Multi Browser Viewer

[Anthony Parsons]

Does anyone / has anyone, ever used http://www.multibrowserviewer.com of which they could provide feedback upon from their experience?

 

[Adam Howard]

Does anyone / has anyone, ever used http://www.multibrowserviewer.com of which they could provide feedback upon from their experience?

Waste of money.

There are some free web services that will do everything that program can do.

 

[Adam Howard]

Waste of money.

There are some free web services that will do everything that program can do.

Here is 1 of them. Can test a wider range of browsers then that program list


http://browsershots.org/

I'll reports back as soon as I find the others (have one that checks mobile web as well)

 

[Adam Howard]

Google search, "test any browser"

You'll find a dozens and dozens of sites like the one above, all free. And offer a wide range of tools. I found 1 site that even suggest code for correcting views for X browsers.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Thanks, though I am aware of such sites. Those are only browser shots, they don't allow you to literally run through you site within a virtual browser environment, just like having the browser physically installed. You can't see all issues in browser snapshots, you need the actual browser to find all issues.

 

[Adam Howard]

Thanks, though I am aware of such sites. Those are only browser shots, they don't allow you to literally run through you site within a virtual browser environment, just like having the browser physically installed. You can't see all issues in browser snapshots, you need the actual browser to find all issues.

My advise, look harder.

But if you want to spend money..... Who am I to stop you.

Best of luck.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

This wasn't really a question about browser shot facilities which are all over the web for free, this is about browser emulation software. You can't test anything that fly's out / drops down or moves in general, within a browser shot program... hence the requirement for browser emulation software for accurate cross browser testing.

 

[Adam Howard]

This wasn't really a question about browser shot facilities which are all over the web for free, this is about browser emulation software. You can't test anything that fly's out / drops down or moves in general, within a browser shot program... hence the requirement for browser emulation software for accurate cross browser testing.

Again, look harder. There are free resources that do just that what you seek. Some of them web services and some of them programs.

Maybe Google is customizing to my search habits, but I found a few programs that do all the above and for free (one of them was open source too).

 

[ragtek]

some virtual machines + selenium grid is also free
http://deors.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/selenium-webdriver-grid-1/

and this have much more positive side effects
(e.g. automatic upgrades, automatic tests after add-on installation etc.....)

 

[MagnusB]

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hehijbfgiekmjfkfjpbkbammjbdenadd

I usually test using the browser it self, IE is the only one that I don't always have access to. Unfortunately this one only runs on windows, but IIRC Wine / Crossover includes IE in the default install package.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hehijbfgiekmjfkfjpbkbammjbdenadd

Mmmmm... now that is promising. Thanks Magnus. Looking forward to their chrome mac version of this add-on.

 

[MagnusB]

I wonder if they are actually getting the render engine for IE to run on different systems, and if you run the correct version engine as well (e.g. emulate v8 runs v8 engine, v9 runs v9 engine etc). If so, it will actually be better than compatibility view in IE....

 

[Anthony Parsons]

It's funny that they make this specifically targeted at IE, being the real problem child of all the browsers for backwards compatibility. I find now issues between FF, Chrome and Safari between mac and windows... it's all just IE that is the primary concern.

I've actually stopped making things backwards compatible these days below IE8.

 

[Adam Howard]

Officially I stop support Internet Explorer and only offer a "best effort" level of support.

Results are thus....

• SEO rating is up
• User issues are less
• Traffic is up
• IE is ranked #8 as browsers used on my site

The few arguments I sometimes get about IE.... I reply with this and no one has ever been able to counter argue agents it.... Knowing full well I do not accept IE's market share as a reason or excuse..... And I quote

If the site works good with Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Opera, and mobile web, but only IE is having an issue. Who really has the issue?

My results yield better since taking that stance.

 

[MagnusB]

I test with IE7, but nothing more. If it looks horrible, I do debugging and perform a minimal fix. IE was a real problem, it is much better now, especially with version 9, version 8 still have some quirks, but much less than it used to. My main problem with IE is the lack of proper developer tools, which are available by default in Chrome and Firebug in Firefox (I know there is a default one, but Firebug is so much better).

Be warned though, I have noticed some cases of firefox behaving differently between systems. I don't remember the exact issue, but I think it was a couple of years ago while using Arch Linux (and they use a "fork" of Firefox, if I am not mistaken, from the nightly build branch).

 

[Chris D]

Although probably slightly dicey from a Microsoft license agreement point of view, and the method in which you might have to acquire some of the software, what I do if I absolutely must try it in multiple versions of IE is download portable versions of the apps.

These are repackaged versions of the apps which run entirely without any sort of installation. Often used for keeping fully functioning apps on USB sticks which you can then take anywhere and use on any PC without installing.

With a bit of searching (and please for the love of god, virus scan everything you download thoroughly) you should be able to have a copy of IE6, IE7, IE8 and IE9.

No need for virtual machines or premium tools.

I guess if it's a requirement to test on older versions of Firefox or Chrome then similar downloads will be available.