8 Ways to Avoid Cross-Browser Compatibility Errors

Cross-browser testing surely does not fill anyone with joy but is an essential step in the web building process you cannot go wrong.

Currently, apart from the actual web development process, developers need to focus on other related activities. Cross-browser testing is one such activity that often gets neglected, but it is necessary to run a website smoothly. With the massive array of browsers available these days, the chances of your website not working on all of them have increased. Adding to the trouble, companies are now coming up with various new devices. Cross-browser testing helps in finding out if your application or website is compatible with all devices or not.

You might start your website with the latest website design, but your website might not perform well on all platforms without cross-browser testing. A little mistake in the testing process can make your entire project go wrong. Cross-browser testing is essential to make your website or application run smoothly across all devices and browsers.

Here we have listed eight things you need to do to ensure that your site works well. These are some minimal steps that will prevent the cross-browser compatibility issues.

Common Cross-Browser Compatibility Issues with their Solutions

DOCTYPE Issue

Imagine writing a well-written code and then missing out on the most crucial line! It might appear like a very minute detail, but it is essential and might affect how your website performs on different devices. Several browsers that include Internet Explorer check Doctype are out-of-date, and running your website is difficult on old browsers.

If you skip the cross-browser testing step before launching your website or application, the chances of your website render issues are pretty high. Doctype checking is essential because of the two different modes in which most browsers operate. The first mode is the Strict Mode. In this mode, the browser works with a stricter code error check that ensures that the website code adheres to W3C specifications. The other model is the Quirks Mode. It designed to provide backward compatibility to outdated web browsers that are still in use. Quirks mode was explicitly intended for outdated browsers since they are not compatible with the strict way.

When the Doctype is missing from a website, the webpages tend to shift to strict mode. Simultaneously, a browser that does not support HTML5 will not understand which version to look. It makes some tags unresponsive that will make the webpage look different than expected. The solution to this issue is simple. Use DOCTYPE Html at the very beginning of the website code. It will make your website run smoothly on all devices.

Browser Detection

Most browsers run on the latest technological inventions that focus on providing users with optimal outputs. The main aim is to maximize production with very little consumption. However, due to technological advancements, the javascript is not enough for the outdated browsers. When you use an outdated browser, the chances of javascript detection failing is severely high.

The most common cross-browser compatibility issue that developers face is due based on javascript, but this particular issue is easy to tackle. All you need to do is remove browser detection. You can use a collection of superfast tests containing a list of all features to give users a smooth experience. Using this web developer can make the site focus on necessary features rather than unnecessary features.

CSS and HTML Validation

Apart from the Doctype issue, CSS and HTML validation is another major issue that developers face. This error arises when the browser not only reads but reacts to website codes differently. Most of the time, developers cannot deal with minor tag issues that have a massive impact on their product. Tags play an essential role in making a web page run smoothly.

Latest browsers can autocorrect this small error except for outdated browsers that cannot make any correction. For instance, a minor HTML or CSS miss might stop your website from running smoothly on Internet Explorer, but the same website can run smoothly on Chrome.

It is a pervasive issue, but a developer can use any HTML or CSS validating tool depending on their needs.

Resetting CSS

Most browsers have a default CSS style layout that automatically gets applied to different browsers. For any website to start using its template, overwriting the default CSS is necessary. Until you do this, your website will render differently on different browsers.

To deal with this issue, developers need to use CSS reset style sheets. The usage of a CSS reset stylesheet will ensure that your website looks the same in all browsers. HTML5 Reset and CSS Reset are some of the most common reset styles that developers can use to deal with this website error.

Incompatible Website Layout

As we mentioned previously, websites might look different on different web browsers, which might happen due to layout compatibility issues. Your website not displaying similarly on the browser directly links to either layout compatibility or CSS reset problem. Both of these issues are now very easy to resolve. A widespread solution is to use Float. Most web browsers support Float. It is a floating image inside a text box that comes with some predefined limitations. However, to resolve the CSS issue, you can use dedicated layout mechanisms like Flexbox and CSS grid. Both of these tools support most browsers and are incredibly useful for developers.

Incompatible Website Features

Each website comes with its unique feature, and not every browser can support all functions of every website. With technology evolving, there are ways to deal with this issue as well. You should also maintain a list of all the website features that most browsers do not support and try avoiding their usage on your website.

With cross-browser testing, you can find out web features supported by most browsers and try using them as often as possible. Also, you can opt to use and feature detection. However, this is a preventive method and can be used to avoid cross-browser compatibility issues.

Using Different Stylesheets for Different Web Browsers

Stylesheets are useful for your website, but they tend to turn into a mess quickly. With more and more styles getting introduced, it is becoming unstructured. Besides, techniques are designed differently for each browser, and all of them come into the same stylesheet. Maintaining numerous styles together becomes a nightmare for developers.

To save your website from having any cross-browser compatibility issue, use separate stylesheets for each browser. The main goal here is to make your browser work smoothly on all web browsers. Although setting up your device infrastructure and lab can be a tiring task and involves spending a large amount of money. It additionally also makes cross-browser testing even more complicated since it includes adding more devices. However, LambdaTest is the best cross-browser testing tool and will surely make your work easier.

Outdated Browser Issues

It is a very common yet one of the most overlooked issues that most web developers face while working on a website. Most internet users avoid browsers like Internet Explorer and Opera; however, many are still in use. Though it advises focusing on popular web browsers, you should not forget other browsers.

Web Pages work perfectly on popular latest browsers like Chrome, but the problem arises when uses try to access the same website on Internet Explorer. Developers should start using well-known cross-browser testing tools to find out the issue and make changes accordingly so that websites work perfectly on all web browsers.

These are some of the most shared issues that developers face while coming up with an application or a website. However, with the solutions provided, you will be able to deal with each of these issues very effortlessly. Also, when you use a well-performing cross-browser testing tool, you will be able to fix most of these issues within no time. Some cross-browser testing tools are also capable of correcting the errors automatically.

All the above-mention issues can solve with timely cross-browser testing, and for doing it, we recommend LambdaTest.

LambdaTest is a fantastic cloud-based browser testing platform that can help you test your website on 2000+ browsers & OS. It is excellent easy to use and comes with a freemium plan as well. Over 350,000 testers and developers rely on LambdaTest platform to make sure their website offers a seamless user knowledge no matter what device they access the website.