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Online Browser Testing At Scale: Optimizing Test Coverage Across Platforms

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In the modern testing landscape, providing top-notch web applications is the cornerstone of testing organizations. Because users access websites through a variety of devices and browsers, it is critical to provide a consistent and world-class experience across all platforms. This is where online browser testing comes into play, as it helps provide strategies to test websites or web applications across multiple web browsers online and verify that they work as intended in multiple devices, operating systems, and web browsers online. This includes testing compatibility, functionality, layout, and performance and optimizing test coverage across a variety of browser and platform combinations.

In this comprehensive guide, we will cover strategies to scale browser testing capabilities and optimize test coverage across all platforms. Before discussing that, let’s have a quick overview of what online browser testing is, what are its benefits, and features, and how it helps in enhancing test coverage.

Understanding online browser testing

Online browser testing is a technique of functional testing to check whether the website or web application performs uniformly across different browsers and operating systems without manual intervention. Because various browsers and devices interpret and render code differently, it leads to layout issues, broken functionality, and security risks. Performing this testing enables developers to detect and resolve these issues before its release. This approach speeds up the testing process and enhances the accuracy and reliability of web applications.

Why perform online browser testing

Ensures Consistency of User Experience

Web browsers may display web pages differently depending on the platform. Online browser testing ensures that a website’s visual appearance, navigational structure, and functional capabilities remain similar across all major browsers. Users may access and interact with the elements as intended by the developers regardless of the browser.

Reduces Bug Discovery Time

Online browser testing helps developers detect bugs and issues in a website or application early in the development process and fix them for compatibility before it goes live. This proactive strategy decreases the chance of major issues arising in the production environment while saving time and costs.

Increased Efficiency and Speed

One of the most notable advantages of online browser testing is the increased speed and efficiency it provides to the testing process. Unlike manual testing, which is time-consuming and slow, automation enables testers to run several tests concurrently across multiple browsers and environments. Performing parallel testing reduces testing cycle time dramatically, allowing for more rapid feedback loops.

Cost and Time Efficiency

While online browser testing takes time and resources initially, it ultimately saves money and time in the long run. Addressing compatibility issues at the development stage is more efficient than attempting to repair problems after launching the website. Furthermore, detecting defects early eliminates the need for costly debugging or major repairs later.

Broader Test Coverage

Online browser testing enables teams to dramatically increase their test coverage. It is possible to conduct tests across a wide range of browsers, versions, and operating systems, which would otherwise be impossible to do manually within a reasonable time frame. This thorough coverage guarantees that the application provides a consistent and optimal user experience across all platforms.

Common issues in online browser testing

The following are common issues that occur while performing online browser testing across multiple platforms.

CSS resets- Different browsers can use different default styles for HTML components such as font sizes, margins, padding, and line heights. This might be problematic when dealing with complicated designs or layouts.

Outdated browser detection- JavaScript may not detect the browser correctly if an old browser is used. This is due to outdated JavaScript.

DOCTYPE error- If the Doctype is missing, the site may not display properly, especially in older browsers.

Color rendering- Colors may be shown differently by various browsers, altering the meaning of certain elements on a webpage.

Lack of testing on real devices- Testing only on virtual machines is not as efficient as testing on real devices, as in real scenarios it may not provide accurate results. Thus, testing on real devices can be the most effective way to confirm that a website works across numerous browsers and devices.

Compatibility issues- There might be compatibility issues with third-party libraries and frameworks, plugins like Java or Flash, and browser-specific bugs.

Overcoming the above challenges will help scale online browser testing, optimizing test coverage across multiple environments.

Key consideration while performing online browser testing

  • Rendering Differences: Ensure that the website appears appropriately as intended in multiple browsers, including differences in fonts, colors, and layout.
  • Feature Support: Make sure that the website’s features are supported by a wide range of browsers, and avoid employing outdated or experimental techniques.
  • CSS Compatibility: Examine how CSS styles are interpreted and implemented in various browsers, fixing any discrepancies or rendering issues.
  • Compatibility of JavaScript: Verify that the JavaScript code works in several browsers, taking into consideration differences in JavaScript engines and feature support.
  • Adaptive Design: Make sure the website adapts easily across numerous screen sizes and orientations, providing a consistent user experience across all devices, such as desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
  • Touchscreen Interaction: Check the website’s behavior to touch gestures and verify that elements have been scaled and placed correctly for touch-based devices.
  • Device-Specific Features: Always test device-specific functions, such as geolocation and camera access.
  • Loading Times: Determine how long it takes for the website to load in different browsers and devices, and then customize it for faster performance.

Browser selection criteria for online browser testing

To proactively identify browsers, a practical and cost-effective technique is required. Testing on every accessible browser is exhaustive. Significantly prioritizing testing efforts on browsers commonly used by the target audience is the best practice. Determine the following variables when choosing browsers and versions for testing:

Popularity

After doing comprehensive research, make sure to include all operating systems and browsers important to the target audience. Then, select the most popular ones. Start by using the most popular browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Samsung Internet, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. As they have the largest number of users.

