5 Simple Ways Cross-Browser Compatibility

This post is written for designers, developers, or anyone else who has struggled with testing their websites across multiple browsers.

As little as one year ago, there were almost no good options for testing cross-browser compatibility of websites. The tools out there usually had significant drawbacks � either in cost, capabilities, or time required. Lately, though, there have been a lot of newcomers to the browser testing world, some of which offer truly excellent services.

In this article we've listed 5 fresh and simple tools for cross-browser compatibility testing, tools that actually make this stuff pretty easy. Not only that, but every single one of these tools can be used for free.

Xenocode Browser Sandbox

The Xenocode Browser Sandbox is a game-changer for browser testing on Windows-based machines. With a single click of your mouse you can have an open and working browser without any installation. You can test in various IE versions, Firefox, Google Chrome, and even Safari. And really test, too, not just screenshots. To top everything off, the entire service is provide free of charge. Zip, nadda, nothing.

IETester

This is a free downloadable windows program that is still in the early stages of development. That being said, it is a single free resource that will allow you to fully test all of the relevant versions of Internet Explorer.

BrowsarCamp

With all of the IE-Only test sites out there, it was about time someone joined in and created a site that allows testing on Safari/Mac. The free version of their service offers near-instant screenshots on the newest stable release of safari, and though it's lacking a bit in browser versions it definitely makes up for it in rendering speed.

Litmus

Over a period of just a few months, Litmus has risen in popularity to become one of the most favored cross-browser testing tools on the market today. Unfortunately, their free options are very limited and only allow testing in IE7 and FireFox 2.