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The Importance of Cross-Browser Testing
Do you know what your business website looks like when viewed in Firefox? Netscape? Safari? Opera?
Do the pages look consistent with the display you see in Internet Explorer?
If not, how many customers do you think you are losing or alienating on a daily basis due to improper page rendering in non-dominant browsers?
Many website developers neglect crossbrowser testing due to either inexperience or to effect development project cost savings. Nothing is more frustrating to a prospect visiting your site than a broken page that does not render properly. What if that next big sale could have come from a prospect using Safari on the Mac, but because you failed to ask your website developer for crossbrowser testing, you site doesn’t render correctly in that browser and you lose the sale?
It is true that the Internet Explorer browser currently enjoys the largest marketshare at 58.5%. However, this leaves over 40% of your potential market utilizing other browsers.
- Internet Explorer (5, 6, 7): 58.5%
- Firefox: 34%
- Mozilla/Netscape: 1.4%
- Safari/Konqueror: 1.3%
- Opera 1.8%
Since there is no definitive way to determine the mix of browser/operating system combinations that your customers may be using, the only way to maximize broad market access to your website is to plan ahead and ensure that your website has been cross-browser and platform tested by your website developer. This approach may cost a bit more but the benefits can include:
- Consistent, stable cross-browser/platform rendering and functionality on all website pages - higher quality website
- Simplified website maintenance and updates
- Ease of use/viewing for end-users (your customers!)
- Increased customer conversion ratio
- Your prospects will know that you value quality
- XP: IE 6.0, Firefox 2.0
- Win2k: IE 6.0, Netscape 7.1, Mozilla 1.7.12, Firefox 2.0.0.6, Opera 9.2.2
- Mac OS X: Netscape 7.2, Safari
- Unix/Solaris 8: Konqueror 3, 1.9.8, Mozilla 1.4 (by request only)