Cross-Browser Testing | The Complete Guide

In short: Every browser interprets HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in its own way: a website that works perfectly in Chrome may break in Safari. Cross-browser testing ensures that functionality, design, and accessibility remain consistent across all browsers. This guide explains what these tests are, who performs them, which features to test, and how to choose which browsers to cover.

Every browser follows the same web standards. However, not every browser renders HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the same way.

Differences in how browsers interpret code require software developers to conduct cross-browser testing to ensure a consistent user experience regardless of the browser used.

In this article, we'll explain what cross-browser testing is, who does it, why it's important, and how to do it.

What are cross-browser tests?

Cross-browser testing is a type of functional testing that allows you to verify whether your website works as expected when viewed using:

Various browser-OS combinations on popular browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Safari, and on popular operating systems such as Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Various devices: smartphones, tablets, desktop and laptop computers, etc.

Accessibility Tools: Assistive technologies, such as screen readers, for people who need them.

Who performs cross-browser testing?

QA teams typically run test scenarios across multiple browsers to ensure that the release meets the basic criteria.

UX teams conduct cross-browser testing to see how the website performs on different devices and in different orientations.

Which features are tested in cross-browser testing?

The features that will undergo cross-browser testing are generally classified into the following categories:

Basic Functionality

Ensures that basic features work on most browser-OS combinations. For example, you could test to verify that:

• The menus work as expected
• Form fields accept entries after they have been validated correctly
• The website properly handles first-party cookies (and features such as personalization that depend on them).
• Touch input works as expected on mobile phones and tablets

Design

This ensures that the website's appearance (fonts, images, and layout) matches the specifications shared by the design team.

Accessibility

Ensures that the website or app is accessible to everyone.

How do you select which browsers to test?

The large number of browsers, devices, and operating systems makes it virtually impossible to create and test on every browser-OS combination.

A more realistic goal is to focus your testing efforts on maximizing your website's reach within your target market. To do this, you'll need to choose the most relevant browsers and versions:

Based on popularity

Select the most popular or most widely used browsers and choose the two main platforms—such as Android and iOS—to maximize your reach in any target market.

The most popular browsers include:

• Firefox
• Edge
• Chrome
• Safari
  

Based on the analysis

Review your website's traffic statistics as captured by analytics tools (such as Google Analytics).

The goal is to discover:

1. Which browser-OS combinations are most commonly used by your target audience?
2. On which devices is your website typically viewed?
   

When are cross-browser tests performed?

Cross-browser testing is performed: 

During development: Developers test new features to ensure they are compatible with all browsers before deploying the changes to production.

Staging/Pre-Release: The QA teams perform cross-browser testing for each release to ensure that no browser compatibility issues arise in the latest version of a website or application. 

How are cross-browser tests conducted?

1. Lay the Groundwork

Before you begin cross-browser testing, run all design and functionality tests on your primary browser, which is usually Chrome. This will give you a baseline.

2. Create a test plan and select the browsers to test on

Create a test plan to describe exactly what you are going to test. 

Next, choose the browser-OS combinations to test based on popularity and an analysis of your current traffic.

3. Execution | Automated vs. Manual Cross-Browser Testing

Manual testing requires human testers to execute test scenarios sequentially, while automated testing automates human interactions.

A single test script written by professional QA engineers using automation tools such as Mr Suricate can run your: 

• Automated Firefox Tests
• Edge Automated Testing
• Automated Chrome Tests
• Automated Safari Testing
  

With an accurate error report, bugs are easier to find and fix, whereas manual testing leaves room for human error.

4. Infrastructure

There are several ways to set up your cross-browser testing infrastructure: 

Emulators and Simulators

You can use virtual machines and install browsers on them for testing purposes. Although this approach is inexpensive, it has a few drawbacks:

• It's not easily scalable.
• Test results are not reliable on mobile platforms (Android and iOS)
  

In-house equipment farm

If you have the resources to purchase real devices and maintain their integrity over time, you can set up your own device farm.

This is obviously the most expensive and time-consuming option.

External Devices Farm

Browsers released in recent years comply with the W3C standard for continuous delivery. This means they release new versions at a rapid pace, sometimes even several versions a week.

Major browsers also adopt and rely on the Chromium codebase. This makes these browsers very similar, with the exception of the rendering engine—which is always browser-specific. This difference must be taken into account in any cross-browser testing strategy.

This type of test environment allows you to run your tests on a remote lab of secure devices and browsers at a fraction of the cost of setting up your own device lab.

With a solution called Browserstack, you can use the same single script for different device combinations to obtain the results of functional and visual tests across the specified range of combinations.

There is no need to duplicate scenarios; instead, we should design user journeys so that they intersect, thereby distributing users across different scenarios.

Key benefits of automated cross-browser testing:

• Create automation scripts for different purposes—functional, visual, and cross-browser testing—all at once.
• There's no need to create different configurations for different types of tests
• Take advantage of the solution for the web, mobile web, and native apps
• No need to maintain the appliances
• No-code automated tests = anyone can run them
  

Mr Suricate A Multi-Browser Automated Testing Solution 

Mr Suricate 's no-code cross-browser automated testing solution allows Mr Suricate to easily test applications and websites across different browsers, operating systems, and mobile platforms.

With Mr Suricate, you don't need to know how to code or spend a fortune to ensure your users have a smooth, bug-free browsing experience—no matter how they access your site! 

FAQ

What is cross-browser testing?

This is the process of verifying that a website displays and functions correctly across different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge). It detects differences in how HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are interpreted.

How should we choose which browsers to test?

Based on your site's popularity and actual audience statistics, we prioritize the browsers and versions most commonly used by your visitors.

What is checked in a cross-browser test?

Basic features (navigation, forms), design (layout, styles), and accessibility. The goal is to provide a consistent experience regardless of the browser.