Making our sites work consistently across all various browsers is one of the headaches of being a web developer. Typically, most browsers display your content predictably, based on W3 Consortium standards. But Internet Explorer (with the largest share of market) is notorious for ignoring those standards and forcing us to create a separate version visible only on that browser, for some sites. And then there is the issue of mobile browsers, which are viewed on tiny screens, forcing us to consider how to communicate in that vein. How do we deal with it? After pulling out our hair, we generally line up a number of tools to test content in these many platforms. The following article by Matt Ferner at Practical Ecommerce pulls together some of the better ones.
There are many widely used web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. And there are dozens of mobile browsers available, with more in development as each new device arrives on the shelves. But, not all browsers, and versions of those browsers, work the same. A merchant’s website may not look or function identically on each one, which can lead to lost revenue.
Thankfully, there are many browser compatibility-testing tools on the web. Some of these are free, like Browser Shots, and some cost money, like Gomez.com, Sauce Labs, PowerMapper or Perfecto Mobile.
These tools can test speed and function across operating systems and geographies, at high and low traffic levels. We’ll be taking a look at BrowserShots Browser Compatibility Test, Gomez.com Cross-Browser Compatibility Test, PowerMapper.com SortSite Test and PerfectoMobile.com Handset Cloud Test.
