7 Fresh and Simple Ways to Test Cross-Browser Compatibility
Posted February 25, 2009 in Programming, Web Design
This post is written for designers, developers, or anyone else who has struggled with testing their websites across multiple browsers.
As little as one year ago, there were almost no good options for testing cross-browser compatibility of websites. The tools out there usually had significant drawbacks — either in cost, capabilities, or time required. Lately, though, there have been a lot of newcomers to the browser testing world, some of which offer truly excellent services.
In this article we’ve listed 7 fresh and simple tools for cross-browser compatibility testing, tools that actually make this stuff pretty easy. Not only that, but every single one of these tools can be used for free.
#1 — Xenocode Browser Sandbox
The Xenocode Browser Sandbox is a game-changer for browser testing on Windows-based machines. With a single click of your mouse you can have an open and working browser without any installation. You can test in various IE versions, Firefox, Google Chrome, and even Safari. And really test, too, not just screenshots. To top everything off, the entire service is provide free of charge. Zip, nadda, nothing.
Alas, this isn’t yet the perfect solution. There is currently no Macintosh support, which is definitely a significant problem. I’ve heard rumor that this may be coming in the future, though, and at that time this service will be in a class of its own.
#2 — CrossBrowserTesting.com
Free 5 minute test sessions for registered users, and a lot more than that for paid users. CrossBrowserTesting.com makes things as easy as logging in and selecting an available machine with the browser/os you want. Once you pick your machine and browser you can begin your testing.
You can use a web-based java applet to connect to their remote test machines, or you can use a local VNC client if you have one installed. Their system allows full testing of a site’s interactivity and, like Xenocode’s solution, is not just screenshots.
#3 — IETester
This is a free downloadable windows program that is still in the early stages of development. That being said, it is a single free resource that will allow you to fully test all of the relevant versions of Internet Explorer.
Just download and install their free browser, and you can easily select which IE rendering version you want to browse in. The program even allows comparing two different versions side-by-side. Did I mention it’s free?
#4 — BrowsrCamp
With all of the IE-Only test sites out there, it was about time someone joined in and created a site that allows testing on Safari/Mac. The free version of their service offers near-instant screenshots on the newest stable release of safari, and though it’s lacking a bit in browser versions it definitely makes up for it in rendering speed.
For a few dollars extra, they offer the ability to take over an entire machine and perform much more in-depth testing.
#5 — Litmus
Over a period of just a few months, Litmus has risen in popularity to become one of the most favored cross-browser testing tools on the market today. Unfortunately, their free options are very limited and only allow testing in IE7 and FireFox 2.
The paid version of their app is significantly more robust, and allows testing in dozens of browsers and even email clients. Unfortunately again, with a single-user subscription starting at $49/mo, this isn’t cheap either. For those who need a robust test suite, though, it can be worthwhile.
#6 — NetRenderer
NetRenderer is a slightly more humble-looking option for testing IE compatibility. Like many of the other services, NetRenderer creates screenshots of your website in various browsers. It currently supports everything from IE5.5 all the way to IE8, and creates your screenshots very quickly without needing to wait.
They also provide a browser toolbar that allows you to quickly test any of the pages you are visiting with their service. This is also a free service, and they don’t even offer a paid version of the tests.
#7 — BrowserShots
BrowserShots has become one of the most common methods of testing lately, and with good reason. They allow testing in almost any browser/os, including some very rare combinations. The free version of the app only has one limitation — you must wait for paid users to get access first.
Because of their popularity, though, it can be very slow to receive the test screenshots at certain times of day. Since they rely on member computers to provide the screenshots, the more popular the browser/os combination you select the faster you’ll receive your renders. Unless everyone else is trying for the same one :-)
Bonus #8 — Adobe MeerMeer
Adobe MeerMeer is a sweet looking test suite that is going to be released very shortly from Adobe. They previewed some of the features at their Adobe MAX event, and since then nearly everyone who’s heard about it is excited.
MeerMeer will offer a significant number of benefits compared with existing test suites. The most notable is probably the “onion skin”, or the ability to overlay one rendering on top of another from a different browser. Keep your eye on this one, it is going to be big.
More Online Resources from FreelanceFolder
If you liked this list of browser testing tools, you might also enjoy these other resource posts from FreelanceFolder:
- 5 Game-Changing Project Management Tools
- 15 Useful Twitter Tools For Web Workers
- 10 Essential Plugins Every Modern WordPress Site Should Have
- 15 Firefox Add-Ons to Tame Social Media Addicts
- 15 Applications No Online Business Can Live Without
How do you test browser compatibility?
Did you know of these resources already? Do you have a few of your own tools stashed away? Let us know in the comments.
Do you use an entirely different way to test browser compatibility? If you do, there are undoubtedly a lot of people who would love to hear about it. Awesome private cloud storage.
