Cross-Browser Testing
This year is the year of the Customer. The Customers who will be spending on average £1.1 billion per week online! There is no more significant time to review your testing approach to web testing and what browsers you are testing with.
Most companies have a paragraph detailed in their Test Strategy confirming the browser of choice for their web testing, but in the current climate and digital trends is your choice sufficient? Is a single browser enough coverage? What about mobile, have you considered this?
Just to reinforce where the latest review of your test strategy should focus, let me share the following with you:
- 67% of smartphone users say they look for the most relevant information regardless of the company providing it.
- British adults spend seven hours and 56 minutes consuming media. This includes two hours spent ‘dual screening’.
- 70% of consumers say that technology makes it easier than ever for them to take their business elsewhere.
- 75% of people expect a consistent experience across social media, mobile and in person.
- 64% of consumers expect companies to interact with them without delay.
Testing Approach
After each development iteration, as a QA Tester you will be required to test new functionality. It would be best practice to ensure that there are no general issues by selected a few of the more popular browser. After which you should expand your browser list, making it more comprehensive and perform in depth cross browser testing.
However, if you don’t have the time to cover all your identified tests yourself, consider delegating ‘browsers’ to each member of the test team ensuring that they only use ‘their’ browser to perform the testing. This was you will be able to obtain a good coverage and identify any issues as early as possible in the testing cycle. Though this would only be a possibility if you have a team of testers all working on your project – though this would still take a certain amount of time to test all the browser that you need to, as well as considering the problem of having these browsers installed locally.
There is an alternative to this approach and that is to use commercially available tools with out the need to configure and setup multiple browsers or emulators yourself.
BrowserStack is a cloud-based cross-browser testing tool that enables developers to test their websites across various browsers on different operating systems and mobile devices, without requiring users to install virtual machines, devices or emulators.
Features of BrowserStack
- BrowserStack allows the user to access the very latest versions of IE, Edge, Safari, Chrome, Firefox and more on a range of Windows and OS X platforms on a robust cloud infrastructure.
- Real Device Cloud – Test on a range of physical Android and iOS mobile devices and tablets for the most accurate results.
- Native Experience – Real browsers on real machines. Just like a locally installed browser, with media streaming, developer tools, keyboard shortcuts, and much more.
- Secure – BrowserStack can be used with confidence every day to test securely in the cloud.
- Automation – BrowserStack also allows for Selenium testing on desktop browsers, real iOS and Android devices.
Not only does BrowserStack enable the user to test on the latest browsers, but also the latest mobile phones to ensure that your website provides a consistent experience across all platforms including mobile. Remember the Customers spending on average £1.1 billion per week online, well they won’t be doing it with your company if you site does not function well on a mobile platform.
Obviously, BrowserStack is just one of the many platforms that can be used for cross-browser testing and most come with a cost. So it is really recommended that you review all your available options before committing to one.
A Certified Salesforce Administrator, Salesforce Einstein Analytics and Discovery Consultant, ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level, Jitterbit Foundations and Jitterbit Core Certified QA Test Automation Manager who is also an experienced creative all-rounder with enthusiasm and the proven ability to understand client needs and deliver satisfying solutions. A thirst for new technology and modern Quality Assurance and Testing techniques keeps me aspiring to learn at every opportunity. My current role is at Publicis Sapient who are an official Salesforce Platinum Partner. Publicis Sapient provide Salesforce expertise and strategic thinking that enables organisations to transform their business to Cloud-based technology.