#browser compatibility testing

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 Browser Testing 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

Cross Browser Compatibility is one of the most influencing part of a website. A website should be compatible with the different configurations and settings of different browsers. It may not be feasible to test the website dimensions manually throughout all the different browsers. Therefore, we rely on automated testing tools which are extremely helpful in testing websites will all dimensions. 

Compatibility Issues:

The compatibility issues are as old as the browsers themselves are. The major issues can be listed as follows:

- Multiple Browsers – Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari

- Multiple Versions of Browsers – IE (Version 7,8,9,10), Firefox(7.0, 8.0) etc.

- Multiple Computer Platforms- Windows, Mac, Linux etc.

- Multiple Screen Sizes – From PC, IPAD, to Smart Phones

- Font Sizes

- HTML Errors

Goals:

As per the above issues, Compatibility testing  should be performed on the following aspects:

- Browser Compatibility: Different browsers have different configurations. The website coding and layout should be compatible with as many browser platforms. Stress should be given on the JQuery and AJAX calls and their uniformity should be ensured through multiple browsers and their multiple versions.

- The different technologies used in developing the different components of the website, such as graphic designs, Animations, API integrations, etc., may not be compatible with the different versions of the Operating Systems.  Hence the Web Application needs to be tested across the different operating systems – Windows, Mac, Linux etc.

- The use of mobile internet has led to the emergence of version of mobile browsers. Hence the web application needs to be tested for its responsiveness on various devices and the accessibility of the interactive components should be ensured throughout all the mobile versions on different mobile platforms Checklist for ensuring Cross Browser Compatibility of Websites or Web Applications:

- HTML,  HTML5, CSS Validation.

- Font Size Validation, Special Characters Support, Character Encoding

- Page Layout in different resolution

- Image, Text Display and Alignment

- Page Styles

- Date Format

- Page Zoom in and Zoom out functionality.

- Video Settings and its Screen resolution.

- Design, layout and color display.

- Java Script, JQuery, GUI Animations, Ajax validations and their successful functionality.

Manual Cross Browser testing is a matter of time and money. Paid tools can be used for those browsers which have high browser dependent functionality.

However, free tools also verify cross browser compatibility to a sufficient extent. The different tools for compatibility testing are as follows:

- Spoon Browser SandBox- It allows to use all web browsers without installing them in the machine.

- Browser Shots: It can run compatibility testing with greater customization. The steps need to be repeated for every test. When many browsers are selected at a time, this tool takes a lot of time to display the results.

- IE NetRenderer:  This tool allows for testing across all versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

- IE Tab: It is a good tool to test on Internet Explorer using Firefox or Chrome.

- IE Tester: This tool allows testing the website on multiple versions Internet Explorer at the same time using only one application.

- Microsoft SuperPreview: This tool allows testing and debugging layout issues across different IE browsers. - Browsera (Paid Tool): It is an automated testing tool used to test the website and its elements in multiple browsers. It can be used to test for layout and scripting errors.

- Adobe Browser Lab(Paid Tool):Web Pages can be previewed across multiple versions of multiple web browsers. Full screen shots can be viewed with customizable test settings.

- BrowserCam(Paid Tool): It allows to view web pages across different platforms and browsers. This can be done either by automatically taking the screen shots or navigating through them automatically. 

- BrowserSeal(Paid Tool): It captures an image of the website under different browsers . The images can then be navigated through to spot layout and UI issues. - CrossBrowser Testing(Paid Tool): This tool requires the tester to log in, then select the browser and the operating system for testing the website.

- Cloud Testing(Paid Tool): This tool allows to check the website on real operating systems in the cloud.

- Selenium: It is testing framework for web applications. It is an open source software where the tests can be written in a number of programming languages.

Conclusion:

The complexity of software applications have increased due to the rapid evolution of web technologies. Certain web browsers are compatible with selective operating systems while certain browsers provide advanced privacy and automated features. Cross Browser Testing, or Browser Compatibility Testing, for an application needs to be performed across multiple cross browser platforms, operating systems and mobile devices to uncover discrepancies. To ensure the browser compatibility of an application, it is important to consider all the methods that end users utilize to interact with the application.