Related posts:
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- 3 Painful Ways You Lose Money Every Month
About the author: Mason Hipp is a designer, entrepreneur, and writer. He is co-author of the Book The Unlimited Freelancer, and has just recently launched a collection of premium graphic resources for web designers called MediaLoot. Follow him on twitter @MasonHipp
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305 Comments
Chase Campbell
February 25th, 2009 at 1:42 pmGreat article Mason!
I love CrossBrowserTesting.com, I have been using it for awhile. When it comes to testing across browsers I have two things I use.
1. I mainly use Cross Browser Testing to check IE6.
2. I invested $300 in a little Acer netbook, which I do most of my IE7 and Firefox testing in. I do all my work on MAC, so it’s nice to have the little netbook right there to check sites out in a Windows environment.
Thanks for the other sites, I’ll have to check them out. Drop by graphicdesigntwist.com and say hello some time.
Cheers!
eraevion
February 25th, 2009 at 1:50 pmSimplest solution is the working one in this case.
Just running all necessary browsers + IETester. Works for me!
TY
February 25th, 2009 at 2:18 pmUnfortunately, I’m not using any of those and testing is becoming a pain. I’m testing at work, home, and just about every corner available. Will be taking a closer look at the items listed in the post. I know one will allow me to speed up my work.
Great post.
Nachtmeister
February 25th, 2009 at 2:32 pmI’m just using the Browsershots service. Ok, sometimes it takes a lot of time, but there are all configurations you need.
Pothi
February 25th, 2009 at 2:48 pmOf all the 7 sites, I highly recommend crossbrowsertesting.com though the pricing is little higher than other services.
David Link
February 25th, 2009 at 3:09 pmI use a Mac. So I test Safari, Opera, FF on there. Next to me, I keep a Windows XP box that I use almost exclusively for browser testing. I keep IE6 installed on it and run IE7 Standalone. I don’t have the patience for Browsershots, or the budget for the paid services.
Jarel
February 25th, 2009 at 3:16 pmI didn’t like IETester. It performed poorly when running on an instance of XP via Parallels which had plenty of allocated memory and CPU. Often times the application would crash which is maddening when you’re in a time crunch.
A much better solution that I use is http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE to run IE6 side by side with IE7. You can also run older versions of IE side by side but I only test as far back as IE6.
John Wang
February 25th, 2009 at 3:22 pmAlways used #7 Browsershots. But now, kind of curious to try out the other ones too. I always test on a small set of local browsers too though. Firefox 3, IE6 and 7, Safari 3, and Chrome.
Steve
February 25th, 2009 at 3:31 pmI usually test on last 2 iterations of IE and Firefox, Safari current Chrome and Opera at build time.
Vista XP and Ubuntu for operating systems.
Then I send out an bulk email to a list of around 150 people many of whom test on their own configurations and are very good at giving me feedback. I also test for many of the people on this list)
I have yet to find any emulated / virtual testing solution that matches this.
PureDezigner
February 25th, 2009 at 3:34 pmI use a PC with VPC for IE6, Chrome, IE7, Safari, Opera, Portable FF2, and FF3. Then on my MB Pro I use Safari and FF3. What else would I need this covers everything… Right?
Kenroy Rodricks
February 25th, 2009 at 3:48 pmI’ve been using Browsershots for quite sometime. But now I have alternatives to check.
Thanks for posting.
Doug Waltman
February 25th, 2009 at 3:51 pmI work on a PC running Vista, and have been having to use another computer to test IE6 until now. The standalone downloads from XenoCode are AWESOME! You totally made my day by enlightening me on that link. Thanks for the summary article, Mason.
Matt Davidson
February 25th, 2009 at 5:25 pmIf you are working on an Intel mac, having a second computer shouldnt be a solution. You can run multiple installations of windows (one running IE6, one running IE7). This allows you to test any operating system (you could also install linux in virtualization) and any browser.
For quick tests I just use Net Renderer.
Emily
February 25th, 2009 at 6:05 pmI only design the sites for my writing site and my online education program; their layouts are fairly simple. That being said, as I designed them, I just downloaded the most recent versions of IE, Firefox, and Opera and checked my pages on each browser manually. It worked fine for me, but it would probably be too time-consuming for a professional designer who has to regularly check compatibility.
Emily
February 25th, 2009 at 6:08 pmCome to think of it, I think I did use http://browsershots.org/ as well. Neat program.
John Jones
February 25th, 2009 at 10:15 pmWow dude, well done!
