With
the increasing number of access devices and an aspiration for achieving a uniform
functional support, several functionalities are becoming obsolete while several
advanced functionalities are made to be supported by browsers through their
multiple version upgrades. This leads to a distorted performance of the same
application through different browsers. A customer coming across a distorted
view of an application, immediately loses faith in the application and moves on
to other application providing similar functionalities.
As
per the Statistics courtesy of W3Schools, the browser usage share can be
predicted as follows:
Internet
Explorer (6, 7, 8): 30.4%
Firefox:
46.4%
Chrome:
16.7%
Safari:
3.4%
Opera
2.3%
However,
there is no definite way to determine the combination of browsers that may be
used to access an application. So, the only way out to ensure a seamless user experience
of an application or website is its extensive cross browser and cross platform testing before
launch.
Cross
browser testing is performed to achieve the following
-
Ensure the uniform display
of a page across different browsers
-
Find inconsistencies and
fix it.
-
Enhance user experience
and efficiency.
-
Be aware of any future
failures.
-
Test authenticated access
to private pages.
-
Test local, private
network and firewall pages.
-
Increase lead conversion
-
Flatter your quality and
persistence to your prospects.
Main
decision for cross browser testing
-
Site Analytics can help to
determine the main browsers to test on.
-
A detailed analysis is
required to be done to determine which parts of the system needs to be tested
extensively. The best approach is to perform a complete testing on one browser
and test the most critical functionalities on the others.
-
Once the above two
decisions are made, infrastructure decisions are then required to be made
considering costs, risks, security issues, resources required and debugging
schedules.
-
Initiate test cycle.
-
Report test results, make
changes, if at all required, then retest.
The
most common way to start cross browser testing is by listing the functions of
the particular website and then methodically open up the site in different
browsers to verify and validate the outcomes. The variations in version of the
browsers make it important to ensure that all the pages are rendered as
designed.
Cross BrowserTesting can be performed either manually on
multiple systems, multiple Operating systems, multiple web browsers, multiple
configurations, multiple days, multiple investments and further multiple
challenges. Or it can be performed through different testing tools available in
the market. Some of the tools can be used free of cost, while some are paid.
Conclusion
As
mentioned earlier, browsers are being constantly upgraded and new versions are
continuously released. This necessitates keeping track of the upgrades
introduced. Many firms neglect this phase because of lack of funds and knowledge.
Being persistent and being strategic in this case will save time and money.
Cross Browser Testing is now one of the most important aspect of a software
development lifecycle which ensures the best experience for the users.
