Office Tweaks

Website browser-compatibility test tool

by Jerome Locson on August 12th, 2007

Web designer! This one’s for you, so read on.

Personally, web designing can bring some headaches when dealing the issue of cross-browser compatibility of their site designs. Designers/Programmers usually download specific browsers and install it to their machines to aid them with the site test in their localhost before having it officially launched. And it is a YES! YES! (instead of a NO! NO!) for most to do that task to maintain the desired output in different browsers from different platforms.

Having all web browsers installed in the machine can also be a burden with the processing power of your machines. Imagine having Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari — to mention a few, installed and run simultaneously. Well, maybe for developers who have this powerful machine won’t agree to it as a burden. Anyway, enough of getting into technical.

Just recently, I tested this online open-source service from Browsershots. The free online service is created by Johann C. Rocholl. How does the it work? Browsershots basically provides screenshots of your website submitted online and having it queued in their system for the screenshot-taking. Their system has a number of distributed computers who runs different operating systems and different browsers of different versions, as well. You can also set preferences while you are in the submission form. Like setting screen resolution, color depth, media types embedded, and with a maximum queue wait of 4 hours. After the screenshots are taken, it will be uploaded in their main server to show you your website screenshot.

Having all that, I submitted www.officetweaks.com for a run-down of their system and presto! — just after few minutes of waiting, the screenshots are in.

Cool eh? So, check out Browsershots.org for more information and have it a test. It is really a helpful web service to provide perfect user experience to your site visitor and a smooth production for you as web designer.

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POSTED IN: Firefox, Productivity, User Experience, Webtop Apps