Browser compatibility checking tool?

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poordad

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#136373 25-Nov-2013 11:54

Hello, geekzone lovers!

I have made a website for my own good, but I have to check it with every other browsers like IE 8.0 above, Chrome, Firefox on Windows and Mac platforms.
Is there any suitable free tool that helps me check those up? not just taking screentshots such as http://browsershots.org, I want to actually test it with live site..
If there's a good paid service please recommend one as well. Thanks in advance for your help!

sidefx

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#940234 25-Nov-2013 12:04

Like BrowserStack? Might be a bit hard finding something like that free...

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ObidiahSlope

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#940244 25-Nov-2013 12:15

The web standards group has an on-line validator which checks the code in a submitted URL.

It provides a check against web standards but not browser quirks. However a page of standards compliant code has more chance of being rendered correctly

https://validator-suite.w3.org/.

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jarledb

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#940520 25-Nov-2013 18:09

A validator will not show you the bugs and incompatibilities in various browsers (Like IE 7, IE 8 etc).

I use http://crossbrowsertesting.com to test the sites I develop, and on the devices/browsers/OSes that the customer wants checked. Their plans are cheaper than BrowserStack.

A validating site is always a good first step though :)

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nathan

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#940529 25-Nov-2013 18:18

Some new IE tools
http://www.modern.ie/en-us/report

1080p

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#940532 25-Nov-2013 18:20

Just install the browsers? You could easily test multiple versions inside a VM. Why pay someone?

TwoSeven

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#940542 25-Nov-2013 18:24

General practice for testing is to install the browsers you need to check against and write a little document with the test sequence you need to run through (just to allow for consistency).

If one needs to check different browser versions - I generally use virtual machines.

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Ragnor

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#940623 25-Nov-2013 20:18

nathan: Some new IE tools
http://www.modern.ie/en-us/report

Official Microsoft browser testing virtual machines for IE are available from this site:
http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads

With Chrome and Firefox you generally only need to test the latest version as they typically automatically update.

For IE, neither Facebook or Youtube support IE6 anymore so you can pretty much not bother with IE6 too (yay). We put a bit of conditional code in that displays an browser out of date warning, go update message.

IE7, IE8 and IE9 are still in widespread corporate usage so you need to test those. IE10 and IE11 usage is increasing slowly.

For Safari on Mac you generally need to test 5, 6 and 7.

Browsershots is a good service, but can't beat actual testing in a vm.

jarledb

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#940693 25-Nov-2013 21:25

Just a note. Crossbrowsertesting is testing in VMs (so testing live, and not just getting screenshots), but instead of having to have the hardware and set everything up yourself (with a lot of different VMs to deal with a lot of varyity) you have access to them via a web interface.

For instance: IE 8 on older XP versions contra IE 8 on Vista/Windows 7/8 is actually a different beast.

poordad

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#941166 26-Nov-2013 16:46

Thanks for the great info guys.

I have actually decided to install Parallels Desktop for my mac. I think Browserstack is the best web interfaced testing tool so far, but with that pricey monthly plans I would rather go with using VMs..