A Beginner’s Guide to Cross Browser Compatibility Testing

Cross-browser testing is an essential and integral part of the software testing process. It verifies whether an application behaves as expected and maintains its functionality and appearance across multiple web browsers. With the vast array of browsers available today, each with its own rendering engine, version, and quirks, it is imperative to ensure that your application delivers a consistent and optimal user experience across all platforms.

The goal of cross browser testing is to identify and address any issues or inconsistencies that may arise when an application is accessed from different browsers. This includes verifying that the layout, design, and functionality remain intact and perform reliably across popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and others.

What is cross-browser compatibility testing?

Cross-browser compatibility testing has gained significant importance in recent years, and there are compelling reasons behind it. While technology continues to evolve rapidly, not all individuals adapt at the same pace. Many people exhibit resistance to change or have a reluctance to upgrade their technology. In such cases, cross-browser compatibility testing becomes crucial for companies to ensure that no customer is left behind and that their experience meets the desired standards.

It is a type of non-functional testing that focuses on ensuring that your website’s fundamental features and functionalities are accessible to users across different combinations of browsers, operating systems, devices, and assistive tools. The objective is to verify that your website performs consistently and effectively across various browser environments, providing a seamless experience to users regardless of their preferred browser or device.

Why is cross-browser testing essential?

Cross-browser testing is an essential practice in software testing for several reasons. Here are some of the common reasons why cross-browser testing is needed:

1. Defect Identification and Rectification: By conducting cross-browser testing, you can identify any defects or issues that may arise when the application is accessed from different browsers. This allows you to rectify these defects and ensure the smooth functioning of the application across all platforms.

1. Enhanced User Experience: Cross-browser testing helps ensure a consistent and optimal user experience across various browsers. It allows you to validate that the application’s layout, design, and functionality remain intact and user-friendly regardless of the browser being used. This enhances user satisfaction and promotes a positive perception of your application.

1. Improved Efficiency: Through cross-browser testing, you can increase the efficiency of your application by identifying and resolving any performance or compatibility issues specific to certain browsers. This optimization ensures that the application operates smoothly, delivering faster load times and responsiveness across different browser environments.

1. Identification of Potential Drawbacks: Cross-browser testing helps uncover any potential drawbacks or limitations of the application on specific browsers. It allows you to address these shortcomings and find alternative solutions or workarounds to ensure that users have a seamless experience, irrespective of their chosen browser.

1. Consistent Appearance: One of the objectives of cross-browser testing is to ensure that the application looks and behaves consistently across various browsers. This includes verifying that the fonts, colors, images, and overall visual presentation remain consistent, contributing to a cohesive brand identity and user experience.

1. Functional Validation: Cross-browser testing verifies that all the functionalities of the application work properly on different browsers. It ensures that user interactions, form submissions, navigation, and other essential features are fully functional and perform reliably, regardless of the browser used.

1. Meeting Client Requirements: By performing cross-browser testing, you can validate that the application meets the client’s requirements and specifications across all targeted browsers. It ensures that the application functions as expected, meet performance criteria, and delivers the desired user experience, meeting client expectations and satisfaction.

What impact does cross-browser testing have on your application?

Browsers and devices operate in diverse configurations, leading to browser compatibility issues at various levels. This lack of consistency is the primary reason for applications’ inconsistent appearance and functionality across different browsers and devices. As a business, it is crucial to ensure that all prospective users can access and utilize your application’s features without any hindrance.

This is where cross-browser testing plays a significant role. If your website or application is not thoroughly tested and debugged on various platforms and browsers, it is likely to exhibit discrepancies and inconsistencies when accessed in different environments. This can result in inconvenience for users and, ultimately, have a negative impact on your business.

By conducting comprehensive cross browser testing, you can identify and address any compatibility issues or bugs specific to certain browsers or devices. This allows you to ensure that your application functions seamlessly and consistently across a wide range of browsers, platforms, and devices.

Types of cross-browser compatibility testing

Cross-browser compatibility testing encompasses various types of tests that focus on different aspects of compatibility. Here are the main types of cross-browser compatibility testing:

1. Backward Compatibility Testing: Backward compatibility testing, also known as downward compatibility testing, validates whether a new version of a software application is compatible with previous versions. It ensures that the new version can seamlessly work with existing data, configurations, and components without encountering any issues or errors.

1. Forward Compatibility Testing: Forward compatibility testing, also referred to as upward compatibility testing or future compatibility testing, ensures that a software application or system can function smoothly with future versions of software or hardware components. It verifies that the application remains compatible with upcoming advancements without any compatibility issues.