RT
http://www.be-anonymous.us.tc
cancel bubble
February 25th, 2009 at 10:29 pmIf you’re on a Mac and looking at VMWare to run Windows/IETester, I highly recommend you bypass VMWare and go with Sun’s Virtual Box (FREE and runs GREAT). Take a look at the following link which has a screencast to walk you through the entire setup. It rocks!
http://www.10voltmedia.com/blog/2008/12/screencast-install-internet-explorer-on-osx-using-virtualbox/
Jesse
February 25th, 2009 at 11:21 pmI work for a large Internet development company where all developers utilize a local development application platform. As most of our local development environments, integration and testing environments are locked behind our LAN/WAN, an external tool where one submits an external URL isn’t feasible. We find that software virtualization helps us achieve the testing we need to complete and we develop for browsers based on user metrics. Unfortunately for developers, running virtual machines on top of other heavy development tools like image editors or compilers can be exhaustive. In addition to software virtualization, we also take advantage of remote desktop and VNC configurations to test on other operating systems and browsers.
judah
February 26th, 2009 at 12:43 amHey guys,
I just wrote a blog post entitled, “How to test your site across all browsers and all operating systems on one computer”. You don’t have to upload your site to a server either. Please leave feedback, http://www.judahfrangipane.com/blog/?p=241!
Andrew
February 26th, 2009 at 1:18 amI develop my sites on a Mac (using Leopard) and have VMware Fusion running Windows XP in full screen using Spaces. My first space is my development area for coding, uploading, etc. My second space is testing on native Mac browsers: Safari, Firefox, etc. Finally, my third space is for Windows XP where I use IE Tester to check for consistency between IE 6, 7, and the beta of 8.
Mike
February 26th, 2009 at 4:36 amWorking on a Mac, I generally use Netrender for IE6 & 7 because it’s fast and clean and they have a nice little add-on for Firefox but I have found Crossover, http://www.codeweavers.com/products/ with IE6 useful for testing more in depth functionality without booting into Parallels. For any serious testing though Parallels and Multiple IE’s does the job.
Phil
February 26th, 2009 at 5:35 amI have an Intel Mac, and use Parallels to have different flavours of Windows running IE6, 7 and 8, plus I have an Ubuntu install too.
That allows me to test all the major browsers — I’ve even had all four VMs running at once, but my old 2GB MacBook Pro creaks a bit when I do that…
Davor
February 26th, 2009 at 6:33 amGood article. I solved my problem ba installing the following browsers to my pc the usual way: FF3, IE7, Opera, Safari, Chrome.
The problem was I couldn’t run FF2 and IE6 so here’s a solution;
a) for IE6 to run together with IE7 go to http://www.multipleies.en.softonic.com/ and download multipleIEs.
b) to have an FF2 with FF3 on the same computer do the following: download FF2 portable edition http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/downloads/2188521/mozilla-firefox-portable. If You have a Mac than read this: codecontortionist.com/software/mac-osx-software/multifirefox/
For all other combos I use browsershots but it is really slow.
insic
February 26th, 2009 at 8:26 amwow. this one is useful, nice post.
Jorge Epuñan
February 26th, 2009 at 8:31 amI’m on Mac OSX 10.5, so my testsuite includes Safari 3, FF3, Opera 9.6, IE6 and IE7 (using IE4OSX throught wine) and now Chrome (using Crossover Chromium). No Windows enviroment at all… nice, hah?
Brian G
February 26th, 2009 at 8:54 amI use Multiple IEs which allows IE6 and IE7 to be installed side by side, run both FX2 and FX3 using multiple profiles, then Safari for Windows and Opera. There is a Mac should I need to natively test on that, but usually don’t worry about it because if it works on the PC and all IEs then I RARELY have a problem on any Mac browser. So, fix the problem children first and then the easy ones are already set.
PureDezigner
February 26th, 2009 at 8:59 am@cancel bubble & @ judah these are great resources to use, I hope to never have to use my pc again. Thanks for the links. :)
David Little
February 26th, 2009 at 9:34 amThanks for this article — it’s very useful. I hadn’t heard of most of those services so it’s great to know about these things.
I’ve also been using Multiple IE http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE to test different IE installations on PC which is pretty good. At home I work on a Mac but have to test IE on my Windows laptop. It’s a pain, so anything that reduces the need the do things like this is most welcome.
Timothy
February 26th, 2009 at 9:46 amThanks for the list. I’m sure these will come in very handy
rehtse
February 26th, 2009 at 10:56 amThanks for that useful list ^^
Rahul
February 26th, 2009 at 11:20 amMy favs are crossbrowsertesting.com and browsershots.org.
Michael
February 26th, 2009 at 11:43 amI did not know xenocode solution. really,really good stuff. thanks
btw. at least for me IETester – IE6 does not render pages the same as the actual IE6!!
MJ
February 26th, 2009 at 11:49 amMac running VMWare. I have a Win 98 VM running IE6, and my XP VM runs IE7. 98 is miniscule and loads in a blink, and I hardly every build for IE6. I’m not bothered about alignment on IE6, I only fix things that are broken usability-wise, otherwise I don’t care to much for IE6.
Content Writing Advice
February 26th, 2009 at 11:53 amGreat article and a big time saver in testing websites in development. Dugg.
Matt Fetissoff
February 26th, 2009 at 12:19 pmGreat article Mason! I’d like to throw in my two cents. Dancing Mammoth has a subscription to browsercam.com which allows for an absolutely huge range of testing. We’ve had occasions when our testing needs have become incredibly obscure, but browsercam almost always has the right OS/browser setup for us. It’s a great service.
