8 Best Cross Browser Testing Strategies for 2021

Cross-browser testing involves comparing and analyzing the behavior of your website in different browser environments. Here are 8 Cross Browser Testing Strategies.

The value of websites, applications, browsers, and other modern technologies has increased multiple-folds in recent years. According to recent reports, there are almost 4 million websites, out of which only 1.5 million are functioning. So, what about this massive number of non-active web portals?  

It has been reported that 90% of web apps fail to make their mark because of browser compatibility errors. Moreover, 62% of mobile applications are uninstalled because of frequent crashes owing to alignment and responsiveness issues. Therefore, the solution to all of these problems is proper cross-browser testing. Hence read this article to know about some effective cross-browser strategies that you can resort to in 2021.

1. Selecting the Correct Set of Browsers and Devices

The key to starting a cross-browser testing process is choosing the right combination of browsers and devices. This is probably the most crucial step of the whole process, and being aware of the various sets available is necessary. You need to utilize your product’s usage data to justify the browsers and devices your customers prefer and work accordingly. 

The next thing after you’ve analyzed your data regarding the preferable combination of devices and browsers is revising. You need to check the list to identify the changing devices and browsers in the market you target. After sorting and prioritizing the browsers and devices you need, review and take action when the time arises. The right time for the action is when the older browsers and devices start getting replaced by new ones. It would be best to replace all the emulators with the correct devices to get the right results.

2. Selecting the Right UI Test Frameworks

Once you’ve chosen the right set of browsers and devices, the next thing to focus on is selecting a suitable UI testing framework. This step is essential because a good UI testing framework can make everything simple. With a proper framework, your browser testing becomes seamless, and you can develop high-performance applications swiftly. 

Therefore, it is advisable to choose a framework by realizing and analyzing what your product and your team require. Some of the ideal UI test frameworks are mentioned below:

• UI Test Framework ideal for Web Applications

Selenium is the most significant answer when it comes to the perfect UI test frameworks for web applications. This popular, robust, and reliable framework is straightforward to learn. Moreover, once the Development and QA team adopts it, they will avoid any unexpected issues that may appear in the future. 

Selenium web driver is used to conduct automatic cross-browser testing. This web driver accepts commands and then transfers them to the browsers for further execution. Next, the testing teams utilize this selenium web driver to automate web application tests. This is done by commanding the driver to execute specific actions in the device and the browser.

Moreover, Selenium also assists your team by saving time. Hence, they can now focus on other essential tasks, like executing manual tests and analyzing test results. However, before you start automation through Selenium, be sure to sort out those cases you can’t automate in Selenium.

• UI Test Frameworks ideal for Mobile Applications

The most utilized UI test frameworks for mobile applications are Espresso and Appium. The pros and cons of these automation frameworks are:

Espresso: Espresso is a popular open-source test automation set developed by Google that targets Android applications. Developers and testers prefer it since they can write reliable tests through it for Android UI. Espresso test automation is widespread globally because it utilizes advanced technological practices like agile development, DevOps, and continuous testing.

Appium: If you’re looking for an open-source test automation framework for every type of mobile application, Appium is the answer. You can use this framework for web, native, and hybrid apps on iOS and Android devices. Moreover, since Appium uses the dame library function like Selenium, you can easily use and adapt it. It executes test cases through the WebDriver interface. Testers can also reuse their source code for testing Android and iOS apps since it supports many platforms. However, in Appium, the test processing is often slow. Therefore, Espresso works better since its tests are less flaky and faster than Appium.

3. Using Parallel and Automation Cross Browser Testing

Automating Selenium tests is a necessity to enhance the test execution period in cross-browser testing. However, you should also be conducting parallel tests simultaneously to make the cross-browser testing more effective and complete. With parallel testing, you can seamlessly execute testing for multiple browsers and devices in minimal time. This comes in handy with the Selenium grid for test automation since you can test cases in various environments simultaneously.

Therefore, combining automation and parallel testing takes cross-browser testing at the top level. You can further streamline this process with a CI/CD pipeline by taking repeated integration. This becomes effective as test cycles are executed much earlier because of the commits made in a centralized repository frequently.

4. Understanding the Advantages of Cloud Testing over On-spot Testing

The conventional process of cross-browser testing starts with setting up a physical device laboratory. However, setting it up needs considerable time, effort, and money; although you receive tight security. Therefore, you can quickly resort to online platforms with a cloud-based setup accessible all the time and anywhere. 

