Cross-browser Testing Checklist Before Going Live

Cross-browser test list before the website goes online: Ensure a consistent user experience

It is crucial to conduct cross-browser testing before the website goes live, which ensures that the website works properly on different browsers, operating systems and devices. An effective cross-browser testing strategy requires a combination of manual and automated testing.

Key points:

• Cross-browser testing is a key step before a website goes online, ensuring it works properly on different browsers, operating systems and devices. Effective strategies should be combined with manual and automated testing.
• A comprehensive cross-browser test list should include testing the layout, functionality, performance, and responsiveness of the website on different browsers. It should also cover SSL verification, font rendering, media element compatibility, API connection, CSS and HTML verification.
• Tools such as LambdaTest can be used for cross-browser testing, providing a cloud-based test platform with more than 2,000 combinations of devices, browsers, browser versions and resolutions. These tools help automate repetitive tasks and improve testing efficiency.

This article was originally published on LambdaTest. Thanks to the partners who support SitePoint.

The problems after going online may quickly turn into nightmare. A friend of mine was very excited when he was about to go online his new website, but when he pressed the start button, some abnormalities started to appear. After in-depth analysis through Google Analytics, he found that the website bounces very high on mobile devices.

The website on mobile devices is in chaos, all elements are misplaced, and the logo cannot even adapt to the screen. This incident taught him a valuable lesson, and he taught it to me: "Check cross-browser testing before going online."

In today's digital world, everyone browses web pages on different platforms, operating systems and browsers, and it is impossible to consider all situations in advance. It may be helpful to have a perfect cross-browser testing strategy, but sometimes even so, you need to be prepared for some unexpected bugs. However, a suitable list can help you avoid these bugs, or find them before others find out.

Preparation before the test list

Before you start checking the checklist, you need to make sure you know how to do cross-browser testing.

1. If you are going to do cross-browser testing, you need to know which browsers and devices to do it. Therefore, develop a suitable cross-browser testing strategy.
2. After developing a cross-browser testing strategy, make sure to use cross-browser testing tools such as LambdaTest to test locally hosted websites or development sites before going online. The platform has a feature called Lambda Tunnel that allows you to flexibly connect to locally hosted websites or web applications, using SSH tunnels to test across the cloud. Cross-browser compatibility and accessibility also affects the SEO of a website, so it is important to thoroughly test and ensure it is fully compatible with the site index of search engines.
3. Get ready for mobile devices, or set up an emulator. Or you can use a platform that provides all the required devices, such as LambdaTest, which offers a variety of iOS and Android mobile devices for testing.

After completing the preparations, the next step is to check the list.

The final list of cross-browser tests before going online

This list will help you ensure that all the various elements have been tested before they go live in your local environment.

Element alignment in all browsers

Make sure the element is where you want it.

SSL verification in various browsers

If you encounter this error, one of the reasons may be that your website SSL certificate does not support certain browser versions. If your users try to access your website using these browser versions, they may not be able to access it at all. Therefore, check the SSL certificates in all browsers before going online.

Font rendering in different browsers

Who doesn't want beautiful fonts on the website? However, if the font renders incorrectly, they can cause errors. The rendering of fonts is largely influenced by the browser. Therefore, you need to make sure your fonts are rendered the same in each browser.

Read more about font and browser compatibility.

Compatibility of media elements with various browsers

Today, video is the most popular form of media. Web designers and developers have been taking advantage of this fact that you can easily find demonstration videos or some tutorial videos on the homepage of the website. However, browser compatibility can cause you trouble if you use some unsupported media elements, which is not limited to videos, but also images. So, before going live, make sure you use elements that are supported by all browsers, or provide alternative solutions for elements that are not supported so that your users won't encounter this problem!

Learn more about multimedia compatibility in different browsers here.

Is your API connected in all browsers?

API calls also depend on the browser. Some browsers confirm the API request, while others may ignore it or throw an error. Always make sure that the API you are using is connected in every browser before going live. Because some browsers, such as Opera Mini, do not support APIs like Websocket.

In addition, some API calls, such as getUserMedia/Stream, will throw errors on Opera Mini, iOS Safari 10.3, and IE 11. Therefore, you need to make sure your API is compatible with your browser before going live, otherwise your users may face a disconnect from the world when you are on a public server.

Make sure to verify your CSS and HTML

Opened tags can be nightmare for developers, and it will be terrible if users see real-time code on the screen. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the code is clean and correctly verified. W3schools attaches great importance to this. You can easily verify your HTML, JS and CSS on tools such as W3C tag verification service, free formatter or JS formatter, W3C CSS verification service-W3 Jigsaw or CSS verification service.

You can use these tools to find more browser compatibility issues and you can continue to resolve them.

Read more about finding cross-browser compatibility issues in HTML and CSS.

