Are you a new software tester struggling to use all the features of Safari browser online? We have got you covered! This article will be your guiding light in understanding the importance of cross-browser testing with the Safari browser online. We will also try to understand the challenges and tools involved with this process.
It is almost impossible to predict the device that your end users will use to access your web apps. So, cross-browser testing becomes very important to ensure the proper functioning of your application on a massively large range of operating systems, devices, and browsers.
Safari, being the second largest browser globally, has a huge share of end users. This browser is also famous for its unique rendering engine, WebKit.
Importance of Cross-Browser Testing With Safari
Before we formulate the process for executing cross-browser testing with the Safari browser online, let us go through some of the most important parameters that justify the execution of cross-browser testing with the Safari browser:
Massive User Base
The first reason is that Safari is the default browser for every Apple device, including iPads, iPhones, and Mac desktops. A recent market study has proved that Apple is the second-largest browser vendor globally. So, if you ignore the cross-browser compatibility on Safari, you might provide an unstable end-user experience to your customers.
Presence Of Unique Rendering Engine
The rendering engine of Safari is unique compared to other Chromium-based browsers like Chrome and Firefox. These differences can cause inconsistencies if not tested properly. It is a very important process to ensure smooth, consistent, and reliable functioning.
Elevated Performance Optimization
Safari is quite well-known in the browser industry for its performance optimizations and efficient system resource utilization. Therefore, by testing your web app on this browser, you can identify performance bottlenecks and optimize the application for better usage across all Apple devices.
Challenges of Testing on Safari
To help you prepare yourself for executing cross-browser testing on Safari, we have created a list of some of the most important and common challenges that you will face during this process:
Limited Accessibility On Apple Devices
The Apple ecosystem is well renowned for its tight security and integrity. Therefore, the developers may not have access to the core infrastructure for testing. Moreover, the Safari browser also has limited availability on non-Apple devices. All these restrictions make it very difficult for developers to use other operating systems to test the functioning of Safari-based apps.
Moreover, suppose you are a third-party tester who does not have direct affiliations with Apple. In that case, you may not have access to various beta releases or core Apple operating system features to further optimize your application’s performance on these devices.
Different Rendering Engine
As we already mentioned earlier, the Safari browser uses a different rendering engine compared to all the common browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and even Edge. Due to the WebKit rendering engine, the Safari browser behaves differently from the Blink engine and the Gecko engine.
So, you must understand that all web elements like HTML-based elements, CSS elements, and JavaScript elements will be interpreted and rendered differently on the Safari browser. So, if you fail to optimize the web elements on the Safari browser accordingly, they might fail after the deployment process. In a worst-case scenario, the entire application can crash.
All these factors can negatively hamper your brand reputation, massively increase bounce rates, and reduce user retention rates.
Accessibility And Compatibility Issues
Ensuring accessibility across the user interface of an application is not only a moral obligation but also a legal one across various countries. So, the testers need to ensure that all the accessibility features are working properly on both the updated and outdated versions of the Safari browser online.
However, this process will become challenging, especially on the older Safari browsers, as they do not support the latest web standards. This support limitation can also lead to various complex compatibility issues that might hamper the functioning of the user interface elements present in your application.
Using Tools for Cross-Browser Testing With Safari Online
To overcome all the challenges of using Safari, various tools and platforms are available in the present market. These tools allow you to incorporate the Safari browser online and test the application’s functioning on online device farms.
To improve our knowledge regarding these platforms, we are going to use LambdaTest as our discussion point:
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale. Using the device farm of LambdaTest, the testers can verify the performance of their web apps on more than 3000 different combinations of real devices, operating systems, and browser versions, including Safari browser online.
Let us now look at some of the major features of lambdaTest that assist in cross-browser testing on Safari:
- Using LambdaTest, the developers can integrate automated frameworks and tools like Selenium and Appium to automate the cross-browser testing process on the Safari browser.
- Using this platform, the testers can use parallel test execution with Selenium Grid to run multiple testing instances simultaneously and execute the entire test suite within a fraction of the original time.
