Thursday, January 17, 2008

What browsers do you test against?

I'm in the final testing phase of a new website, and I'm wondering what browsers folks commonly test against these days. Since it's new, I have no user agent data to go by. I'm presently testing against the following:

Windows
  • IE: 6, 7
  • Firefox: Newest

Mac
  • Safari:Newest
  • Firefox:Newest
This is a pretty small matrix, but has been pretty successful in the past. I give priority to fixes on the Windows platform, and Safari on the Mac. I'll probably test in IE 5.5 as well, even though IE 5.x users make up only about 1% overall (according to some stats I'm seeing). Are there any particular browsers & versions that you pay special attention to?

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10 Comments:

Blogger David Tucker said...

I think the important thing is that you know your target market. I haven't had someone with IE 5.5 visit my blog in forever, but it regularly happens at my job's site. Generally, I keep the same matrix that you use, but if I see that I have a few Opera users visiting the site - I will check it too.

10:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I test against IE6 & 7, Firefox 2.x, Safari (using the Windows Beta) and Opera.
Any other browser is out of luck, but there shouldn't be too many inconsistencies if the others work.

11:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't do all that much front-end development these days, but the next time I do, I'm using Litmus. It shows you a given page in every major (and even some minor) browser on every platform. Totally golden..

11:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here is a nice tool for multi IE in same PC.

http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE


Developer sites: FF, IE 6,7

Public Sites: FF, IE 5,6,7, Opera 9.x, Mac (Safari, FF, IE), Linux (FF).

11:48 AM  
Blogger metric152 said...

I test against the list you made and sometimes I'll check opera just to see how far off it is.

I left IE 5.5 behind a long time ago. There are too many design problems with 5.5 and the population is small enough where I stopped caring.

1:06 PM  
Blogger k4d said...

I test against
Firefox 2/3 beta 2
Safari 3.0.4 (Win)
Opera 9.2/9.5 beta
IE6/7

1:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whatever I agree with the client in the "acceptance testing - non functional requirements" section :->

I typically suggest IE 6/7 on Win, FF2 on Win and Mac for my SMB clients on a budget as it covers most of the market and also my dev environment!

I have some clients where IE5 is worth the extra money and others where accessibility is a huge concern so we test in screen readers. It's all down to budget and ROI. Most important thing is to make the agreement explicit, otherwise the client's gonna come back with "hmm, my boss just checked the site out on his WebTV at the Ski Chalet and he says our website is broke . . ."

12:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thanked post

7:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As the previous speaker says - it all depends on the budget that one is giving for a project.

One can't do everything for anything quite simply.

If budget;
Windows
IE5, IE6, IE7, Firefox 2 & 3 (now RC1), Opera, Safari 3

Mac
Safari, Konqueror

If not a good budget;
Windows
IE6, IE7, Firefox 2+3


It's often down to making good code though and knowing what works and knowing what will be "quirky". :)

1:18 AM  
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1:37 AM  

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