PureDezigner
February 26th, 2009 at 12:41 pm@cancel bubble I just checked out Sun’s VM and it rocks! Thanks again! Hope to do a redesign of my current site http://www.puredezigner.com and this will be perfect!
Justin
February 26th, 2009 at 1:23 pmI am on an intel mac. I use Parallels to run Vista and XP. On each I have all the browsers I need.
I used to use Multiple IE when I was on PC.
Stefan
February 26th, 2009 at 1:29 pmUseful post; just tweeted it via @susuh. :)
Beryllium
February 26th, 2009 at 2:09 pmDoes anyone know of a similar test suite that will allow you to test not only the appearance, but also the programmatic behavior of a site, particularly against various security configurations of the available browsers?
Such as: Determining under exactly which configurations a browser will fail to redirect, set a cookie, pass a session id, such things as that?
George Fragos
February 26th, 2009 at 3:18 pmI’ve experimented with a couple of these but there are some things you need to interact with the browser to see. I do all my developemnt on Linux. For IE6 and the Windows version of Safari I run them in the wine environment. In the native environment I’ve many choices availble — Firefox, Epiphany (Gecko & Webkit), Midori, elinks and Opera amongst others. My approach to coding is not to have lot’s of exceptions for IE. I prefer to use what works on all while adhearing to standards. This does place some limits on the use of transparent PNG, auto setting of width and height for images, and a host of other nits. As long as I can achieve the visual rendering I want I accept those limits on code and image use. Having developed my own set of coding techniques I have little trouble with cross browser compatibility. I still live test on multiple browsers before site cutover. IE6 is definately the Albatrose of the bunch.
Karen Vick
February 26th, 2009 at 3:21 pmI have always use Browser Shots but will definitely check out the others. Thanks for the info!
Lennaert
February 26th, 2009 at 3:32 pmNobody has ever used http://www.browsercam.com/?
I have seen them in the market for years. Used them a few times. Good service
Amir
February 26th, 2009 at 4:16 pmI test on the actual browser. I have IE7 standalone and IE6 full running Along with Safari , Opera, Chrome and FF3. I also have FF2 standalone.
Pradeep CD
February 27th, 2009 at 3:21 amUseful post!!
Barney
February 27th, 2009 at 4:29 amYou say Xenocode not being Mac-compatible is ‘definitely a problem’. How? Mac users without PCs are deluding themselves if they believe they’re making any significant effort to ensure compatibility #IE_is_a_very_popular_browser
Doru
February 27th, 2009 at 4:35 amOn my Ubuntu machine, I test with Firefox3, Opera9 (sometimes Konqueror) and, in a separate workspace with a dumb xp install (virtualbox), I use IE8beta, MultipleIEs (IE6), and Chrome.
hamza
February 27th, 2009 at 4:43 ami usually have problem of cross browser compatibility during slicing a design i find the Adobe MeerMeer a gud way to check it thanks Mason Hipp
Anthony Blears
February 27th, 2009 at 4:45 amI’ve used browsercam.com for years. It does the standard ‘screenshots in every browser and platform’ stuff but also allows you to configure a machine and remote desktop into it – great for testing scripting. The only downside is the servers are SLOW from the UK.
Hadn’t heard of Xenocode before – thanks for sharing.
ylZhang
February 27th, 2009 at 6:04 aminterim period Adobe MeerMeer
Jim
February 27th, 2009 at 9:49 amI use IETester plus its suite of IE browsers (5.5 to 8) on a crappy laptop while I work on my Mac. Great solution. Also helps with javascript debugging.
Erwin Heiser
February 27th, 2009 at 10:05 amI dev on a Mac and use VMWare Fusion to run Ubuntu Linux and a few Windoze machines to test in IE6/7.
Truth be told I haven’t bothered with IE8 yet, but I’m sure that’ll bring its own set of problems with it as usual.
I do use Litmus for e-mail testing and that works great, although I wish it was a bit cheaper…
Brian Johnston
February 27th, 2009 at 9:43 pmI currently run FF, Safari, Opera, Chrome & IETester on a Vista machine.
I’ve used MultipleIE previously on an XP machine, however, I had to switch because it lacked support for Vista. Furthermore, it appears that MultpleIE will no longer be maintained, according to their website.
Great list, thank you, I plan to try a few.
abdusfauzi
March 1st, 2009 at 6:41 amfor the time being, i’m using VMWare with XP, just to test the site on Window’s based browser. It is useful when im off the net.
Sadiq
March 1st, 2009 at 11:32 amHey guyz,
Its all fine.. Am using mac OS and fully depend on virtualization in virtual in which i can test all the possible browsers environment.
The problem with this is.. I have a Windows XP with native IE6, i run ie7 standalone but if we got http authentication it mostly returns 404. I tried so many times. some times it works and most of times its not. I cant use IETester since i have ie6 native. I dont want depend on IETester for IE6 as only IE6 is capable of giving all the shits it can.
