Browser testing guidelines
Web standards & guidelines Browser testing Introduction
Introduction
Aims and objectives
The Government aims to provide a consistent high quality experience for users across all of its online services. There are a large number of different browsers on the market and to test your website with all of them would be impractical and inefficient. However, if you build your website to comply fully with standards, this effort will be significantly reduced and you may only need to test your website with a few browsers.
The objective of this guidance is to ensure that you website works on as many platforms and devices as possible. An effective way to do this is to:
- code to standards;
- test with browsers.
If you develop standards-compliant code (eg (X)HTML, CSS, JavaScript etc) you can be confident that your website will work on a wide variety of platforms and devices. If you then test with a few popular browsers you can be confident that the website works for as many users as possible. This guidance aims to help you decide which browsers to test by building a matrix of different browser and software platforms - a browser testing matrix.
Who is this guidance for?
This guidance is for public sector website managers, developers and testers:
Website managers
- How to find out which browsers are accessing your site
- How often your testing matrix should be reviewed
- An example browser support statement
Web developers and testers
- Developing standards-compliant websites
- How to determine which browsers to test with
- Help with testing
Scope
In scope:
- Web standards
- How to decide which browsers to test with
- When you should review your testing matrix
Out of scope:
- Browser security testing
- Accessibility and assistive technology testing
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