In addition to these core types, there are other specific forms of compatibility testing:

1. Browser (Cross-browser) Compatibility Testing: Browser compatibility testing focuses on ensuring that your website or application works consistently and correctly across multiple web browsers.

1. Mobile Compatibility Testing: Mobile compatibility testing verifies the compatibility and proper functioning of a mobile application across different mobile devices and platforms, such as iOS and Android. It considers factors like screen resolutions, device capabilities, touch interactions, and operating system versions.

1. Device Compatibility Testing: Device compatibility testing ensures that an application is compatible with various devices and peripherals such as USB devices, printers, Bluetooth devices, and more. It involves testing the application’s functionality and integration with different hardware components.

1. Network Compatibility Testing: Network compatibility testing assesses the compatibility and performance of an application in various network environments. It involves testing the application’s behavior and responsiveness on different networks, such as Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, or even low-bandwidth connections.

1. Operating System (OS) Testing: Operating system compatibility testing validates that applications function properly across different operating systems, including Windows, Linux distributions (such as Debian, Ubuntu), macOS, and others. It ensures that the application behaves consistently and meets the requirements of each specific operating system.

By conducting these various types of cross-browser compatibility testing, you can ensure that your application or website functions reliably and consistently across different browsers, devices, networks, and operating systems, providing a seamless user experience for all users.

How to improve your cross-browser testing?

Creating a browser matrix

Creating a Browser Matrix Developing a browser matrix involves determining the browsers and their specific versions that you will focus on while designing your website or application. It is impractical to ensure compatibility with every browser and version, as different browsers have varying support for CSS properties. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize and target the browsers that are most significant for your target audience.

To build an effective browser matrix, consider the following steps:

1. Identify your target audience: Understand the demographics and preferences of your audience. For example, if your target audience consists of marketers who predominantly use Google Chrome, prioritize compatibility with that browser.

1. Prioritize popular browsers: Focus on the most widely used browsers among your target audience. This may include popular options like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.

1. Consider browser version distribution: Take into account the distribution of browser versions among your target audience. Determine which versions are most commonly used and prioritize those for compatibility testing.

1. Stay updated: Keep up with the evolving landscape of browsers and their versions. Regularly review and update your browser matrix to ensure it aligns with the changing preferences and adoption patterns of your audience.

Utilize automated browser compatibility testing tools

To conduct an efficient and effective compatibility test, consider leveraging automated browser compatibility testing tools such as LambdaTest. These tools offer automated testing capabilities, saving time and effort during the cross-browser compatibility testing process. By utilizing these tools, you can test your website across multiple browsers simultaneously and receive comprehensive reports highlighting any compatibility issues encountered.

Perform testing on real devices

While emulators and simulators can be beneficial for testing, they may not always provide an accurate representation of the user experience on real devices. To ensure your website functions correctly across all platforms, it is crucial to perform testing on actual devices. Testing on real devices enables you to accurately assess factors like touch functionality and screen resolution. By conducting tests on a variety of real devices, you can identify and address any potential issues that may arise during user interactions.

Top recommended tools for cross-browser testing

Let’s explore some of the best tools that can help streamline the cross-browser testing process.

LambdaTest

LambdaTest is a cloud-based digital experience testing that empowers users to perform manual and automation testing for their websites or web applications. It offers a vast selection of over 3000 browsers and operating systems, enabling comprehensive testing across different browser configurations.

With LambdaTest, users can conduct both automated and manual testing. Automated testing enables users to write scripts and execute them across multiple browsers simultaneously, saving time and effort. This automation feature streamlines the testing process and ensures consistent results across different browser configurations.

Selenium

Selenium is widely known for its capability to automate the testing of web-based applications. By simply changing the browser for test case execution, Selenium enables you to effortlessly run the same test cases across multiple browsers, making it a convenient choice for automated cross-browser testing.

Conclusion

An effective cross-browser testing strategy involves testing throughout the entire development process, rather than leaving it as a final step. Regular and iterative testing allows developers to catch and address compatibility issues early, minimizing the potential impact on the project timeline. By integrating testing into the development workflow, developers can identify and rectify issues promptly, leading to a more seamless and efficient development cycle.

User experience should be at the forefront of cross-browser compatibility testing. It is essential to ensure that the website not only functions correctly but also provides an intuitive and user-friendly experience across all browsers. Paying attention to details such as navigation, responsiveness, form validation, and overall usability is crucial in delivering a positive experience to all users, regardless of their chosen browser.