How to Ensure Cross Browser Compatibility

It is vital for any business or software to provide a great user experience to a broader user base. An application should work on different devices like mobile, laptop, tablets, and smart televisions according to the purpose of the application. Also, all possible browsers and OS combinations possible. In case the application does not support an environment then it should provide the basic functionality with minimum features. In this way, we will be able to make the application functional for all the targeted users. How can we achieve this? We can do so by focusing on Cross-Browser compatibility issues. 

What is Cross Browser Compatibility

Cross-browser compatibility testing is the most important testing for someone whose business is completely dependent on a website. Take for example an online service provider company. It may have gone through rough testing phases but is there a point in exhausting all your energy when the end-user is not able to communicate with the website properly?

Cross-browser compatibility testing is extremely important for a successful running website where you have one less thing to worry about. Since cross-browser compatibility testing is so important, it should be done with caution and care.

Similar to any other testing paradigm, developing the software with due consideration to the feedback from testing will always prove to be fruitful in the end. Hence, we have crafted this post in the same direction to provide you with tips on cross-browser compatibility testing. Working your way by keeping these tips in mind will help you design a website that is partially compatible even before testing.

Importance of Cross Browser Compatibility Testing

Cross browser compatibility testing testing ensures a website or application works efficiently across several browsers and devices. The idea is to avoid load failures because of outdated browser versions, prevent website crashes due to a lack of the latest JavaScript or CSS features support, and the absence of accessible technology for differently-abled users.

Some more reasons as to why cross-browser testing for website compatibility is necessary are:

1. Enhanced Brand Reputation: A flawless website on all browsers improves the brand image of your business through consistency, which contributes significantly to fostering user trust and hence enhances your brand’s image. Also, catching and fixing compatibility issues early reduces the cost of website development.
2. A Good User Experience (UX): A patchy, broken, or unappealing website leaves users confused and impatient, leading to an excessive bounce rate and low customer satisfaction. Cross-browser compatibility testing provides users a uniform and seamless UX across multiple browsers.
3. Make your target wider: Different users prefer specific browsers for their personal features, such as security or compatibility with old devices. If your website does not work on all major browsers, you will lose the audience interested in your business because of improper or broken UI or UX.
4. Improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Google and other search engines consider a website’s responsiveness for SERP rankings. Cross-browser compatibility testing is an aspect of these elements, which makes your website a whole package to be ranked in different browsers.
5. Support Accessibility: When you perform cross-browser compatibility testing, you are not just making sure that your website works on different web browsers; you also have to test whether the site works with assistive technologies meant for visually or otherwise impaired people.

Types of Cross Browser Compatibility Testing

There are different angles from which one can classify cross-browser compatibility testing—each targeting a specific area so that your website or application can work well on different browsers. 

Here are some of the common types:

1. Browser Version Testing:

Such a test is used to validate that the site functions correctly on different versions of one browser. An example would be trying out your application on the most recent Chrome version and some older ones that are still popular among many users. This way, you can guarantee that your product is compatible with various user groups that may not have the latest software updates installed.

2. Multi-browser testing:

This verification confirms dependable operation across distinct known browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge— and possibly others based on your end user. Regardless of the adoption of uniform web development methodologies, minor disparities in the ways browsers construe and depict code can cause dissonances even today.

3. Platform Compatibility Testing:

Such testing concerns browsers as well as ensuring that your website works properly on various platforms. Visitors might use Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, or other machines. Platform compatibility testing aims to guarantee a seamless user experience regardless of the OS being used.

4. Rendering Engine Compatibility Testing:

Modern browsers employ rendering engines that understand and show information on websites. Although popular browsers have their unique rendering engines (for example, Blink for Chrome and Gecko for Firefox), other minor browsers could adopt different choices.
Your website needs to undergo compatibility testing with these rendering engines so it can display properly regardless of the browser being used. This test helps reduce the chance of having display issues later on.

5. Responsive Design Testing:

Responsive design testing ensures your website is correctly displayed on desktops, tablets, and mobile phones— guaranteeing a seamless user experience.

6.  Assistive Technology Testing:

The latter form of testing is intended to ensure that your website is accessible to users with disabilities. It tests compatibility with assistive technologies such as screen readers, voice recognition software, and keyboard navigation tools.

How to Avoid Cross Browser Compatibility Issues?

To avoid Cross Browser compatibility issues in the production environment we can follow below points-

1. Validate HTML and CSS

Different browsers read, interpret, and handle the code differently. It is quite expected that developers may omit certain ‘closing tag’ or ‘semicolon’ in the syntax while writing code. While most of the browsers may auto-correct such syntax errors few older browsers may not do so. Such errors may pose problems while rendering for old browsers like Internet Explorer. Read here about Internet Explorer Testing

While coding such errors can be avoided by adopting the below steps –

• Writing well-aligned code
• Inserting comments wherever required
• Indentation and matching the opening-closing braces

Also, to make it easier there are validation tools available in the market. To handle such situations developers use the below tools for code validation-

• W3C HTML validator
• Jigsaw CSS validator
• JS Formatter for HTML
• CSS Lint
• JS Lint

2. Maintain Layout Compatibility

We need a responsive application which works on all devices, platforms, and browsers including all versions. The layout of the application should appear perfect and standard in all the environments where it will be used after release.

Read more on Cross-Browser compatibility testing of responsive applications.

The reasons for layout incompatibility can be –

• The layout design is unresponsive on mobile devices.
• Differences in the rendering of layout design by modern browsers.
• Modern browsers do not support some layouts.

 Methods to maintain layout compatibility-

• HTML viewport metatag– It ensures that the content is properly spanned across a mobile screen.  
• CSS Multi-Column layouts– It helps in maintaining the proper layout of multiple column content according to the layout of the container.
• CSS Flexbox and Grid– These techniques help in laying out child elements based on their content and the space available for rendering.