The benefits of cloud platforms include reducing time and money investment and the effort to maintain physical infrastructure. There are also other advantages like seamless access through which teams from all over the world can collaborate. You also enjoy flexible working hours and all-day access time. These keep your business running successfully and provide multi-fold benefits over physical labs.

However, the only disadvantage of cloud platforms is the lack of modern security needs. The physical labs provide in-premise services since the device lab is present within a company’s infrastructure. Moreover, the client receives the maintenance control. Another issue regarding cloud products is that they don’t provide enough customization features to suit every brand’s needs. Therefore, the ideal cloud product will be the one with the below-mentioned features:

• Should allow executing tests over multiple environments.
• The product should be highly customizable to justify an organization’s dynamic needs.
• The support for various frameworks should be available. It should also be highly scalable with the support for executing parallel test cases.
• The product should be supporting futuristic and high-end technologies like machine learning and AI, continuous testing, agile development, DevOps, and continuous integration.
• There should be a large number of device-browser combinations. This feature is essential to ease cross-browser facility with all the devices present in the targeted market.

5. Selecting a Highly Scalable Platform for Cross Browser Testing

The only way to get the perfect cross-browser compatibility is by addressing dynamic market requirements. However, you can achieve this by acquiring a device lab capable of seamlessly adding and removing devices depending upon the project’s needs. Moreover, the combination of OS, Browsers, devices, and their versions is highly complicated and uncertain. Therefore, the device lab you will be using must be highly scalable. This makes the addition and removal of devices concerning the project’s needs seamless without disturbing the other functionalities.  

6. Utilizing AI-Powered Testing Tools

It is almost impossible to remove bugs and errors from a software application effectively fully. However, you can certainly reduce the number of these bugs and errors to get perfect results. Every SaaS product organization is putting effort to achieve this by resorting to top-notch technologies like DevOps and continuous integration for getting faster and assertive results.

Therefore, Artificial Intelligence can help to enhance these efforts by giving codeless answers. Thus, this can effectively reduce the work and time of the QA teams. Moreover, you can also use AI and machine learning to reduce the flakiness of the test cases. This is essential for achieving automation without human intervention functions supported by Artificial Intelligence.

7. Achieving the Security Needs of the Business

Nowadays, the software and mobile application sector has covered all the essential industries under its influence. However, there are also specific security concerns growing with this development. Therefore, while working on a project, be sure to use a product that meets your security requirements. This product should be a certified security compliant product that will ensure your business’s smooth functioning towards success.

8. Being Flexible and Open to Customizations

The key to sustaining in a fierce, dynamic market like the app sector requires a platform that is ready for service all the time. Therefore you should have such software and hardware integrations that are flexible enough to allow customization at any time. This is important because the application sector is primarily dependent on the changing demands of the user base. Hence, using a flexible product is crucial to adapt to the upcoming needs of the customers. Utilizing such products will also allow you to deliver quality products before the deadline.

 Role of LambdaTest in Improving the Cross-Browser Testing Industry

Cross-browser testing has become one of the significant revolutions in the Software Development Industry. This innovative technology ensures that web applications can function smoothly irrespective of the browser or its version. There are various platforms that the developer can use to test the functionality of the cross-browser-compatible website. However, the developers must make the right choice depending on the business ideas and requirements.

LambdaTest is a platform to perform cross-browser testing on a safe and secure Selenium grid. Using this platform, the developer can perform cloud-based automated testing on their web applications. Millions of users all around the world use LambdaTest for its attractive features. So, let us look at some of the features offered by this platform:

• Using automated testing, LambdaTest ensures that the developers do not perform any redundant test process.
• It helps to check the variation in webpage UI depending on the browser and its version.
• The Cloud Service ensures that the developers can run thousands of automated tests simultaneously.
• The easy bug logging feature detects all the issues present in the framework of the web application.
• LambdaTest also helps users to test the cross-browser compatibility of locally hosted web pages.

The Verdict

Therefore these are the best cross-browsing testing strategies to adapt in 2021. Cross Browser Testing is a significant step for creating high-performance apps. However, this test suite is very complicated since you have to work with the various OS, devices, and browsers in combination. You can overcome this only with planned strategies which will effectively make the whole testing process much qualitative, swifter, and more manageable.