Is there any way to fix this ? ?
By the way its great list after all..
PureDezigner
March 1st, 2009 at 3:53 pm@Sadiq check out http://www.10voltmedia.com/blog/2008/12/screencast-install-internet-explorer-on-osx-using-virtualbox/
Best to you,
PureDezigner
Ryan
March 1st, 2009 at 6:26 pmI run vista with all the latest stable release browsers, along with the hack to run multiple version of firefox at the same time and I use virtual PC 2007, which is free, to run a version of xp with IE6. I have another virtual image of XP for all the beta, alpha, nightly browsers like opera 10 and IE8 etc. As for mac I run a g5 with all the necessary browsers on that. Relying on screenshot services while useful should never be a replacement for the real thing especially when you can obtain all the resources to virtualise environments for free.
Marty Thornley
March 1st, 2009 at 6:44 pmI use crosbrowsertesting.com all the time and could not live without it. Their free five minutes makes you wait inline, but usually not more than a minute or two, and it is enough to quickly check a simple problem. They offer a huge selection of browsers and OS combinations.
The browser based version is a little slow but try their Beta VNC option. A VNC Client lives on your desktop and provides remote access servers, basically. It is much faster – really close to an actual desktop experience. I use the free ‘Chicken of the VNC’ for MAC and swear by it. Corny name, but great results.
Browsershots is interesting but takes a while for results. It is not immediate or very useful for testing yourself, but the good thing is you can send clients, partners, workers, etc. a link to see the screenshots from your selection of browsers.
Bharat
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:46 amThanks a lot!!!!
For me is always been a challenge to test the website on different browsers with different platforms, but this list of links made it all easy….
NIce post
Sajid Iqbal
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:58 amThanks mate really helpful article. I wonder if there are any Linux software for this purpose. IE4Lin is definitely nice one.
Elizabeth K. Barone
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 pmGreat article!
I usually develop on Firefox, then I test in IE, Safari, and Opera. I work on Windows, so Safari is a great way to make sure my sites work on a Mac. It may be time consuming, but it’s better than finding out later on that something isn’t right!
I’m going to download that Xenocode, though. It seems like it’ll save me a lot of time!
Vincent
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:06 pmHopefully the Xenocode Sandbox comes to the mac quickly, I guess I could just use it in vmware fusion, for the meantime
shin
March 4th, 2009 at 4:03 amI don’t know how to install “Xenocode Browser Sandbox”. When I download a file, it is binary code. How can I use it?
There is no instruction or help on the website.
Anyone help me please?
Thanks.
Paul
March 4th, 2009 at 5:52 pmThanks for the options to deal with the bane of a lot of our existance. Too many browsers and too many variables.
Nick Tulett
March 13th, 2009 at 8:50 amThis is all backwards
I use “the internet” to find out what works on the target browser(s) before writing the code. Writing the code blind and looking for problems afterwards is so 1990s. If your not thinking about compatibility with every line of code, you shouldn’t be building a web app.
Devon Govett
March 14th, 2009 at 1:36 pmI’ve just written up an article about browser testing on my blog. I think that with all of these new browsers out there, it is getting too hard to test in all browsers. My post talks about that, and suggests a new application for someone to build!
http://devongovett.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/browser-testing/
mARK
March 20th, 2009 at 2:05 amI test cross browser compatibilty with ACTUAL BROWSERS. Nothing like the real thing baby.
mark
April 15th, 2009 at 7:39 amI have bookmarked this and taken shorthand notes and links, thank you.
I ususally just check sites using IE6, Firefox and Opera.
Awful I know, I just never have time because ! spend most of it testing revenue Vs number of visitors.
So I do a lot of tracking and % sorting.
Sandi
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 amOn an Intel Mac, I use Parallels with XP and the Internet Collection (8, 7, 6 running at the same time) which I downloaded from http://finalbuilds.edskes.net/iecollection.htm
I also am verifying with http://browsershots.org/ the free version after I’ve completed my work locally.
I received Parallels free through my hosting provider.
Matt Heisig
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 amParallels for Mac OS X – install a copy of Windows XP and fire it up to test IE 6, 7, 8, Windows versions of Firefox, Opera and Chrome. Then I’ve got Safari, Firefox and Opera on OS X itself. Between the two I can test just about every browser currently in use.
David Ma
May 20th, 2009 at 1:20 pmI noticed the list is missing Microsoft’s SuperPreview, which is essentially the same thing as MeerMeer. They currently have a free version that allows testing of IE6 along with whatever version of IE you have install under Windows:
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/try-it/superpreview/
If I remember correctly, there will be a free version that allows testing of IE6 / 7 / 8 in the future.
I’ve tried a few of the services listed and the experience has been lack luster at best. I’m looking forward to trying MeerMeer, but for now the best way seems to simply maintain a VM for every target platform and test on the actual browsers. It’s cheap, effective, and accurate.
