Browser Compatibility testing

Question

How do i do browser compatibility testing?

Is there any particular way or checklist through which i can confirm compatibility testing on browser IE 6/7/8 is done.

Let me extend my query in particular to a application :

Let us assume a web application is tested in IE6 (Approx 5000 Test Cases)

Now i need to check the application compatibility in IE7 & IE8 also.

How do i go with ? since i cannot execute all the 5000 Test Cases in all the browsers

I need to know exactly where the problem could occur when tested in IE7 & IE8 browser.

what is the benchmark to test the application compatibility across the Browsers?

Answer 1

Try Multiple IEs.

Answer 2

For testing a website in different IE versions I use IETester.

I don't have a checklist, but I just visually compare the websites in the different browser and check if the css and javascript (e.g. jQuery plugins) are working as intended. Most of the time you know what parts could be causing problems in older browser versions...

I sometimes use BrowserShots, but it will only show screenshots and there are delays in retrieving the screenshots, so you have to wait for results...

Answer 3

Microsoft has released Expression Web SuperPreview that permits testing of multiple versions of IE (6, 7, 8) side-by-side.

IE only testing is free. They have plans to add support for Firefox and Safari too and charge for it. It looks quite interesting but is still just beta.

A review with quite a number of screen shots: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090318/expression-web-superpreview-cross-browser-testing/

Download the beta: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8e6ac106-525d-45d0-84db-dccff3fae677&displaylang=en

Another link: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/microsoft-announces-superpreview-for-ie-browser-testing/

Answer 4

You need

Microsoft SuperPreview

It has redering engines from IE6 to IE8 and also support Firefox and Safari. Also check out this blog post for detailed information and another methods of cross browser testing.

Answer 5

I understand that your current test cases are not automated.

On top of what the other answers suggest, it feels to be a good idea to automate some of the test cases (the most important/critical scenarios) - check out watin or Selenium. Then, you can run those against multiple browsers to catch some errors. You can make screenshots during the test run and use visual compare tools to detect changes and regressions, which will greatly help you maintaining the app.

Doing that and tracking IE bugs will get you only to some point. You can't completely avoid manual testing...

The good news is that you do not have to worry much about IE8 - it is more standards compliant and you can always use IE7-compatible tag, so it uses IE7 rendering engine.

Answer 6

Try looking up frameworks for unit testing in Javascript (jsUnit for example). Having a large test case will reduce the pain of testing your code in different browsers!

Answer 7

To rescue the web designers from this aching job of testing browser compatibility in different browsers there are few websites which offer this service. On these websites you can check the compatibility of your website in all desired browsers. You can find these websites at http://www.bestpsdtohtml.com/7-awesome-resources-to-test-cross-browser-compatibility-of-your-website/