How to Test a Website on Different Browsers using Testsigma

There are a plethora of browsers available in the market for both web browsing and mobile browsing such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc. Now, the challenge here is that no one browser is similar to others or works in a similar fashion. A website may look and function differently on different browsers which can result in a loss in revenue.

Thus, cross-browser testing is needed in order to ensure that your visitors see your application in the same way you want them to, irrespective of the browsers they are using to access it.

Importance of Testing Websites in Different Browsers

Most people have a default browser. Among the multiple options that are available, users frequent only certain browsers while searching the internet. The majority of people use Chrome, which boasts of having the largest market share. However, there are others who prefer Firefox, Edge, or Safari.

If you have a website, then testing beyond your default browser is right for your business. All these browsers work differently and display the pages as per their functioning. There is a slight chance that your website layout might look different or even malfunction at a few places. But the rectification is quite simple: test the website in all browsers. This is called cross-browser testing.

Checking websites on different browsers also helps to unearth the problems early on before the users get to it.

But again, if there are multiple browsers, how do you decide which browsers to take up for testing? You can’t just take any random list of browsers and begin the validation process. It will be time-taking.

Here’s a way you can reduce the work while ensuring that your website runs smoothly on popular and most-used browsers.

How Do You Determine Which Browser to Test the Website on?

As a rule of thumb, start by picking out browsers that are popular in the market. Google Chrome. Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera are some of the options to look at.

Another way to decide on different browsers to test the website is to research your customers/users and see which browsers they regularly use. Take this a bit further by learning about the browser version and device they use to better formulate your testing strategy and test coverage. Prioritize the browsers that are most used and move downward to the ones that are least used.

Don’t forget to test every new update and regression on all these browsers before making the final release. And there are many cross browser testing tools you can avail for this activity.

Testsigma is a cloud-based cross-browser testing tool that lets you easily automate the end-to-end test cases for the web. These test cases can then easily be executed on different browsers available on the cloud.

Testsigma also gives you the flexibility to choose from multiple cloud labs that host these browsers and devices for cross browser testing. 

Why use Testsigma for automated cross-browser testing?

Here are some features that make Testsigma the best choice for automated cross browser testing:

i. Coding in Simple English: Testsigma does not require you to be a coding expert as it allows users to write automation scripts in simple English. It makes it really easy for anyone get started with the creation and execution of automated tests on the Testsigma platform.

ii. Instant Access to Thousands of Real Devices & Environments: Testsigma provides you with instant access to thousands of different testing environments available on the cloud.

iii. Parallel Testing: The platform allows the users to add multiple environments to testing and run parallel testing seamlessly to save a significant amount of time and effort.

iv. Supports Continuous Integration: Testsigma offers easy integrations with all the popular CI/CD tools such as Jenkins in order to facilitate continuous integration.

v. Robust Reporting Features: The platform comes with powerful test analytics and reporting that is customizable according to the user’s requirements. The reporting includes screenshots, video recordings, logs, and detailed reports to cover on all grounds.

vi. Scalability: With Testsigma, you need not worry about scaling up or down your testing infrastructure as per your specific testing needs. Additionally, as soon as a new version of a browser or operating systems (OS) is released in the market, it gets added by Testsigma to the available test environments.

As discussed above, Testsigma lets you automate your test cases and execute them in parallel on unlimited devices with different resolutions, browsers, and operating systems to cover every possible combination.

How to Test a website on different browsers using Testsigma

Let’s see how Testsigma tests a website on different browsers. We will start from the very basic. 

1. Prerequisites

These are some conditions that you will need to be fulfilled before you are able to create a test case on Testsigma. Don’t worry, these steps would only take a few minutes:

i. Create an account on Testsigma app if you don’t have one already.

You can sign up for a free 21 days trial here.

2. Create a Project

Once you have registered and done with the initial setup, you can move forward and create your first project. With Testsigma, you can create and manage multiple projects.

With every new Testsigma account, you get four sample projects having different sample test cases for web, mobile web, iOS, and Android application types. You can easily create a new project from your Testsigma dashboard present on the top left corner to get started with the project.

While creating the project make sure to select ‘project type’ as ‘web application’ because we are going to create a project for cross browser testing:

3. Create UI Identifiers

In order to automate your tests, you need to interact with the elements or objects present on a given web page. To specify these elements in the tests, you need some specific details about them which are known as UI identifiers.

These UI identifiers can be easily created using the Testsigma Chrome extension that lets you capture the details of elements easily when you interact with your web app in the browser. You can either create them by including XPath or attributes of the CSS elements or just by recording them in Chrome.

To read more about creating UI identifiers check here.

4. Create and Run Test Cases

Creating test case in Testsigma is as easy as using simple natural language along with the UI identifiers. Testsigma allows you to run a test case on one of the following Test Labs –

i. Testsigma Lab

ii. Local machines

iii. Private Grid

iv. Third-party IaaS providers such as BrowserStack/Sauce Labs

A typical test case on Testsigma looks like this:

5. Create Test Plan

Once you are done with the test creation, you can move forward with creating your test plan for cross-browser testing. You need to enter some basic details such as name, description, test plan type, test suit, test environment etc. You have to make sure that you select ‘test plan type’ as cross browser testing:

Once you have created the test plan, you can execute it by clicking on the run button.

It is crucial to test your website on multiple combinations of different browsers, operating systems, and devices to ensure good test coverage.

Below is how you can select multiple browsers for test execution:

6. Test Report Analysis

With Testsigma, you can get customizable reports as per your test requirements with reports accessible for individual test environments to help you locate the root failure causes much faster. It also lets you compare the test results on multiple browser-OS combinations in parallel.

Testsigma is one of the most comprehensive continuous cross-browser testing tools available in the market today that gives you a quality app user experience on the cloud and also ensures your application’s compatibility across several devices and browsers.

With Testsigma, writing automated tests is as simple as writing manual tests without any requirement for coding or knowledge of tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I run a test script in multiple browsers?

There is more than one way to run test scripts in multiple browsers. You can use Selenium WebDriver’s cross-browser testing capabilities. Simply initialize WebDriver instances for each browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) and execute the same test script with each WebDriver instance, ensuring compatibility and consistency across browsers.

Another tool is Testsigma that leverages its cross-browser testing capability and easily configures test executions for various browsers, ensuring comprehensive compatibility testing without the need for complex scripting or setup.

Is it important to check your website on all browsers?

Yes, it is a critical practice to test your website on multiple browsers. Differences in rendering engines and standards compliance can lead to variations in website appearance and functionality. Testing on popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge helps ensure a consistent user experience across diverse browsing platforms. Differences in rendering engines and standards compliance can lead to variations in website appearance and functionality. Testing on popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge helps ensure a consistent user experience across diverse browsing platforms.