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One of the greatest challenges I have as a web developer is making sure that a client's website renders as accurately as possible across multiple browsers, operating systems, and screen resolutions. Since each browser vendor interprets the web specifications slightly differently, you would be amazed to see how a website looks in different browsers and machines.
Fortunately for me and my clients, I have a number of computers that I can test websites on. Testing Windows to Macs, Internet Explorer to Opera, 800x600 to 1024x768 is fairly easy for me. But what about you, the business owner who paid good money for a website that looks great on your machine? How do you know what your website looks like on other machines?
Luckily there are services available to test to see exactly what your website looks like on different machine and browser platforms. Typically these services will send you screen shots of a single web page in different browsers and operating systems. More sophisticated services allow you to log into their testing servers and surf your website just like a visitor would see it.
The pricing for these services ranges from $15 for a one-time usage to about $1,000 for an annual subscription with all the bells and whistles.
Here are two services that I have used in the past:
BrowserCam
NetMechanic's Browser Photo
If you are relying on your website to generate leads or sales for your business, then I would highly recommend that you spend a little money to make sure that you are not accidentally turning away visitors. Let's face it, a visitor coming to your website will blame you for the display problems and not their browser.
Mark Beck is Vice President and Partner of The Boulevard Group, a full service internet services company specializing in web design, web development and internet marketing. The Boulevard Group serves a broad customer base and provides services that include dynamic content management systems, database-driven ecommerce catalogs and shopping carts, and traditional brochure-style web sites. Mark formerly provided content to the Duct Tape Marketing blog where he covered topics relating to web design and internet marketing. He may be contacted at
Mark@theblvdgroup.com or by calling 908-876-3707.
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