Many IT Companies are moving forward to build products and solutions that are compatible with a variety of different operating systems, browsers, hardware, databases, and other objects. This range of compatibility is highly recommended since most customers are now running their applications on a wide variety of platforms. Different environments can impact the behavior of a product and introduce defects. For example, browser versions can affect web applications and operating systems can impact the behavior of desktop applications. What we’ll be discussing in this post is how our quality team performs the compatibility testing to clean hidden issues that are related to different environments, browser versions, and operating systems.

Compatibility Testing:

Compatibility Testing is the general term for a nonfunctional test that is performed to ensure the compatibility of an application with the computing environment. This test will contain a number of objects like operating systems, browsers, databases, hardware platforms, and others. It can be performed manually or by means of automation tools.

Browsers and operating systems are perhaps the most important objects to be tested, so I’d like to focus a bit on these two.

Browser Testing:

This is a test of software applications that are related to internet or external websites. It is performed by running the application under certain versions and types of browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and so on. It is also known as “user experience testing” since it’s related to the user’s experience of the website while using different browsers.

Why is Browser Testing applied?

• To check that the users have the same user interface across different browsers.

• To validate that the applications behave and respond the same way across different browsers.

Operating System Testing:

This type of testing is performed on software desktop applications to evaluate how well they perform with certain operating systems like Max, Windows, and so on.

Why is Operating System Testing applied?

• To verify that the applications are running perfectly across different operating systems.

How helpful is Compatibility Testing?

• It allows you to find out how well applications perform within certain environments.

• It helps development teams understand the criteria that the application needs to achieve.

• Users will find out which application best fits their existing setup.

• It ensures performance in the computing environment for which it is intended.

• It reveals which changes are required to make the application compatible with certain environments.

The best approach to Compatibility Testing:

• Testing products should take place within the recommended, primary computing environment.

• It should define compatibility issues that are risky and unacceptable for the related product.

• Create a test plan that lists exactly which tests will be executed under which environments.

• Begin executing the test with your experienced testing team.

• Execution should include subscribing to known browser testing web sites that are available on the market, and then choosing different combinations of the operating systems and browsers that simulate all possible environments. Use virtual machines to simulate environments that are not found on the browser testing site.