Since its introduction in 2003, Wordpress has been popular among users for its efficient content management system. For people without any technical base and little budget, Wordpress helps them to host their content through dynamic templates. Although the paid version gives access to customizable themes, more storage space, and fewer ads, for starters, the free version of WordPress is quite useful by providing all the basic features.
However, Wordpress themes often cause minor breakage on certain browsers. Especially browsers that do not support advanced CSS styles and animations. If you are not testing the cross-browser compatibility of your website, you have no means to know whether the visitors of your site are able to access all the contents and features that you are providing.
Since with so many browsers and their versions make manual cross-browser testing difficult and time-consuming, we have to rely on certain tools that automate cross-browser testing. Let’s take a look at 13 cross-browser testing tools for testing your WordPress website.
1. LambdaTest – Using LambdaTest, you can execute cross-browser testing of your website at over thousands of different browsers and their versions, at multiple devices and operating system combination. All of them are running on real-time and accessible via Cloud. Not only that, but there is also a screenshot capturing tool for automated visual regression testing of your website. Above all, LambdaTest also provides a Wordpress plugin in which testing can be done directly from the WordPress dashboard and it is free to use.
2. BrowserStack – Used by big brands like Airbnb, Microsoft, Wikipedia, BrowserStack is one of the most popular cross-browser testing tools that provides a browser-based platform where you can debug your WordPress site with a VM that comes with dev tools. The paid version of BrowserStack will give you access to more than 1000 browsers along with their versions and over 6 operating systems.
3. Browser Sandbox – This is a free tool that allows you to run cross-browser compatibility test of your WordPress website on different versions of all major browsers like Chrome, Opera, Safari as well as multiple versions of Firefox. The best part is, the tool is free to use.
4. Browsera – You can test the cross-browser compatibility of your WordPress site using Browsera, which provides a side by side comparison of how your website looks at different browsers. You can test your website at all major browsers free of cost, while the premium version provides an opportunity for advanced bug reporting.
5. Browserling – Using Browserling, you can test the cross-browser compatibility of your WordPress site over all the major browsers used in Windows and Android. You won’t even be required to create an account for using this tool. Just enter the URL, and after a very short waiting time in the queue, your testing will begin automatically.
6. DebugBar – If your WordPress site is required to run properly on different versions of Internet Explorer, this is the perfect tool to use. You can check cross-browser compatibility of your site in multiple versions of IE, ranging from version 6 to 11 on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 8.
7. Browser Shots – This is more like a screenshot capturing tool for manual visual regression testing. You will need to select the browsers for running the tests and enter the URL of your site. Once you hit the start button, the tool generates screenshots of how your site will look like at different browsers. You can then compare them for detecting regression bugs.
8. Cross Browser Testing – This is a paid tool where you can perform cross-browser testing of your WordPress site over 900 browsers and their versions and more than 40 operating systems. The best part is, the testing is not carried out over a simulated environment. For complete accuracy, all the tests are carried out on real devices.
9. IE Tab – This is not exactly a tool but a plug-in of Firefox. This will allow you to execute cross-browser testing of your Wordpress site on IE. Once the plug-in is enabled, your browser gets converted into a look-alike of Internet Explorer, where you can freely test your website.
10. SauceLabs – Being another widely used premium service meant for cross-browser testing, this tool gives you the ability to perform manual cross-browser testing of your WordPress site on more than 700 combinations of operating systems and browsers.
11. Litmus – Since 2005, Litmus started becoming popular for perfecting their email inbox testing. At present, they upgraded their features and allows the tester to see how their website is rendered at different browsers on both mobile as well as desktop. The tool is ideal for cross-browser testing and widely used by both designers as well as developers.
12. MultiBrowser – A tool meant for testing responsiveness and cross-browser compatibility, MultiBrowser was launched in 2009 and became widely popular. Some of its big users include Nationwide and Xerox. The free plan allows you to test your site on 3 major browsers and mobile emulators. The paid plan is a bit costly and gives you access to every other platforms and browser.
13. TestingBot – This is a paid tool that helps in both automated as well as manual cross-browser testing of your WordPress site. They support almost all major browsers and their versions, running on the desktop as well as mobile devices. One of the largest Selenium grids on the internet is run by them.
When your WordPress site is cross-browser compatible, it will look same on all browsers and operating systems. As a developer since you do not have the knowledge of what browser is preferred by the end users, it is important that proper cross-browser testing is executed before your site is released in production. The tools mentioned above will help you with that purpose. Start testing and ensure perfect user experience, thereby, increasing the audience and ranking of your site.