Imran Raza
June 8th, 2009 at 11:41 pmI have corporated the same in my blog http://razaimran.blogspot.com/ with more detail plus i have included the validators which might help all the webdevelopers to validate their css,htmls, javascripts, so get those links guys.
Prashant Wagh
June 30th, 2009 at 3:25 amOf all the 7 sites, I highly recommend http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/
Very user test the Ie versions browser compatibility.
Thanks
SilkLink - Your Link to the Web
July 21st, 2009 at 8:18 amGreat article. I use a few of the services mentioned, along with as many browsers as I can get running side by side on my PC.
Thanks also for the comments. I think I might have a play on an old PC and try setting up different accounts to hold different IE versions. Can’t remember who posted it, but seems a good idea.
Phil Smith
August 21st, 2009 at 12:20 pmCloud Testing – http://www.cloudtesting.com/ – offer a functional website testing and cross browser testing service that allows you to test your websites from the cloud.
Enterprise users can download an agent which allows access to your local resources, i.e. inside your firewall/network.
It is based on Selenium, and allows you to capture scripts in the Selenium IDE plugin for Firefox, and then upload onto our servers for running.
We currently support the following browsers:
Firefox 2, 3 & 3.5
Internet Explorer 6,7 & 8
Safari 3.2 & 4.0
Chrome 2 and 3
Opera 9.6 and 10.0
With all of the above we capture full screenshots (i.e. of the browser window, not just the OS window), store the HTML and details of components on each page, along with timings and HTTP request and response headers. All of this is available to view via the results portal – http://portal.cloudtesting.com/
A free 7 day trial is available – http://www.cloudtesting.com/free_trial.php
qwertyweb
October 5th, 2009 at 3:02 ambrowsershots.org rocks and the best of all of em , we can test upto 300 shots ofwebsites on all browser ! wow !
MHOГOTOЧИE
October 18th, 2009 at 12:41 pmТут уже столько написали до меня. Осталось только присоединиться.
Sasha
November 5th, 2009 at 2:52 amIf you are on Mac or Linux, than definitely web based service is the way to go.
However, if you are using Windows, you can install all browsers that matter locally and than use http://www.browserseal.com to automatically capture the screenshot of your site with all these browsers. Not only this is much faster and cheaper than any of the above services, it has a number of additional advantages, such as the ability to test a web site on your company intranet or a local hard disk.
haberler
November 5th, 2009 at 6:04 amnice Test Cross-Browser tools thank you,
Adriaan Fenwick
November 18th, 2009 at 2:16 amAdobe BrowserLab has recently launched which allows you to do cross browser testing in real time on multiple browsers at the same time. Read this for more info: http://thedesigner.co.za/cross-browser-testing-adobe-style
J
November 18th, 2009 at 3:11 pmI initially do all my developing for the latest Firefox on Ubuntu. I keep an old XP box nearby that has some old firefoxes, IE6 and IE7, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. A big monitor is also really useful so you can test the resolution from 800×600 up to 1600×1200 and beyond.
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November 23rd, 2009 at 10:50 pmThanks for sharing
Test Cross-Browser tools thank you,
Steve O
January 2nd, 2010 at 1:33 pmAdobe BrowserLab is here ! http://browserlab.adobe.com/
smith
January 9th, 2010 at 5:20 amyou definitely missing essentiabct.com and browserpool in your list
artzy
January 31st, 2010 at 5:32 pmThanks Davor for the idea re multiples.. i’m running VPC 7 with winxp pro on my leopard G4 powerbook, using ie6 and it beats hell out of running over to the internet store… but going to upgrade to ie7, then re-install ie6 via multiples (UPDATE: Just did it, it works… cool that i can 6 and 7 at the same time… but too bad they don’t have ie8… although it’s a problem… i tried ie8 and although it loads the sites, all i get are blank pages)
@freelance:
i tried to use xenocode-sandbox but got these errors:
XENOCODE VIRTUAL APPLICATION STUDIO ISV EDITION
-Error: Invalid Access to memory location (0x800703E6)
-Spoon-Sandbox.exe-.NET Framework Initialization Error- c:\Windows\Micrsoft.net\Framework\v.2.050727\mscorwks.dll could not be loaded
Thanks everybody here for cool info!
rekha
March 11th, 2010 at 2:45 amHi
This is really a very useful article.
I was wasting lot of time in testing on different browsers for a website.Now browsershot helps me in completing my testing in a very less time.
Darby
April 5th, 2010 at 6:43 pmGreat article. I recently came across an experimental project on Google Appengine
http://cross-browser.appspot.com
It seems reasonably fast (took 7 screenshots in less than 30 seconds) and doesn’t bug me with email address, password etc.,
Elijah
April 19th, 2010 at 2:42 amThanks ! good Article..
Angel
April 19th, 2010 at 3:24 pmThe Xenocode Browser Sandboxis my favourite tool but in some cases I used Multiple IE’s and BrowserShots too.
