How to Test Your Website in Multiple Web Browsers

This is probably one of the most annoying parts of being a web designer, checking your newly designed websites for compatibility in different web browsers.

You would think that as there are certain web standards set out that all web browsers should display web content in the same way, sadly this is not true in most cases.

To make your websites compatible in all major web browsers you could install every browser on your computer, now while this works its not always necessary.

I have 3 different tools I use to check websites for browser compatibility which are:

BrowserShots.org

This website is great to check your sites layout across multiple browsers. You simply enter the websites url and select what browsers you want to test it in. You also have an option to select screen resolution, color depth, java enabled or disabled and more. Once you have selected all your options you simply click submit and wait for your screen shots from each browser to appear, this can take up to an hour so I would suggest you bookmark the page and come back to it. The site does offer a free and paid service with the paid service getting priority over free users for thumbnail generation. The website is not perfect as it does suffer with slow periods but all in all a worthwhile tool.

Visit: BrowserShots.org

IE Tester

This tool for me is great, mainly because most of my website problems seem to be IE6 related, I always seem to end up with layout issues. Once downloaded and installed it allows you to test your websites layout and functionality in IE5.5, IE6, IE7, IE8 and IE9 which is amazing and it works perfect. For me this is used every time I make a change to a website I am working on.

Download: IE Tester

Adobe Browserlab

This is a great new tool which is web based and allows you to view your site in several browsers across several operating systems. You have to register to use the service but is free for the first year which is great. It only shows screen shots so is no good for website usability testing but it is still a fantastic tool. It is constantly being updated when new browsers are released which does help. At the time of writing this Adobe Browserlab allows testing in IE6 – IE9, Firefox, Safari and Chrome 3.

Visit: Adobe BrowserLab

These are the tools I currently use to check web browser compatibility, but if you have another tool to share with me please post below.