1. An Overview of Cross-Browser Testing for Business Applications
2. Major Web Browsers
3. Cross-Browser Testing for Business Applications
4. Getting Started with Cross-Browser Testing
5. Best Practices for Effective Cross-Browser Testing
6. Cloud-based Cross-Browser Testing Platforms
7. Conclusion
8. Why Partner with TestingXperts for Cross-browser Testing?

In today’s digital era, businesses rely heavily on their online presence to engage with their audience. A seamless, user-friendly experience across different browsers has become a necessity nowadays. However, there are instances where a website looks clean on one browser but entirely disjointed on another. This inconsistency is the problem many developers and businesses face, and it can negatively impact user experience and brand perception.

But why does this happen? The answer lies in the complexities of cross-browser compatibility. It is a real issue that many users face daily, leading to the potential loss of trust and credibility for businesses and developers alike.

An Overview of Cross-Browser Testing for Business Applications

Cross-browser testing reviews and verifies that a website or web application functions correctly across different browsers. It ensures that the business application’s design, functionality, and overall user experience remain consistent whether the visitor uses Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or any other browser. This process involves both manual checks and automated tools to screen for discrepancies and issues that might pop up in varying browser environments.

Responsive Web Design (RWD) ensures that a website adjusts and provides optimal viewing across various devices – from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones. Combining diverse screen sizes and browser incompatibilities can quickly lead to design inconsistencies.

Major Web Browsers

Browsers serve as gateways to endless information. Yet not all gateways are constructed identically, leading to unique challenges for web developers and designers. Let us understand these browsers better:

Google Chrome:

Developed by Google, this browser is known due to its speed, security features, and extensive library of extensions.

Mozilla Firefox:

Known for its flexibility and open-source nature, Firefox is a browser that focuses on privacy and user rights.

Safari:

Exclusively for Apple users, Safari offers an integrated experience for those using Macs, iPhones, and iPads.

Microsoft Edge:

Evolving from the legacy of Internet Explorer, Edge is Microsoft’s modern browser built on the Chromium platform.

Opera:

Often known for its innovative features, Opera is a browser that has introduced many firsts, such as built-in VPN and ad-blocking.

Evolution of Browser Rendering Engines

The backbone of any web browser is its rendering engine. It determines how a website’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are displayed to the end user. Here’s a brief look at the evolution of these engines:

Trident

The old engine behind Internet Explorer. It’s less common now due to the decline in IE’s popularity.

Gecko

Powers Mozilla Firefox.It’s an open-source engine known for its flexibility and adaptability.

Webkit

Originally developed by Apple for Safari, Webkit is the foundation upon which many mobile browsers are built.

Blink

A division of Webkit, Blink is now used by Chrome and the newer versions of Opera and Microsoft Edge.

Cross-Browser Testing for Business Applications

Users often judge a company’s credibility based on their online presence. A disjointed or broken browsing experience on any platform could mean a lost potential customer. Let us look into the reasons why cross-browser testing is necessary for business applications.

Ensuring Uniform User Experience

In a world where user retention hinges on mere seconds of loading time or the smoothness of an interface, ensuring that the website looks and feels consistent across all browsers is crucial. Whether it’s the colours, fonts, animations, or layout, every element should render predictably to maintain brand integrity and user trust.

A responsive design is more than just a site that adjusts to screen size. It’s about the site functioning optimally on a desktop in Firefox, a tablet in Safari, or a mobile in Chrome. It’s ensuring that videos play, forms submit, and animations transition smoothly, irrespective of the platform.

Addressing Browser-Specific Bugs and Quirks

With their unique rendering engines and updates, browsers can have specific behaviours or quirks. What works flawlessly in Chrome might break in Firefox. Cross-browser testing helps identify these inconsistencies.

Even with the best coding practices, browser-specific bugs can emerge. These might include CSS not being applied correctly, JavaScript functions misfiring, or media elements not displaying as intended. Instead of waiting for users to report issues that can harm a brand’s image, cross-browser testing allows developers and designers to proactively identify and rectify problems, ensuring a seamless user journey.

Broad Market Reach

Users worldwide have diverse browser preferences, each reflecting a unique user base with specific needs. To reach a broader audience, it’s essential to make business applications accessible to as many users as possible. For businesses aiming for a broad market reach, it’s not enough to target a majority; ensuring accessibility across these diverse browsers is paramount. Such inclusivity maximizes potential customer engagement and enhances brand reputation by showcasing adaptability and user-centricity.