JH
May 14th, 2010 at 11:27 amI use and highly recommend browsercam.com — they have screenshot service as well as remote access on just about every browser configuration and just about every OS configuration (including javascript enabled/disabled; flash enabled/disabled) and a bunch of screen resolution options too.
Ali Nasir
May 19th, 2010 at 8:09 amcool! but I would recommend to press F12 and check in all mostly used browsers if you want to avoid any installations. Thanks
Aji Prabowo
June 22nd, 2010 at 3:29 amvery useful information, many thanks Mason :bd
Andy, SEO Company
July 12th, 2010 at 2:45 amHi,
thanks for the summary, wasn’t aware that there are infact so many cross browser checks. personally i’ve been using browsershots and it works great. yup you do need to wait a little, but i’ll just let it run in the background.
Lucas Miami Web Design
July 17th, 2010 at 5:17 pmI never knew all these existed. I use IE tester for the moment by I am changing to Mac because we had it with Windows and I really need a program that will work on mac.
Inspirations Unlimited
August 17th, 2010 at 1:37 amI have been using Litmus for email newsletter. It’s good.
Vertinix
September 1st, 2010 at 2:06 pmI always tried to create a cross browser websites and in this article, Author mentioned very good resources which I can now use to test on my websites on BSD and Linux platform browsers.
Thanks for the valuable sharing.
Nikki May | Web Content Writer
September 5th, 2010 at 4:20 amThank you for compiling this. I need to be able to test my websites and see how they look when the users are coming from different browsers/platforms – and this is exactly what I need. Thank You!
louis
September 29th, 2010 at 2:31 amThank you for providing the perspective. I just read a part of the article, so I don’t know much what to say. Good luck for the new member!
Todd Starbuckle
November 9th, 2010 at 9:22 pmDo you guys actually research your articles? Gomez’s service Browsercam is a major player in this space.
Roshan, SEO consultant
December 15th, 2010 at 5:10 amcross browsers testing is very essential utilities for webmasters. the best option is to make sure that your content displays as expected in at least top 3 major browsers, Firefox, internet explorer and Google Chrome.
Accountants
December 17th, 2010 at 8:41 amGreat article – we developed our site in firefox and then had a number of issues with Macs using Safari – wish I’d seen this article a year ago!
phonecards
January 3rd, 2011 at 3:13 amI’ve tried a few of the services listed and the experience has been lack luster at best. I’m looking forward to trying MeerMeer, but for now the best way seems to simply maintain a VM for every target platform and test on the actual browsers. It’s cheap, effective, and accurate.
Globinch
January 9th, 2011 at 11:52 amIETester is one of the best tool if you are testing in different versions of Internet explorer browser
Kevin Leary
January 17th, 2011 at 8:26 pmThanks for this! One option you hadn’t mentioned, that I think is superior is a Windows package called Utilu IE Collection. It allow’s you to run stand-alone, independent installations of various IE version’s.
For more info I’d suggest checking out the review I’ve written on it:
http://www.kevinleary.net/testing-websites-multiple-versions-internet-explorer-ie6-ie7-ie8/
Best,
Kevin Leary
Sheron Devincenzi
February 9th, 2011 at 3:44 amI view something genuinely interesting about your website so I saved to favorites .
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March 6th, 2011 at 3:34 amThank you for providing the perspective. I just read a part of the article, so I don’t know much what to say. Good luck for the new member!
adidasi
March 10th, 2011 at 6:36 pmIt is a wery nice tool and is easy to use and make the difference.There are many other posibility’s now that in the past.Things are changing!
Denim Geek
March 30th, 2011 at 9:03 amGood post, a big time saver in testing websites in development. Thanks
Aphrodite
March 30th, 2011 at 10:13 amI’m just using the Browsershots service. It takes a while at times but there are all configurations you need.
admec multimedia
April 6th, 2011 at 9:54 amhi masters,
I love ie tester for internet explore testing as it gives a vast testing scope for all the versions.
and Browsershots.
Thanks
Ravi Bhadauria
Adam Chivers
June 22nd, 2011 at 8:48 amGreat post with some really useful tips! Using bootcamp to run Windows seems to work well for myself.
עו"ד מקרקעין
July 15th, 2011 at 10:17 amcool post Mason, I used for some time the Browser shots and it’s really grat tool for testing your website. For free version you can great fantastic results. thanks for sharing the review about these tools.
Colin Ord
September 1st, 2011 at 8:17 pmInteresting article.
How about cross browser development in real-time?
CrossBro is a FREE little tool I have developed that enables real-time cross browser development as you work. It works by monitoring your source files and automatically refreshing several standard browsers at the same time with immediate results!
The utility is great for building html pages and css, etc and can be used throughout the dev process, not just at the end!!
Check it out on:
http://www.crossbro.com
Colin
smooth booht
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:36 amI find myself using Google Chrome more and more these days, seems to always be a growing number of glitches in Firefox and dont get me started on IE. Good testing.