The need for Cross-Browser Testing:  

One of the main reasons, to put an application through multi-browser testing, is to monitor the CSS style rendering across different browsers. Older versions of Internet Explorer are unable to support the newer CSS elements and HTML tags.

All the browsers do not interpret the Javascript/Jquery codes in the same way. Thus, a script may work on one browser and get rendered as non-responsive on the other.  

Web browsers today are not just limited to personal computers, but they extend to mobiles also. Hence, cross browser testing needs to be performed on mobile browsers as well.

The main reasons for performing Cross-Browser testing can be summarized as follows:

- Display text mismatch. - Difference in Page Layout, Div Size, Image Orientation. - CSS elements and HTML/HTML5 tags support. - Animation effects. - Ajax, JQuery functionality support. - Browser incompatibility. - Header and Footer Sections - Date Formats - Special Character Encoding

How to perform Cross-Browser Testing:

The first criteria, for performing a cross browser testing, is to select the most important and the most used ones from a plethora of available browsers. Reviewing the site analytic report of the application can aid the testers to determine the main browsers for testing.

The traditional way to get started with this testing procedure is to open up the application on multiple browsers sequentially and cross check against a set of desired results. Most of the time, the common browsers considered for testing are the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. However due to considerable differences in the operating system, the following browsers need to be considered:

• Google Chrome (Windows and Mac) • Internet Explorer (Windows, Version 7 – 11) • Mozilla Firefox(Windows and Mac) • Safari (Windows and Mac) • iPhone • Droid • Windows Phone • iPad

By testing the application in a preferred browser, an idea of the application display and functionality is made. Then, testing is started with the primitive versions of the Internet Explorer gradually moving up the versions. This helps to identify the issues that are specifically related to Internet Explorer.  When testing with all the desktop browsers are completed, focus is shifted on the mobile web browsers.

Testing with all the desktop and mobile browsers can be a long process. Hence, the main checks performed include display, animations and those functionality that use background processes.

Testing Tools:

To automate the process of testing, there are certain cross browser testing tools available in the market. They are mentioned as follows:

Free: - Spoon Browsers - Browsershots - IE NetRenderer - IE Tab - IE Tester - Microsoft SuperPreview Paid: - Browsera - Adobe browserLab - BrowserCam - Browsereal - Cross Browser Testing - Browserling - Selenium Web Driver - Rapise

There are certain versions of browsers which have gone almost extinct or those which are very troublesome. Fixing application issues may not be possible or might not be worth the trouble. In such cases, rather than fixing all style and animation issues, the main focus can be put on functionality and usability.

Conclusion:

Success generally means the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted. Without emphasizing on the technicalities as of now, a software or an application is said to be successful when

- Its popularity, downloads and usage continues to grow at an exponential rate. - It can adapt to changing environment maintaining its robustness. - It results into a continuous as well as a substantial source of income for the vendor.

The very first step towards achieving the above goals lies in making the application available globally. Not only that, the application should also easily load on any operating system, devices, network and user interface. Compatibility Testing addresses these issues.

An application is generally developed in a single environment. Compatibility testing is done when the application is runs successfully on the base system. It is a non-functional testing which ensures that the application runs without glitches on different permutations and combinations of supporting software and hardware environment.

The Basics:

Compatibility is the ability to co-exist with other attributes of an environment with least inconsistencies. This article covers the various aspects of software compatibility testing. In IT industry, compatibility refers to a system that is scalable in different computing environments with the same efficiency level. Such an environment consists of the following components:

• Operating System • Database System • Software System • Browser Attributes • Multiple Devices • Network System

Additional factors that can affect the application can be

• Different versions of the software • Screen resolution • Internet Speed and system configuration

Two considerations within the scope of an application compatibility testing are:

• Backward compatibility – that checks the efficiency of the application in previous versions. • Forward Compatibility – that checks the efficiency of the application in future versions.

The Need:

• User expectations are very crucial for the success of the application. Hence the predefined scope of development should keep these requirements and expectations in consideration. Compatibility Testing is performed to ensure that the application is functional with a wide range of software and hardware systems and stays ahead in the competition. This testing is done to upgrade the application with the emergence of new technology.

