As the application development landscape evolves, the requirement for effective and dependable techniques for testing is more important than ever. Testing organizations are increasingly using agile approaches to keep up with the rapid pace of application releases. As a result, the shift towards cloud-based browser testing is becoming necessary. Cloud testing has emerged as a revolutionary option, providing development teams with outstanding benefits.
Cloud service provides access to a wide range of browsers and devices remotely without maintaining an extensive physical infrastructure. This allows test teams to test their applications across different environments and versions to ensure that the web applications or websites function correctly and appear consistently across different web browsers online. Using cloud capabilities, developers can streamline their testing procedures, cut expenses, and assure large-scale application delivery.
The cornerstone of cloud-based browser testing is its ability to perform comprehensive testing across several environments with minimum manual involvement. This not only expedites the testing procedure but also improves test result accuracy and consistency.
This article will discuss the basics of web browsers online and understand what cloud-based browser testing is. It will explore the benefits and techniques of cloud-based browser testing to provide stable, user-friendly web browsing experiences across a wide range of browsers and devices.
Overview of Web Browser Online
The web browser is a popular online service through which users can access the World Wide Web(www). It serves as a translator that helps in collecting data from web servers and displaying it to the user as a web page.
Its function is to generate HTML that is used to construct a webpage. When users search for anything on the internet, the browser loads a web page written in HTML with text, links, photos, and other elements like style sheets and JavaScript routines.
Thus, web browsers fetch and display web pages, and help provide an interface for user interaction and deliver a user-friendly experience. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari are examples of the most popular web browsers.
Understanding cloud-based browser testing
Cloud-based browser testing is a technique for testing web applications and websites to ensure that they are working properly and appearing consistently across various web browsers and operating systems. Rather than installing and operating real or virtual machines locally, this kind of testing is performed by utilizing cloud-based testing platforms like LambdaTest.
These testing services help make testing faster, easier, and more manageable. Moving the whole testing process online saves QAs and the development team from having to deal with geographical constraints, lengthy setup and maintenance processes, and device, browser, and operating system coverage issues.
Benefits of performing browser testing on the cloud
Ensuring the quality and compatibility of web applications is important. Cloud-based browser testing is an effective technique that helps to check the applications work as expected across a wide range of browsers and devices. Here are a few benefits of cloud-based cross-browser testing:
Cloud Infrastructure: Cloud-based browser testing uses remote servers and infrastructure provided by third-party cloud service. These services manage a diverse set of virtual machines or real devices with a variety of browser setups.
Accessibility: It gives access to a variety of web browsers as well as operating systems that users can access remotely. This accessibility is beneficial for testing combinations of platforms and browsers that may not be widely accessible locally.
Cross-browser compatibility testing: The Cross-browser testing technique is to ensure that a web application operates effectively and appears consistent across several browsers and versions. This is significant because different browsers can render web content in different ways.
Parallel testing: With cloud-based services, testing is done faster by running tests simultaneously in different browser configurations. This parallelism accelerates the feedback loop in the development process.
Real devices: Cloud-based testing services provide access to real mobile devices, allowing test mobile web applications on a variety of devices, screen sizes, and operating systems.
Screenshots and videos: These services frequently provide the ability to take screenshots and record videos of test execution. This helps with documentation issues and visual regression testing.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Testing: Cloud testing is effortlessly integrated with continuous integration (CI) and continuous testing (CT) pipelines. It enables testers to automate testing procedures, run tests in parallel, and receive real-time feedback in case of any code changes. It promotes agile development approaches and guarantees that the application is stable and high-quality throughout the development process.
Debugging tools: Many cloud-based testing services include debugging tools and access to browser developer tools. This allows developers to detect and resolve issues immediately in the remote testing environment.
Geolocation testing: Some services enable testers to test the application’s behavior across multiple geographic areas, which is useful for applications with location-based functionality.
Scalability: Scalability is a feature of cloud-based testing services that lets testers adjust resources to meet the testing requirements. This can be beneficial, especially for larger projects.
Types of cloud-based browser testing
Cloud-based browser testing is divided into the following types:
Functional testing: Functional testing in a cloud environment requires evaluating all of the application’s features and functionalities, including hardware and software. It is generally done on a fully integrated software platform to guarantee that it meets the required standards.
System Testing: System testing guarantees that a cloud application operates successfully within a given range of system requirements.
Compatibility Testing: Compatibility testing determines if a cloud-based application is flexible and compatible enough to continue running efficiently even after an infrastructure change.
Acceptance Testing: Acceptance testing guarantees that a cloud application meets user expectations.
Availability Testing: Availability testing is more of an administrator’s responsibility since they must ensure that cloud services are available round the clock and that other events in the cloud do not disrupt the functioning of the application in concern.
Multi-tenancy Testing: Multi-tenancy testing checks if a cloud-based application is running properly despite high traffic and multiple user requests appearing simultaneously.
Performance Testing: Performance testing is often separated into two categories: stress testing and load testing. These tests confirm that an application running in the cloud is capable of handling a certain amount of user requests. The cloud must also have some flexibility to allow an increase in usage demands if required.
