Online Web Browser Testing: Tools and Techniques
With the increasing importance of websites and web applications, ensuring their functionality and compatibility across different web browsers is essential. This is where web browser online testing comes into play. Traditional testing approaches are characterized by high costs and time requirements, necessitating the setup of multiple physical devices equipped with different web browsers. Nevertheless, the evolution of technology has led to the emergence of online web browser testing as a more efficient and economical alternative.
To enable seamless end-user experiences, testing new technologies differently than in the past is important, with a renewed strategy for testing and software quality validation. The end-user of the application expects quality assurance. Organizations need a mechanism that makes it uncomplicated for developers to develop the best web apps that perform on every device. That is why web browser testing is critical to business and is considered more necessary than an addition to web development.
Nevertheless, performing web browser testing, covering all the legacy and latest browsers, operating systems, browser versions, and devices can be cumbersome. Moreover, establishing an internal testing infrastructure can significantly impact the financial resources of the organization, and overseeing the updates for browsers and operating systems may require a substantial allocation of resources from the IT or DevOps team.
This is where cloud-based web browser testing tools and techniques help to solve the issue of ensuring that a web application and website function flawlessly across multiple devices, browsers, and platform combinations. Web browser testing tools are hosted in the cloud rather than on the developer’s local machine. This approach enhances testing efficiency by eliminating the need to install multiple testing environments on individual workstations.
This article will explore the various tools and techniques available for online web browser testing.
Overview of Web Browser Testing
During web browser testing, a thorough evaluation is conducted on a website or web application to verify its compatibility across different browsers, operating systems, devices, and their respective configurations. It is vital to ensure that the application is “browser-agnostic” to guarantee optimal performance.
The output of the testing process is influenced by the distinct methods each browser adopts in parsing the Document Object Model (DOM). Therefore, the accuracy of the outcome is contingent upon how the developer of the web application being tested explicitly or implicitly identifies the UI controls within the application.
The benefits and uses of web browser testing lie in its ability to guarantee that websites and applications are accessible and operable for all users, irrespective of their browser choice. This expands the audience reach and enhances user experience significantly. By automating the testing process, web browser testing helps save time and resources, empowering developers to pinpoint and resolve compatibility issues. As a result, they bolster the overall quality and dependability of web applications, improving user satisfaction and trust.
Benefits of Web Browser Testing
Ensuring constant functionality and user experience is vital. Web browser testing plays an indispensable role in this context. It allows teams to verify app behavior across numerous environments efficiently.
Here are a few key benefits of using web browser testing:
Efficiently Test Web Browsers Online
Testing web browsers is essential in guaranteeing websites’ optimal performance and compatibility across diverse platforms and devices. In the current digital environment, where users access websites through various browsers and operating systems, developers and designers must possess effective tools and techniques for conducting online browser testing. These testing tools allow professionals to simulate different browser environments, monitor the functionality of web pages, and identify any potential issues or inconsistencies.
Use Automated Testing Tools Available
Cloud-based automated testing tools have significantly revolutionized the web development industry by offering developers efficient and dependable means to test their websites across various browsers. These advanced tools enable testers to execute tests concurrently on multiple browsers and devices without manual intervention. Utilizing cloud-based testing platforms such as Selenium, Sauce Labs, or LambdaTest enables testers to efficiently access various browsers and operating systems for comprehensive compatibility testing of web applications.
Explore popular Web Browser Emulators
Web browser emulators offer developers and testers the capability to replicate diverse web browsers and their features within a virtual setting. This facilitates streamlined and economical testing processes by obviating the necessity of configuring physical devices or deploying multiple browsers on separate systems. Developers are empowered to assess their websites across various browser editions and platforms through popular web browser emulators, guaranteeing compatibility and a uniform user experience.
Utilize Virtual Machines for Testing
By utilizing virtual machine software, developers and testers can establish and oversee multiple virtual environments, each equipped with distinct operating systems and browser configurations. This capability facilitates thorough website testing across diverse platforms, guaranteeing compatibility and functionality across varying setups.
Virtual machines offer a controlled and isolated testing environment that replicates real-world conditions, eliminating the necessity for extra physical devices. The capability to capture snapshots and revert to prior states provides flexibility and efficiency in the testing and debugging processes.
Compare Results Across Multiple Browsers
It is essential to thoroughly test and validate website rendering, functionality, and performance across various web browsers. This practice enables developers and testers to pinpoint and address any discrepancies or inconsistencies resulting from browser-specific behaviors or compatibility issues.
By leveraging online web browser testing tools and techniques, professionals can streamline comparing results across browsers. These tools provide a centralized platform to simultaneously test websites on multiple browsers, offering a convenient and efficient way to identify and address cross-browser discrepancies.
Best Web Browser Testing Tools
Web browser testing is an easy and convenient website and mobile application testing method without bothering about the local infrastructure.