After checking all the major compatibility issues, you need to do a general round of cross-browser testing, considering some minor but important factors, such as:

• Element Alignment: Whether all elements are aligned the way you want it to.
• Pop Window: Check that the pop-up is displayed correctly and can be opened in all browsers.
• Checkbox Alignment: Checkboxes can cause problems in many browsers. Make sure your checkboxes are aligned and in normal working state.
• button alignment and function: Buttons play an important role in CTA or any other operation, so you need to make sure they are aligned and work properly in different browsers.
URL redirection of
• button: Check the link to which the button is redirected.
• Drop-down menu: Verify that the drop-down menu works as expected in all browsers.
• Form and Form API: Ensure that the form receives data and that the data is transmitted intact to the collection API endpoint.
• Grid/Table: Check the alignment and position of tables and grids (if any) in all browsers.
• Session and Cookies: If your website uses cookies, please verify that the prompt exists and whether it works as expected.
• Date: Test whether the date format is consistent in each browser.
• Zoom in and out: Check whether the Zoom in and out function is working properly and will not destroy the UI when running.
• Scrollbar Appearance: Check whether horizontal and vertical scroll bars exist and are available.
• Flash: Ensure that Flash supports videos, animations, RIA and applications are compatible across browsers.
• HTML animation: Verify that your animation can be loaded in all browsers.
• Mouse hover: Check whether the mouse adjusts to buttons, text boxes, links and blanks accordingly.
• Image Alignment: Make sure all images are aligned and in place in different browsers.
• alt tags: alt tags are equally important, we need to make sure they are in place.

and everything else in every possible combination of browsers, operating systems and devices you can think of.

As we see here, various tests are required in a local environment for thousands of combinations to ensure that once the website is online, it does not affect the user's experience. Therefore, we need to make sure we test all possible combinations to avoid further surprises. Since many of the following tests are repetitive and time-consuming, we can use the online Selenium grid to automate cross-browser testing. With this automation, you can avoid repetitive and time-consuming tasks and automate them with simple scripts.

LambdaTest also provides an online Selenium grid that you can automate tests on public and local servers and test over 2000 combinations of devices, browsers, browser versions and resolutions on the LambdaTest cloud grid. So you need to make sure you find the best cross-browser testing tool, and then you can test it according to your list, some manually test it, others using automated tests.

After completing the test of this cross-browser test list, you can go online and click the green button. I hope you won't have this situation like my friend, because you're smart enough to not make the same mistake.

If you think the list should contain something else, please let us know in the comments section below!

I wish you a happy test and everything goes well on the line!

Cross-browser test list FAQ

What is the importance of cross-browser testing?

Cross-browser testing is critical to ensuring that your website or web application works properly on different browsers, operating systems, and devices. It helps identify and fix compatibility issues, providing a consistent user experience. Without cross-browser testing, you may alienate a portion of your user base that uses less popular or older browsers, which can negatively impact your website's performance and reputation.

How to effectively perform cross-browser testing?

Efficient cross-browser testing includes a combination of manual testing and automated testing. Manual testing allows you to experience your website or application like a user, while automated testing can save time by quickly checking compatibility issues in multiple browsers. It is also important to prioritize testing based on the browser and device most commonly used by the target audience.

What are the key elements to consider in the cross-browser test list?

A comprehensive cross-browser test list should include testing the layout, functionality, performance, and responsiveness of the website on different browsers. It should also consider factors such as browser version, operating system, screen resolution, and device type. In addition, the test should cover form input, links, multimedia content, and JavaScript capabilities.

Why do you need to test on different screen resolutions?

Testing on different screen resolutions is essential to ensure that your website or application is responsive and deliver a consistent user experience on a variety of devices. With the surge in mobile devices of all screen sizes, your website needs to adapt and function properly on any device.

How often should I do cross-browser testing?

The frequency of cross-browser testing depends on several factors, including the complexity of the website, the frequency of updates, and the diversity of browsers and devices used by the user base. However, cross-browser testing is often recommended when making significant changes to a website or application.

What cross-browser testing tools can I use?

There are several tools available for cross-browser testing, including BrowserStack, CrossBrowserTesting, and Sauce Labs. These tools provide a variety of browsers and devices that allow you to effectively test the compatibility of your website.

How to determine which browsers to test?

Determine which browsers should be tested based on the browser usage of the target audience. Analyzing your website analysis can help you gain insight into the browsers that users use most frequently. It is also important to consider market trends and the browser used by competitor audiences.

What are the challenges of cross-browser testing?

Due to the numerous browser versions, operating systems and devices, cross-browser testing can be time-consuming and complex. Copying and debugging issues can also be challenging due to differences in browser behavior. However, using automated testing tools and maintaining a priority test checklist can help manage these challenges.

How to make sure my website is compatible with older browsers?

Ensuring compatibility with older browsers requires testing your website on these versions and making necessary tweaks. This may include using fallbacks for modern features that are not supported by older browsers, or providing these users with a simplified version of the website.

What is the role of JavaScript in cross-browser testing?

JavaScript plays an important role in cross-browser testing, as it is widely used to add interactive features to websites. However, JavaScript may behave differently in different browsers, so it is necessary to test whether there are compatibility issues for these features.

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