Security Testing: Security testing guarantees that only authorized individuals have access to certain data, and information saved in the cloud always has extra layers of protection.
Disaster Recovery Testing: Unexpected situations may result in the loss of saved data in the cloud. Disaster recovery testing determines how fast this data can be recovered and how much data can be restored.
Best practices for cloud-based browser testing
Few best practices should be followed while developing and implementing a cloud-based testing strategy. They are-
Specify the browser: Determine which browsers the target audience uses most frequently. To provide the optimal user experience, prioritize the most popular web browsers first and concentrate testing efforts on them. browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge are the most popular.
Test Using Mobile Devices: Remember to test on mobile browsers, such as iOS Safari and Android Chrome. This approach ensures that the website is guaranteed to be mobile-friendly, as mobile users make up a significant portion of internet traffic.
Make Use of the Browser Developer Tools: Testers need to familiarize themselves with the programming tools available in modern browsers. These tools assist them in identifying and resolving bugs quickly by analyzing elements, debugging JavaScript, and simulating different browser conditions.
Use Tools for Cross-Browser Testing: Cross-browser testing tools and services such as LambdaTest and frameworks like Appium allow access to a wide range of browser and operating system combinations, allowing testers to test quickly without setting up several physical environments.
Update the Browser List Frequently: Stay informed about the latest browser updates, web standards, and best practices. Browsers frequently release new versions, and previous ones may become less useful. To ensure browser compatibility, the testing protocols should be reviewed and updated regularly. Test on the most recent browser versions to identify any issues before they become widespread.
Validate HTML and CSS: To ensure that the code complies with web standards, use validation tools like the CSS Validator and W3C Markup Validation Service. Valid code is more likely to display consistently across all browsers.
Implement progressive enhancement: Create a “baseline” experience for the website that works on all browsers and devices. Then, add more features to enhance the experience for modern browsers. This approach ensures that every user has a functioning experience.
Perform automated testing: It is an application testing approach that automates the process of validating application functionality to ensure it meets the requirements before it is released. Most cloud-based testing services provide test automation, as it works best for big or repetitive test cases.
Performing automation testing on a cloud provides testers access to a wide range of browsers from legacy to recent versions. This helps in conducting specific application tests more quickly without the need for manual testers.
Document and track issues: Keep a careful record of cross-browser compatibility concerns and their resolutions. This documentation will assist testers in dealing with similar issues in the future and maintain a high degree of consistency.
Cloud-based browser testing tools
There are several cloud-based browser testing tools available, ranging from basic screenshotting tools to fully functional cloud-based systems. These tools include a variety of capabilities to help testers deliver high-quality applications.
LambdaTest
LambdaTest is an AI-powered cloud-based platform for test orchestration and execution. It helps in performing both manual and automated tests at scale. Its cloud-based cross-browser testing capabilities help testers test their web applications across a wide range of browsers, devices, and operating systems.
The platform enables testers to conduct real-time and automated testing on over 3000 environments and real mobile devices. This includes the ability to test both locally hosted and publicly accessible websites.
Additionally, it allows developers to test sites on mobile across different screen sizes, resolutions, and operating systems, which improves the accessibility of websites to a broader audience.
This platform provides several capabilities, such as live interactive testing, responsive testing, and parallel testing to speed up the testing process. It also supports integration with popular CI/CD tools like Travis CI, Bamboo, GitLab, and CircleCI. Other notable features are bug logging and debugging tools, streamlining the process of logging bugs directly from the LambdaTest platform to a range of bug management tools including Jira, Asana, Trello, Github, Paymo, TeamWork, Mantis, and Hive.
AppPerfect
AppPerfect is a robust testing platform that can help testers, developers, and big data experts. It provides a variety of cloud-based features, such as Salesforce integration, web testing, load testing, and security testing. This tool also offers downloadable modules to meet unique testing needs. It stands out as a versatile testing solution ideal for a wide spectrum of users, including testers, developers, and big data teams
Kobiton
Kobiton is a cloud-based test automation platform to write, run, and manage automated tests for mobile and web applications. It also supports manual and automated testing. In addition to integrated testing frameworks like Selenium and Appium, Kobiton facilitates cross-browser and cross-device testing.
AWS Device Farm
The main appeal of AWS Device Farm (previously known as AppThwack) has always been its collection of real Android and iOS devices capable of executing automated tests and giving exact real-time analytics.
Visual Studio App Centre
Visual Studio App Centre is a cloud-based application development platform that lets testers create, test, publish, and monitor applications of iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. From development to deployment, it contains everything the tester requires to get the application operating.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that with the complexity of the digital landscape, cloud-based browser testing becomes a strategic requirement. The advantages of this testing are numerous and strong, as it represents an approach to change in application testing. It offers efficiency, scalability, and innovation, enhancing flexibility, accessibility, cost-effectiveness, faster deployment, and improved collaboration. These advantages not only accelerate the testing process but also help to create more robust, user-friendly applications.