Cross-Browser Testing Techniques and Tools

Today’s end-users demand quality assurance when using an application, and organizations seek streamlined mechanisms for developers to create top-notch web applications that function seamlessly across all devices. Hence, cross-browser testing is not just an additional step in web development but a crucial necessity to test websites in different browsers for businesses aiming to meet customer expectations and maintain competitiveness.

Understanding Cross-Browser Testing

Regardless of the approach organizations choose to conduct cross-browser testing, its objective remains consistent: to uncover frontend functionality errors on specific web clients before they are encountered by actual users.

Approaches to Effective Cross Browser Testing

QA teams and developers across various organizations consistently strive to maintain the standard of cross browser testing. However, establishing a clear strategy can mitigate bottlenecks that impede timely application releases. We must reassess our tools and methodologies surrounding cross browser testing and seek improved alternatives. Let’s delve into top-notch strategies to simplify, expedite, enhance quality, and streamline cross browser testing.

• Selecting the Optimal Devices and Browsers

Choosing the appropriate blend of browsers and devices for cross browser testing represents a significant stride in the ongoing process. Leveraging your product’s usage data to discern the preferences of your customers regarding devices and browsers is a crucial starting point.

After assessing and analyzing the types of devices and browsers favored by your customers, it’s essential to periodically reassess the list to align with the evolving landscape of browsers and devices in the target market. Once a prioritized list of indispensable browsers and devices is compiled, it’s imperative to monitor and adapt as older devices and browsers phase out while newer ones emerge.

• Validating Code

Ensuring code validation is a pivotal task for website developers to uphold adherence to W3C standards. Overlooking this step can result in adverse outcomes, akin to the challenges encountered with Internet Explorer. Maintaining a validated and well-structured website is essential not only for cross-browser compatibility but also for bolstering search engine optimization, facilitating easy maintenance, and more.

To achieve cross-browser compatibility, developers can utilize online validator tools or those integrated within text editors like Adobe Dreamweaver, which additionally imparts best practices in web development. Code validation for standards compliance is a straightforward measure that can yield long-term savings in time and effort.

• Developing a Browser Matrix

Establishing cross-browser compatibility mandates creating a browser matrix delineating the browsers and their respective versions targeted for website development. Yet, accommodating every browser and version becomes impractical, given the evolving acceptance and rejection of CSS and JS properties across browser updates. Hence, determining which browsers and version ranges to target is paramount.

The optimal approach in crafting a browser matrix is to consider the target audience. For instance, if the audience comprises specific bank employees predominantly using Firefox 78, the website should cater to this demographic. Regular updates to the browser matrix should align with the typical auto-updates of browsers for the general audience.

• Ensuring Component Feature Support

It’s common for developers to overlook deprecated or obsolete features, leading to frustration when these features fail to function on the webpage. Hence, it’s imperative to verify feature support across targeted browsers meticulously.

For instance, while CSS Subgrids are supported on Firefox, they may not be functional on Chrome. Recognizing such discrepancies helps preempt potential user experience hiccups and mitigates redundant work.

• Conducting Simultaneous Tests on Multiple Devices and Browsers

Executing automated test scripts concurrently across varied device-browser-OS combinations expedites the testing process without compromising accuracy. Known as parallel testing, this approach significantly truncates the time required to complete a comprehensive test suite.

To harness the advantages of parallel testing, teams can leverage cloud-based AI-powered test orchestration and execution platforms like LambdaTest. With over 3000 real devices and browsers, LambdaTest facilitates automated parallel testing on genuine devices and browsers, supporting frameworks such as Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, and more.

• Coding Essential Components Only

Developers often integrate unnecessary components into websites, needlessly amplifying complexity without discernible objectives. This clutter can congest landing pages and pose challenges to cross-browser compatibility.

The proliferation of components escalates the likelihood of issues arising, potentially necessitating extensive troubleshooting efforts. Given the interdependency of components, even minor misalignments can trigger chaos, mandating arduous realignments.

To mitigate cross-browser compatibility concerns, it’s imperative to code solely the essential components. This minimizes the number of potential problematic elements, simplifying maintenance and enhancing website compatibility across diverse browsers.

• UI Test Frameworks for Web Applications

Selenium stands out as the most popular, dependable, and robust UI testing framework for testing web applications. Not only is Selenium one of the simplest web UI testing frameworks to learn, but it also helps to circumvent potential loopholes that may arise in the future once adopted by the QA and development teams. Selenium WebDriver serves for automating cross-browser testing, accepting commands and executing them in the browser. 

Testing teams utilize Selenium WebDriver to automate tests for their web applications by directing the WebDriver to perform specific actions on the browser and device. Selenium aids in saving valuable time for your team, enabling them to focus on other tasks that demand their full attention, such as analyzing test reports and conducting manual testing. Prior to commencing automation with Selenium, it’s imperative to analyze which test cases can and cannot be automated.

• UI Test Frameworks for Mobile Applications

It shares the same library functions as Selenium, facilitating ease of use and adoption. However, testers may encounter slower test processing and occasional flakiness compared to other frameworks.

