Even though Google Chrome remains the most used browser worldwide in both desktop and mobile devices, Safari desktop and mobile browsers combined are the second most used browsers in the world. Every year Apple ships nearly 200 Million new iPhone devices and nearly 20 million new Mac devices. And all these devices are pre-loaded with Safari browsers as default. So if you think that you don’t need to perform cross browser testing on Safari browsers, think again !!!
The list of browsers in the market is never-ending, and testing your site on every browser is not a child’s play. But, among the list of multiple browsers, there are only a few browsers that are widely used by visitors, such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.
According to various statistics, Safari is the second most popular browser among the audience for internet suffering and browsing. It not only comes with multiple features but also provides a number of inherent advantages that differentiate it from other major contemporary browsers like Mozilla Firefox
With a comparatively higher as well as more loyal cross device user base, Safari has attained a significant position in the market. Thus, it has become crucial for organizations and small businesses to ensure that their site works smoothly and flawlessly in the Safari browser without any bugs.
For testing your site across browsers, the first plan of action is to install the browser in question on your system, and then start performing manual or automated testing on the said browser.
However, if the browser in question is Safari, there is a major blocaker in the above plan i.e. a browser cannot be tested on a platform that is not compatible with it. Safari browser is no more compatible with Windows as Internet Explorer is compatible with Mac. Which means that if you are using Windows device, you won’t be able to perform cross browser testing of your website on Safari browser.
And that’s what this post is all about. We are going to look deeper into many automated tools and techniques available in the market that enable you to test your site on multiple browsers no matter the machine or OS you are using to test . And more specifically we are going to talk about how you can test your site across Safari browser on Windows platform.
Installing Safari on Windows
It’s obvious that the first method you would want to try to test a site on Safari browser is by installing it on your Windows platform. But, as mentioned above, Safari browser is no more available for Windows, so it’s a bit tricky to install the browser on your system.
With the launch of Safari 6.0 for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple stopped providing any support for Safari browsers on Windows systems. But it doesn’t mean that you cannot install the earlier versions of Safari on Windows, Safari 5.x is still available for Windows. Though testing your site on an older version is important, testing on a 8-9 year old version does not make much sense. .
Before installing and testing your site on specific Safari versions, it is vital to analyze how many users are still using that version of the browser. So, it will take some time and effort. However, as most browsers keep updating automatically, chances are a broad audience will be using the latest version of Safari. Thus, you should focus on testing your site on the latest version of Safari browser.
So, let’s move to the methods that can be used to test a website for Safari browser on Windows platform. Here, we will be covering seven different methods for testing a site with Safari browser on Windows platform.
Cross Browser Testing Tools
Another flexible and reliable technique to test a site’s compatibility with Safari browser on Windows is using cross browser testing tools. The main advantage of using a cross browser testing tool is that it allows you to test a site across multiple devices, browsers, and operating systems from a single machine. You can even test your site across mobile browsers with these testing tools.
But, choosing a cross browser testing tool that is compatible with almost every browser, browser version, and operating system is a bit tricky. Therefore, to ease your search, here we have enlisted top six cross browser testing tools that can be used to test your site with Safari browser on Windows OS.
Whether you want to perform real-time testing or parallel testing of your web app, LambdaTest can fulfill almost every need of your site’s cross browser testing. It is a cloud-based cross browser testing platform that allows you to perform cross browser compatibility testing of your web app across a combination of more than 2000 browsers, including all versions of Safari browser on Windows.
You can execute automated selenium scripts on LambdaTest’s scalable cloud, or perform live interactive testing on real browser environments. You can also avail the WordPress or Chrome extension of the tool to perform cross browser testing on your site. With 24/7 technical support from a team of experts, you don’t have to worry about any limitations while using LambdaTest.
The price for LambdaTest starts at $15/month, and there is even a lifetime free option available that makes it the most accessible cross browser testing tool. You can test your website for free on the LambdaTest selenium grid for a limited time.
2.Browserling
Being one of the cheapest cross browser testing tool, Browserling comes with great API support and dedicated servers. It is a live testing tool that enables you to test your website on multiple real browsers and systems. Also, while performing interactive testing with Browserling, you will feel like you are testing on your computer browser. It supports almost every web browser available in the market while generating screenshots for tests so that you can share them with your team.
3.BrowserStack
BrowserStack might have lost its position amongst top cross browser testing tools, as it didn’t adopt new technologies with time. But it is still considered one of the best cross browser testing tool as it supports more than 2000 browser and operating systems, which means you can quickly test your site’s compatibility with Safari browser on Windows platform.
4.CrossBrowserTesting.com
Developed by SmartBear, CrossBrowserTesting.com provides both manual and automated cross browser testing of web apps via Selenium. If you are interested in manual testing, then you can select the specific browser, operating system, and device to execute the tests. However, if you want to ease the testing process, then we suggest you opt for automated testing, as CrossBrowserTesting.com supports more than 1500 remote browsers for cross browser testing.
5.Sauce Labs
Known as one of the leading cloud-based web and mobile app testing tool, Sauce Labs provides comprehensive test coverage for your web app while offering faster and reliable testing. With this featureful testing platform, you can run test in the cloud across more than 260 different browsers and device, including Safari browser with windows. It doesn’t require any additional VM set up or maintenance, the cross browser testing is pretty simple with Sauce Labs.
According to our research, these are the best cross browser testing tools that you can use to test your web in Safari browser on Windows platform.
With Oracle VM VirtualBox
VM VirtualBox is an open-source tool developed by Oracle. It allows users to run a variety of tools and operating systems that are not compatible with your machine. The VirtualBox gives you a virtual environment so that it can overcome the incompatibility software issues. For example, if you are willing to test your site’s compatibility with Safari browser on Windows OS, then the VirtualBox allows you to install the Safari browser in a virtual environment and perform the testing accordingly.
Also, downloading and installing the Oracle VM VirtualBox on your device is very straightforward. Just download the VirtualBox with the extension pack and install the downloaded file with the help of VirtualBox manager. But you have to close it immediately after running it so that your system can log some crucial information.
No doubt, VirtualBox is one of the greatest methods for virtualization on Windows. But you should be aware of the fact that Oracle VM VirtualBox still doesn’t have the official for OS X as well as you will have to download the main program with extension pack to get the required support for USB devices. Apart from that, you will also have to download Hackboot 1, Hackboot 2 ISO files with MultiBeast 4 to avail additional features, such as audio working find post-installation.
Xcode
If you want to test iOS Safari browser specifically i.e. only mobile safari browser, you can use Xcode itself. In Xcode, iOS Safari browsers comes bundled with iOS simulators present with Xcode software. However, the major drawback with this is that you would again have to buy a Mac machine as Xcode is not compatible with Windows devices. So basically you are back to square one with this approach, but the silver lining is that you would have to invest in only one Apple device, and you would be able to cover all Apple mobile devices as well.
You can also try virtualizing Mac OS for using this approach as well.
Wrapping Up
Testing your business site compatibility in Safari browser in crucial to maintain the reputation and provide the same experience to all users. But, if you don’t have to access to Mac, then it becomes daunting to test the web app, as Windows doesn’t support the latest versions of Safari browser. Keeping that in mind, we covered seven different methods that can be used to test your web app in Safari browser on Windows OS. That’s all for now, if you wish to know more about cross browser testing, then stay tuned.
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