- The device farm of LambdaTest supports both outdated real devices and legacy browser versions, including Safari for Windows. This helps increase the application compatibility as a huge segment of the end users do not update their hardware or software.
- LambdaTest also includes various advanced features like comprehensive test reporting, live test activity logging, and native bug tracking to improve the efficiency of cross-browser testing processes.
Setting Up Automated Testing With Safari Online
By including automation testing with Safari-based cross-browser testing, you can create a more streamlined and efficient testing process. To shed more light on this segment, we have mentioned all the required steps and prerequisites that you must follow to set up and implement this process:
Prerequisites:
- The first prerequisite is to have a Mac OS or iOS device that already has Safari installed on it.
- Next, you must have a testing framework like Selenium WebDriver available on a test machine to initiate and execute the test cases.
- Finally, you must have a licensed account on LambdaTest to execute the test cases online.
Now follow the given steps to perform the Safari-based cross-browser testing process with LambdaTest:
- The first step is to install the required Selenium WebDriver package based on your chosen programming language. For example, if you prefer to use Python, you will have to use pip and enter the following command in the terminal window:
Pip install Selenium
- Completed installing Selenium WebDriver? Now, move on to setting up the WebDriver. Since Safari comes with a built-in WebDriver, you don’t have to rely on any additional binaries for this process. Simply add the following command in the terminal window for the configuration process:
- Now, it is finally time to write your automation test script, which will help you interact with the web application on the Safari browser. To shed more light on this segment, we have mentioned a sample code snippet that will help you in the process:
- Now, it is time to integrate your Safari-based automation test script with your chosen cloud-based platform, LambdaTest. You also have to configure the WebDriver’s capabilities accordingly to execute this process. To help you with this process, we have mentioned a sample course lipid that will achieve this goal:
- The final step in this process is to execute the test script and wait for it to generate the final test results. During the execution process, the test will run on the specified Safari version and will provide you with all the required test results and important test activity logs.
Best Practices For Cross-Browser Testing With Safari Online
Now let us discuss some of the best practices that we strongly recommend the testers incorporate within their cross-browser testing process while using the Safari browser online:
- Firstly, we advise the tester to begin cross-browser testing at the earlier phases of the development cycle. This approach will help you identify and fix issues before they become more challenging.
- While emulators and simulators have come a long way and allow you to simulate the environments of various devices, we strongly recommend the inclusion of real devices to properly understand the influence of various physical parameters on the functioning of the application.
- While working with the Safari browser online, we advise the testers to automate the repetitive testing instances to maintain consistency and to free up a lot of extra resources. You can use this extra time to focus on other creative areas of the project.
- Testers need to ensure the compatibility of their web application with all the operational versions of the Safari browser. Using cloud-based platforms like LambdaTest, you can test on various versions, including Safari For Windows. This is crucial to expand the audience reach of your Safari-based apps.
- During the entire testing process, the testers must pay proper attention to the resource consumption. This will help them to ensure the removal of crucial bottlenecks and provide a smooth end-user experience. You can also use dedicated tools to monitor the memory and CPU consumption during app rendering.
- Finally, it is important to incorporate some form of visual testing tools to ensure the proper placement of all the user interface components irrespective of all the user interface elements irrespective of the device size or other parameters. The testers can also capture screenshots and perform manual visual comparison testing to further identify the visual issues.
The Bottom Line
Depending on all the factors that we discussed in this article, we can safely conclude that cross-browser testing with the Safari browser online is very important to creating a consistent and high-quality user experience for Apple users. While testing on Safari has its unique challenges, there are tools and platforms to tackle them and implement a pleasing online testing experience.
By using all the tools and best practices that we discussed in this article, the developers can ensure that the Web apps are compatible with Safari and perform optimally across all platforms.
Moreover, by adding automated testing with cross-browser testing and using real devices, the testers can efficiently manage the complexities of this process.
The ultimate goal for this process is to create a more robust and reliable web app that gives a smooth UI irrespective of the chosen device or browser version.