Test a WordPress Site in Different Browsers

Browser compatibility issues can affect site performance, layout, and user engagement.

Testing your site in various browsers helps you identify and fix these issues before they impact your visitors.

What Is Cross Browser Testing, and Why Do You Need It?

Cross-browser testing is the process of testing your website across different browsers, screen sizes, operating systems, and mobile devices to make sure your site works correctly.

Testing a WordPress site in different browsers lets you see what your site looks like for all of your visitors.

While all browsers may seem similar, they all use different code, meaning that they handle website elements differently from time to time.

Your website may look different across browsers.

If your WordPress blog doesn’t work right on one of those browsers, then you are missing out on all those visitors and traffic.

Since these are not common WordPress errors that are visible to everyone, you may go months without ever knowing about the issue until someone reports it.

This is why it’s considered best practice to test your site across different browsers on multiple platforms and screen sizes.

Then, you can make sure that your website offers the same user experience to all your users.

There are cross-browser testing tools that can help automate the process with just one click.

It’s important to know which browsers are popular among your users so you know which ones to test.

How to Find Which Browsers and Devices Your Website Visitors Use

If you know the popular browsers, operating systems, and devices that your website visitors use, this information can make the process much easier.

Depending on your specific stats, you may be able to get away with testing only a few popular combinations.

The easiest way to find out which browsers, operating systems, and devices are popular with your users is by using Google Analytics.

MonsterInsights is the best analytics solution for WordPress.

Once Google Analytics is installed, it make take a couple of weeks to collect relevant data about your users.

After that, you can view which devices your visitors use to access your website.

To do this, you must visit the Insights » Reports page in your WordPress dashboard.

As you scroll down the screen, you’ll see a ‘Device Breakdown’ section that shows you the devices your visitors use to access your website.

To find out which browsers are popular among your users, you need to log in to your Google Analytics account and visit the Generate Leads » Audiences page.

Once you’ve done that, click the ‘+’ button next to the ‘Audiences’ option to open a prompt and click the ‘Platform/Device’ tab in it.

From here, you can find out which website browsers, operating systems, and devices are most commonly used by your website visitors.

Focus on the top combinations and avoid the rest.

Best Cross Browser Testing Tools for WordPress

Cross-browser testing tools make it easy for you to test your WordPress site across multiple browsers, operating systems, and devices in just a few clicks.

WordPress Theme Customizer

Another way to test your website is with the built-in WordPress theme customizer. This tool is a part of every WordPress installation and lets you completely customize your website.

When you have finished customizing your site, you can preview your changes and live site in different screen sizes.

There’s a responsive view section at the bottom of your customizer that lets you view your site on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Simply select the screen size you want to preview your website, and the window will automatically adjust.

Although this won’t let you preview your website in different browsers automatically, you can test the responsiveness of your WordPress website in real time.

How to Analyze Cross-Browser Test Screenshots

Analyze your results to see if something is broken that needs fixing.

If you are using a responsive WordPress theme with good-quality code behind it, then most of your screenshots will look pretty much the same.

However, in some cases, website elements may look slightly different from one browser to another.

If this difference is minor and doesn’t impact user experience, aesthetics, or functionality, then you can ignore it.

On the other hand, if the difference is too noticeable, affects user experience, looks unpleasant, or prevents users from using your website as intended, then it needs your attention.

If you are unable to fix the issues yourself, then you can always hire a WordPress developer to help you fix them.