Pulkit Kaushik | TheDolt
September 27th, 2011 at 12:34 pmThank you! Nice list. I am going ahead with Litmus.
itrax
November 16th, 2011 at 5:03 amwill they ever sort the compatability issues in ie8, or is there no alternative than to go to ie9
GeebArt
January 2nd, 2012 at 1:16 pmGreat list of testers! I tend to use Virtual Box with XP so I can load all versions of IE for testing. Nothing beats the real experience, and having the correct OS with the actual javaScript engines.
If anyone is looking for a tutorial post on coding for IE Browser Compatibility, check out mine, http://geebart.com/blog/ie-browser-compatibility-guide .
LPG Wales
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:19 amHaving just had our website re-designed its almost impossible to cross browser check every possibility and platform but thanks for the information!
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January 24th, 2012 at 7:30 am7 Fresh and Simple Ways to Test Cross-Browser Compatibility | FreelanceFolder I was suggested this blog by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my difficulty. You are incredible! Thanks! your article about 7 Fresh and Simple Ways to Test Cross-Browser Compatibility | FreelanceFolder Best Regards Cassetta Lisa
hyip
January 24th, 2012 at 7:31 am7 Fresh and Simple Ways to Test Cross-Browser Compatibility | FreelanceFolder I was recommended this blog by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my problem. You are amazing! Thanks! your article about 7 Fresh and Simple Ways to Test Cross-Browser Compatibility | FreelanceFolder Best Regards Veronica Veronica
Joshna
March 5th, 2012 at 5:48 amThis is good collection of tools to test any website for browser compatibility.
Can someone suggest testing manually for browser compatibility?
Robert Bartula
March 9th, 2012 at 7:10 amThank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate?
Posicionamiento Web Cali
March 23rd, 2012 at 10:31 pmExcelentes herramientas. Gracias
Great article. Thank you.
Daniel Herken
April 4th, 2012 at 4:42 pmHi Mason, thanks for the great article!
I think cross-browser testing should focus more on mobile devices. There is no easy way to test your website in all the different mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Android ….). I’ve created a lightweight desktop tool to address this need: http://www.browseemall.com
Give it a try if you like (if you want to get an evaluation version, just drop me a line!)
Greetings
earn bux
April 9th, 2012 at 8:34 amBetween me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.
Kaspar Loog
May 28th, 2012 at 8:51 amAll the tools listed above are either screenshot-driven or manual testing aids that let you test in one browser simultaneously. The ones that provide screenshots let you do the comparison (where scientific studies show that a professional tester finds only 60% of visual layout issues). The ones that let you use the browser are laborious in the end. The more browsers you look at – the worse your detection rate.
http://www.browserbite.com is the first what you see is what you test tool that does the comparison automatically by looking at sites like humans. Most importantly – it’s currently in beta and free.
Disclaimer: This is a biased comment since I’m one of the guys behind the technology.
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June 10th, 2012 at 3:30 amit is very useful tips about website designing i really wanted to thanks the admin of this blog for posting such a nice thing
Jagan Krishnaraj
July 3rd, 2012 at 7:03 amVery Valuable piece of information. Thanks for sharing. I had known only about browser shots all these days
Smart
September 10th, 2012 at 5:35 amGreat information its becoming so difficult to cross browser test giving the number of platforms currently available.
Raja Torkar
October 3rd, 2012 at 3:37 amA gr8 collection of cross browser testing resources. However me and all my web designing community friends most often wonder which browsers are important and which to leave out. It’s always a trade off between efforts and rendering. The 4 Main Browsers to Test Your Website Rendering In helped me understand browser traffic and also helped me save my efforts and time in avoiding unnecessary coding for lesser important browser. Hope your readers do benefit from it.
clean pros
March 4th, 2013 at 5:00 pmThanks for the info on testing cross browser compatibility, much appreciated.
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April 21st, 2013 at 3:27 amGood day!
Are you on Twitter? I’d like to follow you but couldn’t find the button!
Sepelka
May 21st, 2013 at 8:13 pmThis link will be very helpfull:
http://www.freakzion.com/index.php/The-Blog-May-2013/browser-compatibility.html
Basically should be these ones:
Firefox 6
Chrome 22
Explorer 8
Safari 5
Opera 11
http://iacconference.org
May 30th, 2013 at 3:45 pmTry the leading tour operator to North paphos car hire.
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You don’t need to fly out for his first wife Ayshegul, cash for his son Birol and livestock for a ‘model farm’ on a country estate in Leicestershire. The first big one that stands out is the one most consumers will ultimately traverse. Downhill skiing, snowboarding, and cross-country skiing are all popular pastimes over the season.
Kelly Jones
May 31st, 2013 at 6:30 amThis testing that you describe is very important for website…Great work you have done!!!
For Online Tech Support,please follow the link
Kelly Jones
June 1st, 2013 at 5:52 amThis is very important to check the website with the testing tool…so that we can be sure that our website gonna work well…Great help for Testing professional!!!
For Online Tech Support,please follow the link
Best Regards
Kelly
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