I am developing my web application locally on a Windows 8.x machine. Right now I am updating the web design for Flexible Box Layout Module support.
It is easy to test the design for Chrome and IE. But is there a way to test Safari 6.1+ support also locally?
It seems like Apple is no longer developing Safari-browser for Windows and that Safari 5.1 is the most recent release for Windows. Safari 5.1 doesn't support the most recent syntax of flexbox.
Is there an easy way to test this locally on Windows 8.x or must I get my hands on a iOS-device for local testing or put the new design live so I can test it on various testing sites?
I think it is possible if not for apples greedy licensing agreements. Search google for "OSX on VirtualBox". Virtualbox is virtualization software for running other operating systems and there are posts on how to install OSX in VirtualBox (this violate apples Terms btw - so you are warned).
I'm trying to find a legal way to test newer versions of Safari for my companies website and the answer is to buy a Mac or violate terms and conditions. We are going with Apple + Aqua Connect software. I guess the other option is to use a cloud solution like BrowserStack that allows you to test web pages for different OS's / browsers. These are browsers opened on their servers controlled by scripts you set up (so you'll spend a lot of time trying to setup the scripts if they are in anyway complex). I think they use selenium or some other browser automation tool.
FYI you can test all versions of IE on all versions of MS for free at the following website: http://www.modern.ie. This is one Microsoft actually got right. kudos to MS for making web developers lives easier.
Apple is greedy/annoying/stupid and tries to find ways to force developers to buy a Mac. Most software developers are smart enough to look under the hood and realize macs are overpriced PCs. So Apple license says you can only install OS-X on Apple hardware (or people would buy/build a cheap PC and install their software). Try developing an iPhone app without buying an overpriced Mac (look at the hardware and then look on NewEgg - you'll see they charge 3x what the hardware should cost). There is no technical reason Apple does this - its just to get your money (and I used to think MS was greedy).
No you can't test web application on Windows with Safari. Possible alternates (which you already know):
Arrange iOS device.
Use older Safari 5.1.15
Use any browser screenshots tool.
Sorry but no good solution is possible for this problem.
BrowserStack allows one to test local websites in the Safari browser from Windows using their tool: https://www.browserstack.com/local-testing. I have also seen that Sauce offers similar functionality: https://wiki.saucelabs.com/display/DOCS/Sauce+Connect+Proxy.
Related
I've been testing a website I design on my mac and also on windows. To be more specific mac osx snow leopard and windows 7.
Now I'm wondering if I will need to test further e.g. mac osx leopard, tiger ... windows xp, windows vista?
I've been wondering since I started all this browser testing stuff.
Kind regards
The only browser that's an issue IMO is IE as running multiple versions takes some setup and is not completely decoupled from the OS. The Developer Tools in IE 8/9/10 let you choose the rendering mode of earlier versions, but there are sometimes differences in the rendering between the simulated and "native" browser. Users of the other browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari) tend to upgrade quickly and in addition, even early versions of those browsers were fairly compliant (aside from CSS3 capabilities that were codified after they were released, but those usually degrade gracefully)
Great article in Smashing Magazine about setting up testing for IE using virtual machines.
Fonts are dependent on if the user's OS has them installed by default. Fonts have kerning (space between the characters), and if changed to a backup font with different kerning can affect the flow of your page.
Form elements (text inputs, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc.) are rendered by the browser but adhere to the OS standard settings.
In short, it's always good to get your hands on as many environments (OS/browser combinations) as possible to see what your site will look like. If you have a friend with a different set up, check it out, ask them to send you a screenshot or use one of the online services that provide this ability.
I have no up to date mobile phone personally, and we don't have any in our team to allow us to test mobile versions of our ASP.Net websites.
We have now been asked to provide a mobile version of our website (which is a fairly busy site) but I have no means to check the mobile pages.
Any suggestions? Are there emulators or would it better to have the real thing?
It's always better to have the real thing, but if that's not an option, I have used a plugin for FireFox called "User Agent Switcher"
Another route you could go is to get the Android SDK and load up an emulator. It runs a full version of android, so you could open the browser from there (You could also change screen size/device type) - a little more heavy than the first solution, but potentially another route worth exploring.
You can use simulators/emulators - Android, iPhone etc.
Well Apple provide an iOS emulator, which you can download in the developers section of Apple's own website.
Outside of that, the only other testing environment I'm aware of is Ripple, which is a plugin for Chrome, designed to emulate a range of mobile devices. You can find that at: http://ripple.tinyhippos.com/.
As others have answered there is a lot of different tools to do the testing and that is all fine to a certain extent, for daily testing by developers and testers.
But with 15 years of testing behind me I would never let the site go untested with a few different real devices if the site is an important service - usually this can be done with "staff" phones at no cost if the cost is the problem. I would more or less say; can your company live with publishing a site out there and there might be a risk it won't work on some mobile platforms?