Getting Started with Cross-Browser Testing

With the right approach and tools, businesses can streamline the process and ensure your websites perform beautifully everywhere. Let’s break down the starting steps for effective cross-browser testing

Step-1 Setting Up a Testing Environment

• While having an array of physical devices and systems is ideal, it could be more practical. Virtual machines, emulators, and simulators can replicate various environments and devices, making testing more accessible and scalable.

• Before pushing updates live, test locally. Tools like BrowserStack’s Local Testing or ngrok can help test local development servers in multiple browsers.

• Always test in a clean environment. Clear caches, cookies, and sessions to mimic a fresh user’s experience.

Step-2 Choosing the Right Browsers and Devices

• Dive into website analytics and check which browsers and devices the users are primarily using. Prioritise these in the testing process.

• While testing on the latest browser versions is essential, remember older versions are still in use. Some users might be slow to update, especially in corporate environments.

• Given the surge in mobile browsing, ensure the testing across various mobile browsers, screen sizes, and operating systems.

Step-3 Using Browser Developer Tools

• Browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge come with robust developer tools. They allow for real-time editing, performance monitoring, and debugging making them indispensable for cross-browser testing.

• JavaScript discrepancies are common cross-browser issues. The browser console provides error logs, helping identify and rectify script-related problems.

• Responsive Design Mode is available in most modern browsers. It simulates different screen sizes and resolutions. It’s a quick way to check a website’s responsiveness without requiring multiple devices.

Best Practices for Effective Cross-Browser Testing

Achieving proficiency in cross-browser testing requires a strategic approach. The digital world is evolving, and so are the challenges associated with ensuring a consistent user experience. By adhering to best practices, businesses can address these challenges and anticipate and mitigate potential issues before they arise. Let us look into some crucial best practices that can elevate the cross-browser testing process

Analytics-driven Testing

Website analytics hold the key to understanding the target audience. It reveals which browsers and versions are most frequented by your users. After analysing the user’s preferences, design testing cases accordingly. While it’s essential to be comprehensive, prioritising ensures maximising efforts for the most significant user segment.

Adopting a Mobile-First Approach

With an ever-growing mobile user base, designing and testing for mobile has become necessary. The constraints and capabilities of mobile devices offer a unique design perspective. Rather than starting with a complex desktop site and stripping features away for mobile, start with a solid mobile foundation and add enhancements for larger screens.

Incorporating Visual Regression Testing

Visual regression testing tools help in identifying unintended visual changes. These tools pinpoint discrepancies that get overlooked in manual tests by comparing current visuals with reference images. Ensuring a website looks as intended in one browser doesn’t guarantee it will in another. Visual regression testing ensures graphic consistency across different platforms.

Scripted Tests vs. Manual Exploration

Scripted automated tests for repetitive tasks and scenarios can save time, reduce human error, and ensure repeatability. Despite the advantages of automation, manual testing is irreplaceable for exploring real-world user interactions, especially for UX evaluation and discovering unexpected issues.

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) in Testing

Incorporate testing within your CI/CD pipelines. It ensures that any code changes or additions get immediately tested, ensuring faster detection of potential issues. By integrating testing into the deployment process, developers receive prompt feedback on their code’s performance across browsers, enabling quicker rectifications.

Cloud-based Cross-Browser Testing Platforms

Cloud-based solutions have emerged as game-changers across various technological domains in an age where flexibility, scalability, and efficiency are necessary. Cross-browser testing is no exception. By leveraging cloud technology, developers and testers can elevate their testing processes, making them more streamlined and effective.

Benefits of Cloud-Based Solutions

On-demand Access

The cloud-based solution offers the convenience of accessing an array of browsers, versions, and devices on-demand without maintaining physical infrastructure.

Scalability

As testing requirements grow, cloud platforms can effortlessly scale to accommodate more extensive testing environments, be it more devices, browsers, or simultaneous test runs.

Collaboration

Cloud platforms enable seamless collaboration between teams. Whether it’s sharing test results, debugging sessions, or collaborative real-time testing, everything becomes more streamlined.

Continuous Updates

Cloud platforms are consistently updated, ensuring access to the latest browser versions and devices without additional setup.

Top Cloud-Based Testing Platforms

BrowserStack

A popular choice among developers, BrowserStack offers real device labs and a plethora of browsers. Its Live feature enables manual testing, while Automate focuses on automated Selenium testing.

Sauce Labs

Providing a comprehensive testing platform, Sauce Labs covers mobile, web, and even native app testing. Its robust analytics and insights help in identifying issues faster.

