As per w3c, IE only has 43% of total browser’s market share. Rest all shared by other browsers including Firefox, safari, opera, Chrome and others. For this reason, it is mandatory that a website is accessible on all major browsers.
Who would like a scenario where one’s website is compatible with IE7 but not accessible on Firefox2 or on IE6? But at the same time, maintaining all these browsers in-house and dedicating resources to test the website against all these browsers could be very expensive and cumbersome task. Now add to this list the mobile browsers and the task becomes almost impossible.
Fortunately, there are still ways which can make it possible to test for cross browser compatibility with minimum of fuss. Here I am going to suggest 10 different resources which can help you determine if your website is cross browser compatible.
1. BrowserCam
Browsercam supports numerous browsers and operating systems. You can also check you website on different devices like mobile, PDA etc. They also provide remote access service where you can remotely login to a machine with desired configuration and can test the website in real time.
It is a paid service with options for daily, monthly, or yearly package. You can get 1 day free trial. And their packages start with $39.95 per month.
2. Browsershots
Browsershots supports 100+ browsers and operating system combinations. It is quite popular amongst designers and developers.
It is a free service. For fast results, paid service at $29.95/month, is also available.
3. NetMechanic Browser Photo
http://www.netmechanic.com/products/browser-index.shtml
Browser photo supports Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox and Safari on Windows, Mac and Linux. You can select various screen resolutions as well.
It’s a paid service. $15 for one-time use or $150 per domain/year for unlimited use.
4. Litmus Apps
Litmus supports all major browsers on windows and mac. They also provide w3c validation report. Litmus also offers testing of HTML emails in all major email clients.
It also provides a free service but that only supports IE7 and firefox and with a limitation of 50 tests/month. Paid packages include day pass with full access for $24, an individual subscription for $49/month and a team subscription for $199/month.
5. IE NetRenderer
http://www.ipinfo.info/netrenderer/
IE NetRenderer supports Internet Explorer 8, 7, 6 und 5.5.
It is a free service.
6. BrowserCamp
BrowserCamp allows you to test the compatibility of your design with Mac OSX browsers. They support 12 different MAC OSX browsers including safari, firefox, Camino, SeaMonkey, Flock, opera etc.
It’s a paid service. You can purchase $3 for a two-day subscription, $7 for a One week subscription, $19 for a One month subscription or $99 for a one-year subscription.
7. IE Tester from DebugBar
http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
It is a free web browser that allows you to have the rendering and JavaScript engines IE8, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process.
It is free.
8. CrossBrowserTesting
http://www.crossbrowsertesting.com/
Cross browser testing supports various browsers and operating system combinations.
It is a free service. In Free account, access is limited to less than 5 minutes per session. You can also purchase credits for additional minutes. Subscriptions cost $29.95 for the first month, then $19.95 a month thereafter.
9. ieCapture
ieCapture provides screen shots of website in Internet Explorer 8 on windows XP SP2.
It is a free service.
10. Adobe Browserlab
https://browserlab.adobe.com/index.html
Browserlabs tests website on Firefox 2 and 3 and IE 6 and 7 for XP and test Firefox 2 and 3 and Safari 3 for OS X.
Adobe currently offering its as a Free service for preview
