cannot plan your development and testing on those browsers. Since there are many browsers and their versions in the market, testing teams have to make sure browser compatibility testing is part of final checklist without which product can not delivered.

There are few ways testing teams usually test the browser compatibility, like 1. A tester switches to different  the browser and version for each build, 2. Different testers work on different browsers, 3. Executing all high priority and sanity test cases on all browser versions in final or certification builds etc. These techniques fundamentally cover the browser compatibility of the application, but they are not efficient, time consuming, issues are not reported early due to priority of functional testing, and result insufficient coverage on multiple browsers.

There are various online services and tools available to check the web applications in various browsers. Some popular online tools are BrowserShots, CrossBrowserTesting, Adobe BrowserLab etc., and desktop tools are IE Tester, Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview. Smashing Magazine has a detailed review of Cross BrowserTesting Tools. If your web application cannot be accessed on internet, then online services cannot be used for this testing. Microsoft SuperPreview is a good tool that supports all versions of IE and Firefox 3.5. This tool is yet to support other browsers like Chrome, Opera, Safari and latest versions of Firefox.

Further References:

http://expression.microsoft.com/en-us/dd565874.aspx

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/08/07/a-dozen-cross-browser-testing-tools/

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/tools-browser-compatibility-check/

P.S. I am sure this is not a latest topic or latest happening in testing industry.  Recently I had one specific requirement for testing a web application with multiple browsers in one of my projects and hence sharing my views on this topic.