Testing Browser Compatibility.

The look of your site is important to you and your end user, but it's imperative to test the compatibility of your site in different browsers. You could have the best product, service or blog in the world, but if people can't view it, nobody's going to be interested. There's a rather large intolerance to slow or poorly loading pages.

Just recently a collegue was absolutely blown away by the site he had built with GL Fusion. They loved the ease of use and customization of the CMS. He thought his site was ready.

After two weeks of traffic building and telling all his friends about the new site, he discovered after a phone call that his site wasn't loading. "But it shows up on my computer?"

Today there are several choices of browsers, and more are being developed and upgraded. Some people love the familiarity of IE, other's love Firefox for the security and add-ons. Personally I'm a huge fan of Google Chrome. I love the "Recently closed tabs" feature, and the 9 screenshot favourites that make it easy for me to load my most common sites.

Whatever the reason for people's choice of browser, your website should load in it!

Browser Shots

Browsershots uploads screenshots of your website viewed in different browsers. Choose from up to 60 browsers including; Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Navigator, and Safari. It currently does not support Internet Explorer.

You can also choose the screen size, color depth, and whether Javascript, Java and Flash are enabled,

Type in your url and a new page will open. Your website will then be queued whilst several computers download and test the URL, before uploading a screenshot of what it looks like. This can take a few minutes and will load on the new page.

Whilst your waiting; Browsershots.org also showcases some of the website's it has tested, so you can see how other people's screenshots of their websites look.

Once your screenshots have loaded you can roll over the shots to zoom in or open each shot in a new window to get a better analysis of how your page appears. BrowserShots even lets you download the screenshots, so you can view your page offline. As you can see, webgeek.me is pretty compatible in most browsers.

Due to server requirements your screenshots expire after a few minutes. There is an option to extend this time. Downloading the screenshots is recommended so you can view them in your own time, and give up the server space for another geek trying to test their compatibility.

Adobe Browser Lab

Adobe browser lab allows you to view your webpage in multiple browsers. It is currently in beta, and closed for new user testing. Using adobe browser lab, you can view your page side by side in different browsers. If you have Dreamweaver 4 there are additional extentions which increase the functionality of the lab.

Adobe Browser Labs allows you to choose how you wish to display the page, either on it's own, side by side, or 'overlay with variable transparency'. You can also choose and save a list of the browsers you wish to test in.

Supported Browsers and Operating Systems
Firefox 2.X and 3.X (Windows XP and Mac OS X)
Internet Explorer 6.X and 7.X (Windows XP)
Safari 3.X (Mac OS X)

Microsoft offers Superpreview, but it is only for testing your migration from IE 6 to IE 7 & 8. You can download SuperPreview at http://www.microsoft.com/expression/try-it/superpreview/

We look forward to the official release of Adobe Browser Labs. Browsershots.com is a great temporary solution, but lacks the functionality of being able to view the page in the browser window or test the site in different browsers.

With Adobe, the intergration with Dreamweaver 4 will allow you to test local content meaning you'll be able to test your site before putting it online. This will be beneficial if you're trying to test out a new layout, or coding such as Java for your site.

With the vast amount of web browsers now available, testing your site compatibility is highly recommended. You could lose valuable viewers because your page doesn't display correctly. Take the time to investigate how your site measures up. You don't have to test all 60 browsers that Browsershots offers, but we do recommend testing IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome.

If you find a great browser compatibility tester, please contact Webgeek.Me