Here is a brief description of a few web browser testing platforms:
LambdaTest
LambdaTest is an AI-driven test orchestration and execution platform designed to facilitate the seamless running of manual and automated tests on a large scale. It utilizes an extensive inventory of over 3000 real devices with various browsers and operating system configurations.
Serving as a scalable cloud-based solution, LambdaTest stands out as a top-tier web browser testing solution, offering comprehensive support for automating test scripts across multiple testing frameworks such as Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Appium, Espresso, XCUITest, and others.
This platform offers a handy feature for recording tests and generating comprehensive test reports. It simplifies the tracking of the testing journey and facilitates seamless sharing of results among team members. Opting for LambdaTest for usability testing proves cost-effective by eliminating the necessity of an in-house lab and trimming down operational expenses.
By using LambdaTest, teams can enhance their remote testing prowess, promote collaboration, and establish a testing procedure that is not only efficient but also highly effective.
Depending on your needs, you can also utilize the LambdaTest platform to conduct testing of mobile apps on cloud-based Android Emulators and iOS Simulators.
Autify
Autify is a comprehensive web and mobile automation testing solution that facilitates the creation, organization, and execution of intricate test cases and test suites while generating detailed test reports. The platform enhances test coverage and includes support for visual regression testing to pinpoint visual inconsistencies within applications.
Katalon
The Katalon is the preferred solution for testing teams. This comprehensive testing platform offers all necessary functionalities within a single workspace, including test planning, scheduling, execution across browsers, and analytics for enhanced insights. The entire testing life cycle is integrated within the Katalon portfolio, eliminating additional installations.
TestGrid
TestGrid is a test automation platform that provides no-code and low-code capabilities for conducting website testing on real devices, which can be hosted on the cloud or on-premises. The platform offers a comprehensive range of manual and automated testing features to help expedite the release process and ensure efficient testing procedures.
TestGrid offers testing solutions for locally or privately hosted web pages to ensure bug-free release. It supports performance testing to assist you in optimizing your website’s performance. Besides, TestGrid seamlessly integrates with leading CI/CD tools such as CircleCI, Travis CI, and more. It also provides headless browser support for PhantomJS, and the ability to conduct tests on various devices including Samsung, iOS 11, iPad, and more.
Comparium
Comparium enables users to conduct cross-browser compatibility testing on various platforms. The tool allows for capturing screenshots of web resources on different browsers and operating systems, facilitating comparison in both manual and automated modes, and conducting live-time testing.
Comparium auto-detects visual discrepancies by highlighting them. It supports real-time testing and connects to the preferred browser and OS to check the website without installing additional software.
Selenium
Selenium is a leading option for web browser testing due to its renowned versatility. It supports various programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, Ruby, and JavaScript. This diverse range of language options enables testing teams to capitalize on their current skill sets and select a programming language that integrates smoothly with their proficiency.
The adaptability of Selenium extends to a variety of web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and others. The WebDriver API of Selenium facilitates the execution of tests across multiple browsers without requiring significant alterations, guaranteeing cross-browser compatibility.
Ranorex Studio
Ranorex Studio is a robust and user-friendly web browser testing tool designed for web testing. It boasts several pre-built features, including seamless integration with Ranorex Web Test. This integration offers two key functionalities – web scraping and functional testing. For instance, users can automate the extraction of all links from their browsers and subsequently create tests based on the title or text associated with each link.
TestComplete
TestComplete is a comprehensive web browser testing solution designed to automate browser testing compatibility across various configurations and operating systems. The tool is equipped to effectively manage and identify dynamic web elements within a wide range of accessible technologies, thanks to its extensive support for over 500 built-in controls and third-party frameworks.
TestComplete offers compatibility with various programming languages, including JavaScript, Python, C++, C#, VBScript, and Delphi. It allows for the parallel execution of tests across diverse real environments with minimal setup requirements. The tool leverages AI-driven object recognition and property-based methods for efficient testing. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with CI/CD tools, testing frameworks, and the SmartBear ecosystem.
Testim
Testim is a scalable web browser testing solution that leverages AI-powered automation for testing. It focuses on optimizing test automation environments to minimize maintenance efforts and time. Even a minor bug can have far-reaching implications, disrupting multiple software functionalities. Testim is designed to address the immediate organization’s needs by providing efficient solutions for user-interface testing, particularly for complex procedural flows.
QA Wolf
QA Wolf is an end-to-end automation testing tool that supports organizations with highly skilled quality assurance engineers to create, execute, and repeat all the intricate and critical test cases. It eradicates the burden of in-house quality assurance endeavors and delivers valuable resources to meet the end-to-end testing needs.
Conclusion
Web browser testing is vital to ensure the efficiency and reliability of the application across environments. An adequate web browser testing tool should deliver plenty of environment options for quality assurance teams to choose from, along with reporting, analytics, automation capabilities, and CI/CD integrations.
Web professionals can confidently deliver a high-quality and seamless browsing experience to their audience by utilizing the above-discussed tools and techniques. So, let us use these valuable resources and continue to elevate web browsing standards.
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