LambdaTest

This platform is known for its user-friendly interface and offers automation and live interactive testing. LambdaTest integrates various CI/CD tools and features a visual regression testing tool.

Conclusion

Cross-browser testing, especially in responsive web design for business applications, is a necessity. Businesses can ensure their robust digital presence fulfils user needs by prioritising user experience, adopting a data-driven approach, leveraging modern cloud-based platforms, and adhering to best practices. With an array of devices, browsers, and user preferences, the importance of thorough cross-browser testing will continue to rise. By equipping with the knowledge and tools necessary for cross-browser testing, businesses can create digital experiences that truly stand out, regardless of where and how their products are accessed.

Why Partner with TestingXperts for Cross-browser Testing?

When you seek excellence in web performance, partnering with the right QA experts is crucial. With TestingXperts by your side, you’re not just opting for a service but investing in a partnership that supports quality, innovation, and results. By working with us, you get the following benefits

• From legacy browsers to the latest mobile devices, our testing services ensure compatibility across the board. As users come from diverse digital backgrounds, we ensure they all get a seamless experience.

• Our experts leverage innovative, data-driven techniques that anticipate and counter challenges before they become issues.

• Recognising that each business is unique, we craft bespoke testing strategies aligned to business-specific requirements and goals.

• Regular updates, transparent reports, and open communication channels mean our clients are always aware of the project’s status.

• Our services are priced competitively, ensuring you get top-tier services without breaking your balance.

Contact our QA experts now to know more about our cross-browsing testing services.

The post Cross-Browser Testing Best Practices for Business Applications first appeared on TestingXperts.

Content 1. An Overview of Functional and Non Functional Testing 2. Role of Functional Testing 3. Role of Non Functional Testing 4. Different Types of Functional and Non Functional Testing 5. Functional and Non Functional Testing: Key Differences 6.Top Functional Testing Tools 7.Top Non Functional Testing Tools 8. Conclusion

An Overview of Functional and Non Functional Testing

There is no denying the fact that comprehensive quality assurance strategies feature Functional as well as Non Functional testing. Therefore, it is important for digital businesses to understand the difference between the two. While both processes are an essential part of the application’s QA process, they serve distinct purposes.

Functional testing verifies that the app’s functionalities work according to the requirements by identifying the areas where performance does not meet the desired results.

On the other hand, Non Functional testing helps identify the broader quality concerns in an app by verifying all the non functional aspects, such as usability, performance, compliance, etc.)

Role of Functional Testing

Functional testing checks the application’s functionality against the defined requirements or specificationsalong with validating the snippets of the underlying code.

Comparing the actual outputs against the desired results provide a clearer picture than testing individual modules in isolation. Interactions between modules are frequently the areas where errors occur.

The role of functional testing is critical in validating the quality and functionality of the application. It is through techniques of functional testing, the quality assurance teams are able to verify the software functionality based on the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) and ensures the system performs as per the user specifications.

Functional testing helps to ensure the application is ready for release and is free of bugs and errors. Functional testing does not depend on any assumptions about the structure of the system and focuses on delivering a high-quality product. Various kinds of functional testing  methods are used to test usability features, error conditions, ease of accessibility, as well as testing other important functions of the software.

Role of Non Functional Testing

Non Functional testing validates the app features that may not be critical to functionality but are responsible for ensuring a seamless end-user experience.

Something that fails a Non Functional test does not always cause an issue that users would notice, but it can indicate a problem in the system — especially at scale.

In case non-functional testing is not performed for an application, it is not possible to measure the application’s ability to handle massive traffic, especially when the application experiences peak load. In scenarios such as holiday seasons or other scenarios when the app faces higher than usual traffic, the application may become slower or even crash. In another scenario, if the application is not tested for vulnerabilities and security, then it is prone to face cyber-attacks and even lead to exploitation of sensitive customer data. Incidents like these not only lead to a poor performing application that users might abandon, but also hamper the business’s reputation.

It is evident that non-functional testing is as critical as functional testing for a successful application. Non functional testing ensures the application performs seamlessly, while establishing reliability. It ensures the application may be counted on even during extreme conditions as it has been tested to meet all kinds of business criteria. After performing non functional testing, it may be assured that the application will be compatible with multiple devices and OS, ensure a user-friendly and accessible interface, meet the performance and load criteria, and meet the host of other vital business parameters.

Different Types of Functional and Non Functional Testing

Common Functional testing types:

Unit testing: It is the first software testing phase in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Software testers perform this functional testing type by creating and running test scripts to ensure the small units of the app individually work as desired.