User Traffic

Use analytics tools such as Google Analytics to analyze the website’s user traffic. Categorize traffic based on browsers and devices. This breakdown gives information about the preferred browser, operating system combinations, and devices among the target users. Prioritize testing on these configurations to guarantee optimal compatibility and to find and address issues before the website becomes operational.

Most essential features a browser testing tool must have

A reliable cross-browser compatibility testing tool is required to provide a consistent user experience across all devices and browsers. Here are some essential features to look for in such a tool:

Test Multiple Configurations in Parallel: The tool should support testing on frequently used browser-OS configurations and allow for concurrent testing of several combinations to improve productivity.

Feature-Specific Test Cases: The ability to write test cases or procedures that are suited to certain features is critical. For example, test only the signup and login UI components for compatibility.

Integration with Development Workflow: The tool must easily integrate with Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) pipelines like Jenkins, Puppet, or Chef to maintain consistency and alignment with the development process.

Scalability: As the website’s popularity grows, the tool must provide support for greater test coverage. This covers testing positive and negative processes, running cross-browser tests concurrently, and managing several test environments.

Minimal Manual Intervention: From the setup phase to understanding its functionality, the tool should involve the least amount of manual intervention. This guarantees efficiency and usability.

Time Efficiency: A time-efficient tool allows testers to test various scenarios without requiring repeating definitions, this approach helps in speeding up the testing process.

Comprehensive Test Coverage: The tool should offer comprehensive test coverage across several browsers, and operating system configurations. This includes extensive testing on various devices, browsers, and environments to ensure comprehensive validation.

Detailed Test Reports: The tool should create precise, environment-specific test data. These data should include individual test results for all platforms, as well as photos or videos of the whole testing procedure.

24/7 Support Availability: Support is sometimes ignored but it is essential yet. The tool should include various ways of communication to fix problems, and assistance should always be available to solve any issues that arise.

Consider these essential features when choosing a browser testing tool to improve the testing process and provide optimized test coverage across several platforms.

Top online browser testing tools

LambdaTest

It is a cloud-based cross-browser automation testing platform that provides various online browsers, devices, and operating systems to scale and optimize test coverage across all platforms.

LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that allows developers to run manual and automated testing of both web and mobile applications at scale. Testers can utilize its cloud infrastructure of more than 3000 environments, real mobile devices, and browsers online to perform automation testing in real time.

The platform also enables testers to test sites on mobile and various web platforms covering multiple browsers and operating systems. This also includes the capability to test on both locally hosted and publicly accessible websites.

Some of its notable features include live interactive testing, responsive testing, and integration with popular development tools and automation frameworks. It also provides a range of bug management tools like Jira, Trello, Github, etc to streamline the process of bug logging. Another unique aspect of the platform is the easy integration across various CI/CD tools and test automation frameworks. That helps improve testing efficiency, making it an ideal choice for developers and QA teams.

Selenium

Selenium is an open-source web browser automation platform. It combines various tools, including the Selenium IDE, Selenium WebDriver, and Selenium Grid. Together, these tools provide a single interface for entering test scripts in a variety of popular coding languages such as Ruby, Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, Perl, and its Selenese language.

Moreover, It can generate automated tests from these scripts and run them locally or remotely on a variety of browsers. Additionally, Popular CI/CD tools, such as Jenkins and Travis CI, enable Selenium testing. Selenium is also a popular choice in the cloud, serving as the foundation for cloud-based cross-browser testing tools such as Lambda Test.

Katalon Studio

Katalon Studio is a user-friendly automated testing tool that supports cross-browser testing. It runs in the cloud but can also be installed locally, allowing testing teams to access it remotely from anywhere. It includes built-in templates, test case libraries, keywords, and object repositories, making it an excellent codeless choice for basic testing. Coding abilities are useful in more complicated applications, and Katalon provides considerable script extension and customization options.

BitBar

BitBar is a cloud-based cross-browser testing tool that enables developers to test their websites and applications across a variety of browsers, devices, and operating systems. It can seamlessly integrate with popular development tools like Jenkins, Appium, Travis CI, and Selenium. The private cloud services of BitBar include advanced features such as a dedicated VPN, single sign-on (SSO), priority support, and customized device cleanups. Finally, BitBar is ideal for developers searching for a quick and simple solution to test their application in a variety of contexts.

Conclusion

Scaling browser testing with automation is not just a strategic move, it’s a forward-looking approach that aligns with the dynamic nature of web development. Embracing online browser testing will help to enhance testing efficiency and future-proofing web browsers against the ever-evolving landscape of web browsers.

Incorporating the above strategies into the testing regime will ensure that web applications are robust, reliable, and ready to deliver an optimal user experience across all browsers, hence, optimizing the test coverage across all platforms.

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