• A satisfied user is the best bet for product endorsement. Once users get what they look for, they serve as indirect marketing tools for the product brand. They refer the product into their social circle which in turn increases the popularity of the product.

• A major percentage of the customer care issues can be classified under the compatibility complaints. This requires deployment of live resources to interact and solve these issues at the earliest. Maintaining an efficient customer support staff requires additional and continuous investment.  If this test is carried out efficiently, it results into a substantial savings for the company as the number of complaints are reduced to a greater extent.

• Testing always aims at improving the product quality. The software testing procedures and the experience gathered during this phase serve as references for future product enhancements. This also improves the professional maturity of the company.  

Compatibility testing is a part of non-functional software tests. Compatibility is nothing but capacity of existing or living together. In computer world, compatibility is to check whether your software is able to run on different operating systems, applications, hardware, network environments or mobile devices. This testing is conducted to evaluate the application's compatibility with the computing environment that may contain some or all of the elements mentioned below:

-          Computing ability of Hardware Platform (HP 9000, IBM 360, etc.)

-          Compatibility of peripherals (DVD drive, Printer, etc.)

-          Bandwidth handling ability of networking hardware

-          Operating systems (Linux, Windows, Mac etc.)

-          Database (MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.)

-          Other System Software (Networking/ messaging tool, web server, etc.)

-          Browser compatibility (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Safari, etc.)  

Browser compatibility testing can be more aptly referred to as user experience testing. This aims to ensure that the web applications are tested on multiple web browsers, to make sure the following:

-          Users have the same visual experience regardless of the browsers through which they view the web application.

-          The application should behave and respond the same way in terms of functionality across multiple browsers.

-          Carrier compatibility (Orange, Verizon, Sprint, O2, AirTel, etc.)  

-          Backwards compatibility

-          Hardware (various phones)

-          Runs on several host/guest Emulators

-          Different Compilers (compile the code appropriately)

Certification testing falls under the category of compatibility testing. Product vendors run the entire testing procedure on the new computing scenario in order to get their software or application certified for Databases or particular Operating Systems (Windows, Linux, Mac etc).

Let's take a closer look into the types of OS compatibility testing:

-          Operating Systems: Your software should be compatible with different Operating Systems like Windows, UNIX, and Mac OS etc.  

-          Hardware: It checks whether the software is compatible with several hardware configurations.

-          Software: It tests the compatibility of your developed software with other software. For instance, MS Word application must be compatible with other software such as MS Outlook, MS Excel and VBA.

-          Browser: This testing is conducted to ensure that your website is compatible with different browsers like Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox etc.

-          Network: This process basically aims to evaluate performance of system in network with different parameters such as Operating speed, Bandwidth, Capacity. It also tests the application in different networks with all of these parameters.

-          Devices: It checks your software’s compatibility with different devices such as USB port Devices, Scanners and Printers, Blue tooth and other media devices.

-          Mobile: It checks you software is compatible with mobile platforms such as iOS, Android, etc.

-          Software Versions: It verifies the compatibility of your software application with different software versions. For instance, it tests your Microsoft Word to make sure it is compatible with Windows 7 SP1, Windows 7, Windows 7 SP 2, Windows 7 SP 3 etc. 

Types of Version Checking

There are two types of checking versions of the software:

-          Backward compatibility Testing: It is conducted to check the behavior of the developed software or hardware with their older versions.

-          Forward compatibility Testing: It verifies the behavior of the developed software or hardware with their newer versions.

Tools for compatibility testing

-          Adobe Browser Lab: This browser compatibility testing tool helps in checking your application in various browsers.

-          Secure Platform: This hardware compatibility tool includes essential drivers for a specific hardware platform and it provides information on tool to test CD burning procedure with CD burning tools.

-          Virtual Desktops: This operating system compatibility tool is used to run the applications in manifold operating systems as virtual machines. N number of systems can be linked and evaluate the results.

The most imperative use of compatibility testing is intended to check whether developed software works under diverse configurations as mentioned in requirements documentation. This testing is essential to check whether the application is well-suited with the client's environment.