Espresso, another open-source test automation tool developed by Google, excels in testing Android applications. It enables developers and testers to craft reliable tests for Android UI, resulting in faster and less flaky tests compared to Appium. Espresso employs advanced technological practices like continuous testing, agile development, and DevOps.

• Harnessing Automation and Parallel Testing

For efficient cross-browser testing, automating Selenium tests is indispensable for enhancing test execution time. Additionally, executing parallel testing complements automation, enabling testing for multiple browsers and devices simultaneously. Selenium Grid facilitates test automation by allowing test cases to run concurrently in multiple environments.

Integrating automation and parallel testing optimizes cross-browser testing efficiency. This workflow can be further streamlined through a CI/CD pipeline using continuous integration, where test cycles are executed earlier and more frequently due to frequent commits to a centralized repository.

Why are Cross Browser Testing Tools Necessary?

The diversity of browsers and operating systems used for web browsing presents a challenge. Websites and applications must be compatible with various browser versions, making cross-browser testing a complex task.

QA teams encounter several challenges when conducting cross-browser testing:

• The multitude of browser and operating system combinations makes investing in in-house infrastructure impractical. Keeping browsers, devices, and operating systems updated to match market trends poses a significant challenge.
• Establishing and managing an in-house browser or online device farm is labor-intensive and often faces scalability issues. Building cross-browser testing infrastructure can be daunting, especially with manual testing methods.
• Web browsers frequently undergo updates. Rapid releases of popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge introduce new features and improvements, but also potential defects or bugs. Testing teams must repeatedly run tests to ensure compatibility with the latest browser versions.
• Website design may be compromised when rendered on screens with different resolutions. Manual testing for visual inconsistencies is time-consuming, and ensuring cross-browser compatibility presents another challenge.
• Cross-browser testing tools address these challenges by enabling compatibility with multiple web browsers, including various versions of the same browser. Key features of these tools include testing across a wide range of browsers and versions, different operating systems, and various screen resolutions.
• Additionally, cross-browser testing tools offer functionalities such as debugging, automated browser screenshot capture, video recording of test sessions, bug logging, and testing on real device clouds, Android emulators, and iOS simulators. By automating the testing process across different browsers, these tools save time and reduce the risk of human error.

Advantages of Cloud-Based Testing Compared to On-Premise Testing

Conversely, numerous online platforms, particularly Software as a Service (SaaS) products, offer a cloud-based setup accessible from any location at any time. Cloud platforms eliminate hefty costs, time commitments, spatial requirements, and the workforce needed for maintaining physical infrastructure. Furthermore, they facilitate easy access for geographically dispersed teams, ensuring seamless collaboration and uninterrupted business continuity—a significant boon for companies. 

However, certain SaaS products may lack modern security features. Conversely, some companies offer on-premise services, hosting device labs within their infrastructure and providing clients with maintenance control. Nevertheless, while these SaaS products offer out-of-the-box features, they may lack sufficient customization options to meet individual brand requirements.

Therefore, an ideal SaaS product should possess the following capabilities:

• Highly customizable to accommodate an organization’s dynamic needs.
• Support for multiple frameworks.
• Ability to execute test cases across multiple environments.

Capability for running parallel test cases and scalability

Comprehensive coverage of device-browser combinations to ensure cross-browser compatibility across various devices available in the target market.

Compliance with security standards applicable to your business.

Opt for a Highly Scalable Testing Platform

Achieving cross-browser compatibility necessitates addressing dynamic market requirements, achievable through a mobile device lab that allows for easy addition and removal of devices as per project needs. Given the uncertainty surrounding combinations of browsers, operating systems, and device versions, your device lab must be highly scalable. This ensures the seamless addition or removal of devices based on project requirements without disrupting other functionalities of the device lab.

Embrace Flexibility and Customization

Surviving in a dynamic market such as the application industry requires a platform that remains service-ready, allowing hardware and software integrations flexible enough to accommodate customizations at any given time. Given that the application industry caters directly to a user base with evolving demands, ensure that your product is flexible enough to adapt to future customer requirements and capable of delivering quality products within deadlines.

Leverage AI-Powered Testing Tools

While it’s impossible to eradicate errors or bugs from a software application entirely, leveraging high-end technologies like continuous integration and DevOps can expedite and enhance the testing process. Additionally, AI can further accelerate this process by offering codeless solutions, reducing the time and effort required by QA teams. AI and machine learning can also reduce the flakiness of test cases, enabling continuous efforts toward achieving automation and minimizing human intervention.

Incorporate Browser-Specific Workarounds

Despite aiming for clean and standards-compliant code, it’s essential to acknowledge that different browsers exhibit quirks and variations in rendering web pages. Integrating browser-specific workarounds or fallbacks, such as using prefixes like -webkit- for Chrome and Safari or providing alternate styling for browsers lacking support for certain CSS features, is crucial. Document these fixes thoroughly within your code to ensure clarity and maintainability.

Conclusion

Cross-browser testing is indispensable in software development to guarantee seamless functionality of your website or web application across a spectrum of browsers, devices, and operating systems, both current and legacy. While numerous tools exist for cross-browser testing, the ones outlined in this guide offer choices tailored to your budget and specific testing needs.