Testing in different browsers

[Kabuki Armadillo]

Right now I only run IE7 and FF2 on my machine.

Question 1:
Which browsers and versions would you recommend that I test my sites on? Say
to ensure a 90% plus penetration rate.

Question 2:
Any suggestions for the best way to install different versions of the same
browser. I'm thinking mostly of different versions of IE here.

I'm reluctant to install previous versions of IE on the same machine for
fear of mucking up my OS / current IE. I know of sandbox programs. Anyone
try these or have any luck (good or bad!) with them? Would they even work in
this case?

Also, I even encountered problems where the same browser / version produced
different results because they were installed on different OS of Windows.
Anyone else encountered this? If it's a rare occurence then I won't bother
trying to deal with this?


M

 

[C A Upsdell]

Right now I only run IE7 and FF2 on my machine.

Question 1:
Which browsers and versions would you recommend that I test my sites on?
Say to ensure a 90% plus penetration rate.

Question 2:
Any suggestions for the best way to install different versions of the
same browser. I'm thinking mostly of different versions of IE here.

I'm reluctant to install previous versions of IE on the same machine for
fear of mucking up my OS / current IE. I know of sandbox programs.
Anyone try these or have any luck (good or bad!) with them? Would they
even work in this case?

This covers all of that:

http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/res_testing.htm#d02

 

[viza]

Hi

Kabuki Armadillo wrote:

This covers all of that:

http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/res_testing.htm#d02

It has some information that might be useful, but it is still covers very
far from "all" of the question. It doesn't even mention lynx!

http://lynx.browser.org/

Very few people visiting most sites actually use lynx, but it is still
the first browser I test any site with.

Using a text only browser without scripting is essential for testing any
but the most simple of layouts. Just as an example, you get to see what
mobile phone users get, and what blind people hear.

viza

 

[Travis Newbury]

to ensure a 90% plus penetration rate.

He said penetration...

Question 2...

Internet explorer still holds the lead I am sure, but there is a free
services around (someone here might give you the url, I don't know it)
that tests your code against several browser and versions of those
browsers.

 

[Travis Newbury]

It has some information that might be useful, but it is still covers very
far from "all" of the question. It doesn't even mention lynx!

And the reason isn't obvious?

 

[Kabuki Armadillo]

Internet explorer still holds the lead I am sure, but there is a free
services around (someone here might give you the url, I don't know it)
that tests your code against several browser and versions of those
browsers.

I'm aware of Browsershots but that only lets you see a screenshot at a fixed
screen size. It doesn't let you dynamically play around with the site to
ensure that it works under different conditions. (Also, it's slow to
producer results 'cuz I think it gets a lot of traffic.)

Is there some sort of "virtual" tester available?

M

 

[cwdjrxyz]

I'm aware of Browsershots but that only lets you see a screenshot at a fixed
screen size. It doesn't let you dynamically play around with the site to
ensure that it works under different conditions. (Also, it's slow to
producer results 'cuz I think it gets a lot of traffic.)

Is there some sort of "virtual" tester available?

M

Another site that lets you take screenshots on many browsers is
http://www.totalvalidator.com/ . They are a validator, apparently
about the same as the W3C one, with several added options such as
screen shots, spell checking, link checks, etc. As you point out, a
single screen shot may be helpful for simple pages, but for those that
have dynamic content, a lot of php, etc a simple screen shot may not
be very useful. This site has many browsers, including several older
and obscure ones, and different OSs. The site is mainly free, but
donations are accepted. For rich Apple computer owners, there is a fee
for checking on a Mac OS .

 

[Nik Coughlin]

I'm aware of Browsershots but that only lets you see a screenshot at a
fixed screen size. It doesn't let you dynamically play around with the
site to ensure that it works under different conditions. (Also, it's slow
to producer results 'cuz I think it gets a lot of traffic.)

Is there some sort of "virtual" tester available?

http://www.browsercam.com/

Was fairly expensive last time I looked, don't know what the prices are like
now

 

[dorayme]

Another site that lets you take screenshots on many browsers is
http://www.totalvalidator.com/. The site is mainly free, but
donations are accepted. For rich Apple computer owners, there is a fee
for checking on a Mac OS .

Thanks for this link.

 

[paul watt]

Right now I only run IE7 and FF2 on my machine.

Question 1:
Which browsers and versions would you recommend that I test my sites on?
Say to ensure a 90% plus penetration rate.

Question 2:
Any suggestions for the best way to install different versions of the same
browser. I'm thinking mostly of different versions of IE here.

I'm reluctant to install previous versions of IE on the same machine for
fear of mucking up my OS / current IE. I know of sandbox programs. Anyone
try these or have any luck (good or bad!) with them? Would they even work
in this case?

Also, I even encountered problems where the same browser / version
produced different results because they were installed on different OS of
Windows. Anyone else encountered this? If it's a rare occurence then I
won't bother trying to deal with this?


M

http://multipleies.en.softonic.com/

installs standalone versions of IE back to IE3.

 

[Adrienne Boswell]

Right now I only run IE7 and FF2 on my machine.

Question 1:
Which browsers and versions would you recommend that I test my sites
on? Say to ensure a 90% plus penetration rate.

Question 2:
Any suggestions for the best way to install different versions of the
same browser. I'm thinking mostly of different versions of IE here.

I'm reluctant to install previous versions of IE on the same machine
for fear of mucking up my OS / current IE. I know of sandbox programs.
Anyone try these or have any luck (good or bad!) with them? Would they
even work in this case?

Also, I even encountered problems where the same browser / version
produced different results because they were installed on different OS
of Windows. Anyone else encountered this? If it's a rare occurence
then I won't bother trying to deal with this?


M

I have the following:
1. Opera (default browser)
2. Firefox
3. Safari
4. IE7, IE6, IE5.5, IE5, IE4 and IE3 (I used the program at
[http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE] and have not had any problems with
multiple versions)
5. Openwave (phone simulator)
6. Old versions of Netscape (old as 2.0)
7. Some other browsers that are in mothballs in my downloads folder.