The most frequent mistake online marketers make is forgetting to ensure their websites/applications cross-browser compatibility. It’s astounding how many Fortune 500 companies have no idea that their websites and applications are horribly disfigured in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and so on.  Thorough cross-browser compatibility testing ensures your website/application is being supported by and properly rendered in all browsers.  Read on for the top 3 free, paid and premium browser testing tools.

The 2011 recommended top 3 best free, paid and premium
cross browser compatibility testing tools.

Adobe BrowserLab is without a doubt my favorite free cross browser compatibility testing tool on the web.

Adobe BrowserLab allows you to select what browsers and operating systems you would like to test on – everything from IE6 on a Mac to Firefox 5 on Windows.  It lets you save “sets” of browsers, compare browsers via dual or quad comparison windows and even allows you to control the zoom of the browser window. You can change which browsers you’d like to test under “Browser Sets.”

With a sleek interface, an almost instantaneous refresh rate and a comprehensive browser test list I’d wager that Adobe’s BrowserLab will meet a majority of people’s browser testing needs. Most likely only those operating corporate or e-commerce websites need the additional functionality of a tool like Litmus.

The best part about Adobe’s BrowserLab? It’s 100% free! Just sign up for a free Adobe account and start testing!

https://browserlab.adobe.com (free!)

Litmus:

This SaaS cross-browser compatibility tool is the best paid cross-browser testing tool on the market. Not only does Litmus test websites and landing pages but it allows you test your e-mail templates multiple e-mail clients such as outlook, gmail and more to ensure they display properly across all clients (which for the record, they almost never do unless you test and tweak accordingly).

After typing in your URL Litmus quickly generates dozens of screenshots in over 40 browsers and browser versions; you can also see your entire page from top to bottom, not just the area visible above the fold which is similar for other services. As if that weren’t awesome enough Litmus includes a management tool and a bug tracking system to make managing the problems you identify a breeze. Plugins allow for both Windows and Mac compatibility.

Simple, quick and intuitive the basic $49/mth testing package will provide most users with everything they’ll need to ensure their websites, applications and e-mails are appearing correctly across all browsers and e-mail clients.

www.litmus.com ($49/mth per user)

Cross Browser Testing:

CrossBrowserTesting.com provides a simple and straightforward solution for browser testing. Simply pick an operating system and browser and start testing. Simple screenshot views on multiple browsers give you a great way to compare views.

Unlike Litmus and Adobe’s BrowserLab’s CrossBrowserTesting.com allows you to leverage their computer farm of virtual machines that are loaded with every browser and OS on the market. While the design and UX isn’t as sleek as the other options above, CrossBrowserTesting.com does give designers and developers extra testing capabilities like checking their AJAX, Javascript and jQuery actions.

Overall CrossBrowserTesting.com is a solid, albeit less intuitive solution at an affordable price point of $29/mth for basic users.

www.crossbrowsertesting.com ($29/mth per user)

Don’t forget it’s important to not only test browsers but different browsers on different OS’s (which the tools above do). Here’s a handy cross browser testing checklist you can refer to while cross-browser testing your website or application:

1)      Validate your CSS, HTML and XHTML

2)      Test your Ajax, JQuery and Javascript functionality

3)      Confirm accurate font size and font display

4)      Confirm accurate page layout, alignment and resolutions

5)      Test and confirm page displays properly when zoomed in/out in browser.

6)      Check for broken applications and links.

7)      Confirm all scripts and forms work.