How Many Browsers?

How many browsers should I use to test website code?

 

Hi,

I test with W3C validator and with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera (screen sizes of 1152 x 864 and 800 x 600).

Jean-Luc

 

All you have.

Use Firefox as your primary testbed, and be sure the page(s) make(s) sense in a plain text browser like Lynx. Make the odd check in Opera and Safari, then apply hacks, dumbing down, and work-arounds for IE.

Authoring against standards compliant browsers like Firefox and the other modern browser ensures your code is decent. Tweaking for IE makes sure that users of that PoS get a page that resembles the others.

cheers,

gary

 

It depends how complex it is. A website that has lots of dhtml and Javascript needs more testing than a simple site with some tables.

 

And what about LYNX? I've never used it but some people advice to design a separate text-only page for this Browser is that OK?

 

http://www.seo-browser.com/ is a good site to check for text-only browsing, that way you dont have to download lynx etc.

 

Thanks for the link, try the DP forum site.

 

That, a separate page, is generally a not-good idea. The pages you code should have all basic functionality in the html. They should work just fine in Lynx. Style, images, javascript/AJAX and plugin stuff should be "progressive enhancements" layered over the base page. If your page doesn't function with everything turned off, you don't have a well made page.

cheers,

gary

 

Thanks to all for replying I never heard of Safari what %age of net surfers are using them? Any Idea?

 

I check in all resolutions of IE, 1024 for firefox.

 

Test primarily in FireFox and validate to W3C then test to make sure it works on the most common IE. Ensure it works on at least 800x600 as a start. You'll need to make a decision as to how much time it takes to test in other browsers like Opera, Lynx, Safari and at which desktop sizes.

Testing is good but can be time-consuming & boring and, if you've written well-structured, compliant & relatively simple code you could still spend too much time immersed in the detail.

Best that you test yourself on testing and see how it goes - you don't want to be tied up in to much design/dev bureaucracy

Safari - as an example 3% on one site, 1.6% on another.

 

I think u should test the websites in FF and Netscape and then in IE bcaz IE doesn't show the errors in the coding part...

 

I test in IE7, IE6 and Firefox.