3. Use CSS Resets

Browsers have a default design layout which is applied to the website running on them. In order to apply another design layout to the application, developers need to override the default design. If this is not done then the same application will be rendered differently on different browsers. 

This CSS reset is done in code by using CSS reset style sheets by developers. This way any layout design issue can be avoided.

Examples of CSS reset style sheets are-

• Github based Normalize.css
• HTML5 Reset
• Eric Meyer’s Reset CSS

4. Provide Support for Basic Features of the Application

We should cross-check the application for providing the native features across different sets of browsers. If a browser doesn’t support the code then our application should be in a position to provide a different set of code which will run on that particular browser. This will ensure that the application’s basic features are available to the users in any case.

This concept is called feature detection where we are safeguarding the application against an event where the browser doesn’t support the code. Therefore we provide an alternate code to run on the browser to provide a seamless experience for the user. Additionally, to ensure a smooth and efficient user experience across all browsers, testing with a reliable cross-browser automation tool like Testsigma can help identify potential issues before they arise in production.

We can implement feature detection in code by-

• Write your own feature detection code for CSS and JavaScript.
• Use feature detection libraries- e.g. Modernizr, Polyfill, etc.

5. Check JavaScript Issues to avoid the Cross-Browser compatibility issues

Below steps can be taken to avoid the Cross-Browser compatibility issues related to JavaScript-

• Judicious use of JavaScript library, to make sure that the library supports browsers and features of the application.
• JavaScript code using the latest features of ES6/ECMAScript may not work on older browsers. JavaScript Transpiling converts the ES6/ECMAScript based code into a code which can run on older browsers as well.

6. Check DOCTYPE tag

The DOCTYPE keyword is used to define the rules we want to use in the code. We should define DOCTYPE in the code so that the web browser knows the rules and does not go haywire.

Older versions of Internet Explorer check for the DOCTYPE tag at the beginning of the code. If the tag is not found then the application is not properly rendered.

A browser works in three modes they are-

• Full standard mode- There are stricter checks by the browser in full standard mode. Browser checks for the errors according to the W3C specifications.
• Almost standard mode- A very few quirks are implemented.
• Quirk mode- It provides backward compatibility to older browsers. In a quirk, mode browsers do not perform error checks. The layout emulates non-standard behaviour.

Therefore when a code misses a DOCTYPE tag the browser moves to quirk mode and then stops performing error checks and behaves in a non-standard manner. Hence, it is important to add the DOCTYPE tag at the beginning of the code.

7. Test on Real Devices to Avoid Cross-Browser Compatibility Issues

Although we can test an application on virtual machines and environments. For more effective testing real devices are the perfect platform. To avoid Cross-Browser compatibility issues later we should test the application on real desktops, mobiles, tablets, and laptops.

To set up a real device lab manually is impossible, in such cases we take the help of Cross-Browser testing tools. While there are tools that let you execute your cross browser test cases manually or lets you automate them and then execute them, you need to decide what is it that you need.
Testsigma, an automated cross browser testing tool, provides immediate access to thousands of browser-OS combinations to the users. You can run test cases in parallel across the real devices in less time. You may choose from the thousands of environments available on the cloud or test on the local machines present in our office premises.

8. Use Frameworks and Libraries that Support Cross-Browser Compatibility

We should use frameworks and libraries which are standard and which support Cross-Browser compatibility to make our life easier.

1. For JavaScript :

• jQuery
• AngularJS
• ReactJS

2. For CSS:

• Bootstrap
• Foundation
• 960 grid

9. Cross-Browser Test Early

It is advised to start Cross-Browser testing as soon as one page of the application is ready to check whether app is cross browser compatible. It will help uncover the compatibility issues early in the development cycle and will be fixed quickly. We should not wait till the later stages of the development cycle to start testing.

Since Cross-Browser compatibility testing requires test coverage of a number of environments. Hence, we should try to minimise the stress and challenges in the later part of the cycle.

Conclusion

We will be able to avoid most of the Cross-Browser compatibility issues following the above steps. However, the supporting step for all these precautions is through Cross-Browser compatibility testing. For effective testing, we should use automated Cross-Browser compatibility testing tools.

They are easier to use, provide thousands of environments immediately, provide parallel testing, are scalable, provide testing on real devices, and provide better reporting and logging. Hence, automated Cross-Browser testing tools like Testsigma are essential for effective and faster Cross-Browser compatibility testing of the application.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I fix Cross-Browser Compatibility Issues?

To address cross-browser compatibility issues, ensure that your website adheres to web standards, utilizes CSS frameworks like Bootstrap, and tests it on different browsers, making necessary adjustments to code and styles as needed. Automation testing tools like Testsigma offer a comprehensive test automation platform for web, mobile, and desktop applications that ensures cross-browser compatibility with its extensive browser coverage.

How Does Selenium Handle Cross-Browser Compatibility Issues?

Selenium handles cross-browser compatibility issues by ensuring that web programs look and perform the same regardless of the browser through which they are visited by employing test scripts written in various programming languages such as PHP, Python, Java, and others.

How do I ensure browser compatibility?

Browser compatibility is the ability of a website or web application to function correctly in various web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. To ensure browser compatibility, developers should test their code across multiple browsers and versions to ensure it works properly for all users. Additionally, developers should use HTML and CSS coding standards supported by all major browsers.

How do you check for compatibility testing?

Compatibility testing is software testing to ensure that an application works correctly on different hardware, operating systems, and software versions. It can be done manually or with automated tools. To check for compatibility testing, testers should run tests on all combinations of the targeted hardware, operating systems, and software versions to ensure the application functions appropriately in each environment.