DeviceAnywhere is the tool that we have used a lot. It provides you access to numerous mobile devices using which you can test both apps and websites. They have placed several physical devices which you can see and operate remotely.
It is always better to test on real devices instead of emulators. During development phase, emulators are helpful but for final delivery it is best to test on real phones. Mobile web browsers may or may not support HTML,CSS,JS completely and their individual implementation could be different.
I'd be very interested to hear what professional developers think about this, particularly frontend developers.
How do you go about testing your designs in multiple browsers? Do you use virtual machines, each with a different version of Internet Explorer installed? What is your setup/workflow?
So, what's the most efficient and reliable way to test a design in several legacy web browsers?
Thank you.
I mostly use Spoon virtualization. They removed IE from the service aftyer Microsoft told them to however it's still a good service for testing other browsers/versions.
For IE I tend to use the Microsoft provided IE VMs.
If you need virtualization product then VirtualBox is pretty good and free.
I've also just discovered Browserling which does something similar to Spoon virtualization and has support for multiple IE versions.
Oracle's VirtualBox is free. I have the following VMs set-up:
Windows XP - IE6, Firefox 3
Windows XP - IE7, Firefox 4
Windows Vista - IE8
Really, I don't test older versions of Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. All three of those browsers are on quick update cycles now and the push their updates almost immediately. The chance that users are still using an older version of those is much less than those using Internet Explorer.
Even now, I don't really test in IE6 anymore (thank god), but I know this is different depending on the audience of your website.
Really, if you can get away with it, do your basic testing in IE 7, 8, 9 and the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. Don't go completely out of your way to fix layout issues in older IEs; If you can get the information you want from the site, then the site is functioning. If someone complains about the site not looking exactly right, recommend they upgrade or switch browsers. "I can't upgrade from IE6 because my company uses it" is not really a valid excuse anymore with Chrome and Firefox being as light weight as they are, unless their computer admins have things completely locked down.
IE Tester allows to see web from ie5 till ie9.
http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
It depends how legacy you wonna go but there is also Adobe browser lab.
I need to setup a testing infrastructure to test combinations of cookies enabled/disabled, Sliverlight and Flash plug-ins enabled/disabled, and javascript enabled/disabled. For starters, I need to test on IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9, Chrome, FF 3.6, FF 4.0, Safari 5 and Opera 10 on their most likely OS.
Longer term, I get as close as possible to testing on every "relevant" browser including mobile devices. I'll also want to include testing IE, for example, on XP, Vista and Win 7.
Even if I pick a single OS per browser, I have more than 100 host setups. What tools or strategies can bring sanity to this process?
(My current thinking suggests that screenshots alone will not be sufficient. It could be that I can develop a basic smoke test which gives me some indication of a problem and is verifiable through screenshot alone.)
Have you looked at Selenium, specifically Selenium Grid? It's not going to cover every single one of your test setups, but it'll get you a lot of the way there.
Selenium Grid transparently distribute [sic] your tests on multiple machines so that you can run your tests in parallel, cutting down the time required for running in-browser test suites. This will dramatically speeds up in-browser web testing, giving you quick and accurate feedback you can rely on to improve your web application.
See also:
Which is the most comprehensive browser compatibility testing tool?
How to automate testing of a browser-based app?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2565505/whats-the-best-way-to-do-cross-browser-testing
All that said:
It really might not be worth testing every single browser/version/OS combination. Part of this is because, at least on desktop OSes, most variations will show up across browsers (and to a lesser extent, browser version), and have much less to do with the OS version.
Chances are that the users of your site will not have equally distributed browsers/versions/OSes. It's basically a case of the 80-20 rule: the majority of your users will be using the minority of browser/version/OS combinations. So, at least in the short term, you get much more for your effort if you focus on ensuring that the site works on only the most popular OSes and browsers.
I'd also expect that your site, like many mobile-friendly sites, has a separate mobile view (reduced JavaScript, less content per page, simpler CSS, etc.). In that case, you'd only need to test the mobile version on mobile browsers and OSes, and the full version of the site on desktop browsers/OSes.
Please take a look at the following tools:
Automated Testing Tools – TestComplete
Automated Testing Tools for Web Application Testing | Telerik
I want to getting flexible with Sencha Touch. I write my codes and viewing on Google Chrome well but I am searching an Ipad and Iphone simulator/emulator runs on Windows. I want to look and feel my codes in Ipad and IPhone. Is there any simulator/emulator available for Windows?
Thanks.
EDIT: There is no emulator or simulator for Windows. However PhoneGap is available on Mac OS and really made great improvements by months. If you use Mac OS and need something like this I strongly recommend PhoneGap. If you need this tool in Windows, probably there is no other way then install Mac OS a virtual machine on Windows.
I think you might be thinking of the PhoneGap Simulator. It's an Adobe Air app so it will run on anything and while It's meant to be used with the hybrid framework, Phonegap, you can put any URL into the app. It is helpful for debugging web based apps, but it may not be workable for your needs.
Alas, they do not have a device profile for the iPad.