Testing Your Site in All Browsers

While it appears that Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) has a stranglehold on the market for web browsers, that doesn't mean that you only need to test your site in MSIE. Unless you're running an intranet site within your company, and can specify that your employees must use MSIE to access your site, you will probably have to contend with the fact that not all browsers will render your page exactly the same as does MSIE.

Therefore, you should include testing with other browsers as part of your overall site test plan, especially when user input for commerce applications is involved. You don't want to lose a sale because your form does not work in Mozilla or AOL. Does that mean that you need to download every browser available and install it on one or more of your own PC's?

The short answer is, no. While many browsers can be installed on your existing Windows PC, some, such as Safari, run only on Apple systems. You don't have to go out an buy an Apple, though, because there are several Internet sites that will access your site and capture an image of what it looks like in a particular browser, and send you the picture or a link to it so that you can see if your form fields overlap, or your text bleeds off your headings due to font problems. There is a for-fee (with free trial) service called Browser Cam which covers virtually every conceivable combination of browser and operating system. Be sure to take advantage of these resources in your testing.