Component testing: This functional testing type is similar to unit testing. However, the critical difference is that testers perform and test each application object separately with/without isolation from other software elements during component testing.

Smoke testing: Smoke testing is performed after every build release. Smoke testing helps to ensure all the test environment aspects are operating successfully and the build is stable for further testing.

Sanity testing: Testers perform sanity testing after smoke testing, which ensures the code changes continue to perform meet as desired.

Integration testing: During Integration testing, individual modules of the app are merged and validated as a group to identify the bugs and errors.

Regression testing: This functional software testing method helps ensure the changes made to the code are not affecting the application’s already existing features or functionalities.

System testing: System testing is performed after integration testing and is used for validating the fully integrated application.

User acceptance testing (UAT): This is the final software testing phase, wherein end-users or clients take up the roles of test engineers to validate whether the developed application meets the requirements or not. UAT is an essential functional testing type performed before moving the application to production.

Common non functional testing types:

Performance testing: This testing process evaluates the system’s overall performance and ensures the app meets the desired response time.

Load testing: Load testing evaluates whether the system’s performance is as expected under normal and maximum conditions. Load tests identify the peak operational capacity of the app, and detects the causes of performance bottlenecks that lead to app degradation.

Stress testing: This testing process helps evaluate the system’s performance when it is low on resources. Stress testing measures low memory or low disc space on clients/servers that reveal defects that cannot be found under normal conditions.

Security testing: Security testing ensures no loopholes that may lead to data loss or breach. One important non functional testing type, security testing, includes testing the app for authentication, authorization, integrity, and availability.

Volume testing: Volume testing evaluates the app’s behavior when a significant amount of data is to be processed and checks the extent to which the app is able to handle large amounts of data.

Usability testing: This method of Non Functional testing evaluates the system for human use. GUI testing ensures the output is correct, meaningful, and the same as expected per the predefined goals.

Scalability testing: The scalability tests measure the ability of an application to scale its non-functional characteristics when required. This may be in the form of load the app can support, transaction count per second, data volumes, and so on.

User Interface (UI)testing: UI testing evaluates the GUI and ensures the GUI is consistent and provides easy navigation for application use.

Compatibility testing: This non functional testing evaluates the application for compatibility with other hardware/software with minimum as well as maximum configurations.

Documentation testing: Documentation testing validates user guides, set-up instructions, readme files, release notes, etc.

Failover testing: Failover testing ensures that the system is capable enough to handle additional resources, such as servers, in case of a system failure.

Compliance testing: Compliance testing is done by running audits to verify if the standards defined by the industry or government are being followed, such as GDPR, HIPAA, W3C, etc.

Localization testing: Localization testing verifies the app’s availability across cultures and locales.

Functional and Non Functional Testing: Key Differences

Top Functional Testing Tools

Top Non Functional Testing Tools

Conclusion

Functional testing and Non Functional testing are the critical types of software testing that play a major role in ensuring the delivery of a high-end product. By facilitating end-to-end functional testing in the software testing process, testers can evaluate what the process is up to and how the app will behave under any given circumstances. With Non Functional testing, testers are able to deal with the system’s performance and describe how it performs under any given circumstances. Both have their distinct benefits and must be leveraged to ensure the final product is error-free and delivers a great CX.

Leverage functional testing and non functional testing services from next-gen QA testing service providers to deliver applications that perfectly meets your customer requirements and business objectives.

As a Leading QA testing services provider, how can TestingXperts help businesses?

TestingXperts (Tx) is one of the 5 largest pure-play software testing services provider globally. Tx has been chosen as a trusted QA partner by Fortune clients and ensures superior testing outcomes for its global clientele. We have rich expertise in enabling end-to-end testing services for global clients across various industry domains like healthcare, telecom, BFSI, retail & eCommerce, etc.

Our range of QA testing services include:

Functional Testing: Tx has years of experience providing functional testing services for clients across domains. Our wide range of functional testing services includes automation, manual, regression, and mobile application testing. We have in-house mobile test labs with numerous mobile devices.

Non-Functional Testing: Tx provides a wide range of non-functional testing services such as performance and load testing, security testing, usability testing, and accessibility testing. We also have an in-house performance testing accelerator, ‘Tx-PEARS,’ which helps with all non-functional testing requirements, including continuous monitoring of your infrastructure in production as well as in lower environments.

The post Functional and Non Functional Testing – Overview, Key Differences, and Tools first appeared on TestingXperts.