As for today’s users who are active in the digital environment and have rather high expectations for interfaces, they want to have a seamless experience across their devices and interfaces. That way, irrespective of the device a client is using, be it a PC or a mobile device, the site functions properly. Web device testing is a very important phase which you get to know whether there can be any compatibility problems in these devices and should therefore give the user the same experience.
The important thing to realize in this multi-device environment is that it is not enough to test your website across one or two screens, two operating systems, and two browsers.
The problem is in maintaining compatibility across such a wide spectrum of devices, resolutions, and browsers while at the same time avoiding an intimidating workload for your development and testing divisions. The challenges and goals of web device testing should cover some points centered on performance, functionality, and design, while keeping the amount of testing work reasonable and easy to control.
Web device testing
To get insight into the web device testing, it is important to clearly define what the web device actually encompasses.
Web device testing refers to the process of ensuring that a website acts and appears as would be expected on any device. In other words, you need to make sure that your website ambassadors look and operate in a similar way on a 27-inch desktop monitor, 10-inch tablet, and 6-inch smartphone display. Web device testing aims primarily at the consistency of the site’s functionality across various possible types of devices of a user.
Current Methodologies of Web Device Testing
Plan Your Testing Strategy
In other words, adequate planning is paramount to the success of testing, and the following is a step-by-step guide on how to develop a standard testing plan. The second step in the implementation of this plan is to determine that the first efforts should be directed at which devices, browsers, and operating systems.
Your options must give consideration to the use of devices by your intended market, and this may be identified by using analytical tools like Google Analytics Tools. They will help to concentrate testing on frequently used gadgets and browsers by visitors to give them a great experience.
Prioritize Responsive Design
The whole concept of responsive web design allows the interface to alter depending on what type of device or screen is being used to view the website. This means less need for two versions of your site, one for access with a laptop/PC and one for access on a mobile device. Make sure that the site is fully developed so that you do not take it through all the gadgets only to find that many errors will occur.
In As Many Devices As Possible
When it comes to web device testing, one of the most crucial things is to ensure that your site is able to run on several devices. This includes smartphones, tablets, notebooks, laptops, and even personal computers and desktops. But it’s impossible to actually test on almost all potential devices, as this precludes physical testing. This is where cross-device testing tools come in handy.
Real and Emulator Devices
Unfortunately, it is always impossible to perform a test on a real device, though it is considered effective. Many of the simulators and emulators are absent any real device characteristics and haptics, and while, as a result, they can be useful to test the application on various devices and to compare the outcome, it really differs when the application is tested on live devices.
However, to get the most accurate results the synthetic environment should be used in conjunction with real devices and emulators.
Automate Your Tests
While testing your website in a few selected devices is possible, it is a tedious task to begin with. A good example is where a series of tests can be directly repeated, for instance, where the layout or the responsiveness of the page is questionable. This way, the more routine tests can be trimmed down and the testers can then focus on other relevant areas. Taking advantage of automated testing tools, you are able to test your application on several devices at the same time.
Focus on Performance Testing
One site might look at pictures or be responsive on one device and slow or even unresponsive on another. Performance testing has to be a primary concern when it comes to web device testing, so your site loads fast and works well on any device. However, one has to keep in mind that some devices can be slower while the networks could also be slow; hence, it is to test for these cases.
That brings us to the topic of the importance of cross-testing.
Given that users interact with your website across all sorts of devices, it’s important to make the experience seamless. This is why cross-device testing is important. Cross-Device Testing is the act of testing the functionality of your website layout across a multitude of devices, operating systems, and browser combos. This means that, regardless of the OS used by a user to get to your site, whether Android on the cellphone or iOS on the iPad, the feel is the same.
Cross-device testing aims to prevent:
- Inconsistent layouts: A layout that works well on desktop may cause a page to become unresponsive when opened on a mobile device if not checked.
- Feature discrepancies: Some elements may not be available on any given device because of the peculiarity of certain browsers.
- Performance issues: There are sometimes issues with how each device executes your site’s scripts and content, so it may work slower and give the user a poor experience.
By using LambdaTest, an AI-powered testing platform, developers and testers can perform cross-device testing easily and effectively without the need to have physical access to all such devices and browsers.
Why should one consider LambdaTest for Web Device and Cross Device Testing?
Cross-device testing and web device testing can be achieved through the use of the many tools available on the market, but none does this as conveniently as LambdaTest. Here’s why:
Cloud-Based Testing
LambdaTest provides real device testing for over 3000 combinations across browsers and devices in the cloud. You can test your site on several real devices at once without having to own all the devices and obtain the most accurate results.
Parallel Testing
As it has been described earlier, LambdaTest benefits from the parallel testing feature. That is why it allows you to determine in some seconds how your site works in numerous gadgets and browsers simultaneously, at once, it saves a vast amount of time.
Visual Testing
LambdaTest also offers visual testing, where one can compare the looks of your website across one or many devices and browsers. This makes sure that your website looks and feels the same on any device that the user is using to view the website.
Geolocation Testing
Using LambdaTest, you can perform website testing in a real environment for multiple geographical locations. This is particularly useful to businesses that have international clients and would like to make sure that the website provides an optimized experience regardless of the precise location of the user.
Challenges With Web Device Testing
However, like any other testing approach, WDT has its problems, and knowing them is half the battle.
Device Fragmentation
There are so many different devices available nowadays; it’s practically impossible to test a site on all of them. This makes it mandatory that we concentrate with the most used devices within our users and expand more using a cloud-based tool like LambdaTest.
Inconsistent Browser Behavior
Code is read variously by browsers, and even a slight variation in the rendering engine can lead to a page falling apart. This is why cross-browser testing is such a big deal, and we should never take it lightly. One may work on Chrome, while it won’t work well on Safari or Firefox.
Mobile Network Variability
Mobile devices generally use communication networks that are slower than those used by desktops connected to broadband. In addition, it is recommended that you test your website on this connection speed to be sure it will load fast for 3G or 4G users.
Conclusion
Web device testing is an important step in Web development that lets you know whether the site is working properly on different devices and different browsers or not. As the variety of devices increases, cross-device testing is as crucial for receiving similar interface feedback from users.
If you adopt best practices in device testing and employ tools such as LambdaTest, you will find it easy to test, reduce problems, and ensure that your users get a great experience regardless of the device and browser they use.
