Living in a mobile-first world has revolutionized how consumers interact with web products across various devices, from mobile phones to tablets and laptops. This shift is largely due to the widespread adoption of mobile devices and internet connectivity. With approximately 91 percent of the global population owning mobile phones, it is critical for businesses to ensure their products render flawlessly on mobile screens to maintain customer engagement. Currently, over half of the world’s web traffic originates from mobile phones, emphasizing the significance of optimizing both mobile applications and websites for various mobile browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Brave. Although Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) offer offline functionality, web applications remain essential for delivering a consistent user experience. To ensure compatibility across different browsers and platforms, businesses must prioritize web app compatibility testing, leveraging automation frameworks for scalability and reliability. Collaborating with a compatibility testing company can expedite the testing process and enhance the end-user experience across diverse browser and viewport settings, supporting businesses in meeting consumer expectations in the mobile-centric digital landscape.

What is Compatibility Testing?

Cross-browser testing, also known as compatibility testing, is a crucial process that involves testing your website or web application on various browser, platform, and device combinations. Given that each browser utilizes different rendering engines (e.g., Chrome with Blink, Firefox with Gecko, and Safari with Webkit), potential rendering issues may arise on specific browser versions. As web apps can be accessed on mobile browsers, users have the freedom to view them on their preferred browser and device. However, if a page fails to render correctly for the end user, it creates a subpar experience that does not align with the quality you aim to deliver to your product's users. Prioritizing cross-browser testing ensures a seamless user experience across different platforms, browsers, and devices.

Reasons to Conduct Web App Compatibility Testing

Here are several key factors that underscore the importance of conducting web app compatibility testing:

Detecting Navigation Problems

Navigation on a website can pose challenges on mobile browsers when compared to desktop or tablet navigation. These issues can hinder the overall user experience. Conducting web app compatibility testing can pinpoint navigation problems before they impact end-users.

Identifying Layout Challenges

In addition to accommodating various screen sizes on mobile phones, web developers must also consider the unique needs of foldable devices. It may be necessary to customize websites originally designed for desktops to suit smaller mobile screens. Issues such as content overflow and table rendering can lead to usability challenges. Conducting web app compatibility testing can help reduce layout-related problems by enabling testing across a diverse range of browsers, operating systems, and devices.

Identify Functionality-Related Problems

Failure to test for compatibility may result in performance issues with the functionalities of your web application. The various combinations of device hardware, software, and browsers can create complexities. Conducting compatibility testing on the web app across different browsers and mobile devices can greatly improve the overall functional experience for the intended audience.

Frameworks for Web App Compatibility Testing

Manual testing of web apps is beneficial for pinpointing issues, but it is not a feasible solution for large-scale testing. To address this challenge, selecting an efficient automated test framework is crucial. There are various open-source test automation frameworks available that enable the creation of scalable test cases, enhanced test coverage, and the generation of comprehensive test reports. Below are some top open-source frameworks commonly utilized for conducting web app compatibility testing:

The Selenium WebDriver

The Selenium WebDriver, a component of the Selenium automation suite, is a widely used test automation framework for evaluating websites and web applications. As of the creation of this post, the most recent version of Selenium was 4.5.0. Initially introduced in 2007, this framework supports six major programming languages: Python, C#, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, and PHP. With Selenium, users can conduct cross-browser tests on various browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, and others.

Comparing Cypress and Selenium WebDriver

Cypress is a JavaScript-based test automation framework that is relatively newer compared to Selenium WebDriver. It is particularly well-suited for testing modern web applications. As of the time of writing, the latest version of Cypress is v10.10.0. One key difference between Cypress and Selenium is that Cypress tests run inside the browser, while Selenium runs tests outside the browser. This difference often results in Cypress tests being less flaky than Selenium automation tests, though test design and infrastructure also play a role in test reliability. Cypress is commonly used for writing component tests and E2E (End to End) tests. One of the advantages of Cypress is its intuitive and informative dashboard. Both Cypress and Selenium have strong communities supporting them. Enterprises looking to run Cypress tests at scale across a variety of browsers can opt for Cypress cloud grid. This grid supports browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Electron, and more.

Playwright Framework

The Playwright framework, similar to Selenium, allows you to create tests using popular programming languages such as C#, Java, Python, and JavaScript. It is well-suited for compatibility testing of web applications and end-to-end testing. This open-source framework is developed and maintained by Microsoft. With Playwright, you can perform testing on web applications across Chrome, Firefox, and WebKit based browsers. The comparison between Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright indicates that the Playwright framework is gaining momentum. As of the time of writing, the latest version of Playwright is v1.2.0, and the project can be found on GitHub. Like Selenium and Cypress, Playwright can also be utilized on a cloud-based testing platform, which can help reduce infrastructure costs, enhance test coverage, and boost product quality.

Conclusion

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, consumers are increasingly turning to diverse devices like mobile phones to access websites, gravitating towards web applications over traditional mobile apps. To guarantee a seamless and user-friendly experience for your target audience, it is imperative to prioritize cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility testing. If your team lacks the automation testing prowess required for such meticulous tasks, it is prudent to engage with a reputable compatibility testing Services Company to ensure superior outcomes. By valuing comprehensive testing methodologies, you lay a robust foundation for your digital presence to resonate effectively with technologically savvy consumers.