Find out which browsers your visitors use, then check the pages that matter in each: forms, booking and checkout. Do it after every change to the site, and soon after a major browser release like this one.

Released yesterday

Firefox 57 came out yesterday under a new name, Firefox Quantum. Mozilla has rebuilt large parts of the browser, and it is noticeably faster, with a new look.

Add-ons written the old way no longer run. Many popular ones have been rebuilt for the new version; some have not, and simply stop working.

Firefox updates itself on most computers, so within a few weeks most Firefox users will be on Quantum, whether or not they saw the announcement.

For a business that means two checks: the add-ons the office relies on, and whether the website has ever been looked at in Firefox at all.

Checked in one browser

Most small business sites are checked in one browser, usually whichever the designer prefers, and often only on the designer's own computer. Visitors arrive in several.

The first is the costly one, because nothing looks wrong. The button is there and the visitor presses it, and either nothing happens or an error appears that nobody at the business ever sees.

Why browsers disagree

Each browser draws pages with its own engine. Chrome has one, Safari another, Firefox a third and Edge a fourth, while Internet Explorer 11 runs on an older engine Microsoft no longer adds features to.

They agree on the basics and differ at the edges. New features arrive in each at different times, and code written against one browser can lean on habits the others do not share.

On an iPhone, Apple requires browsers to use Safari's engine, so Chrome draws pages there exactly as Safari does. Covering phones means an iPhone and an Android phone, not two browsers on the same handset.

Which browsers to check

Your visitors decide the list. In Google Analytics, the Browser and OS report under Audience, then Technology, shows which browsers brought visits over the past year.

For most local businesses the top of that list is Chrome on Windows, Chrome on Android and Safari on iPhones, followed by Firefox, Edge and Internet Explorer in smaller numbers.

Test everything that brings a real share of visits. Keep Internet Explorer 11 on the list if you sell to offices, schools or hospitals, where older computers stay in service for years.

What to test in each

Not every page needs it. Test the paths that bring work: the home page and its menu, a service page, the phone number tapped on a phone, and any map.

Then the places where contact details or money change hands. Send the contact form and confirm the email arrives. Take a booking or an order as far as the payment step.

Ten minutes per browser covers it.

A worked example

An occupational therapy practice with four therapists gets most new clients through referrals from insurers' case managers and injury lawyers, who send a referral form on the practice's website.

The site was rebuilt in the summer. The designer checked it carefully in Chrome on a Mac, and the practice's own staff used Chrome too.

In September a case manager phoned to ask whether the practice was still taking referrals. She had sent the form twice and heard nothing. The practice had received neither.

Her company's computers ran Firefox, chosen by its IT department.

The send button's script took a shortcut, reading details of the click from window.event, a browser object that Chrome, Safari, Edge and Internet Explorer all provide and Firefox does not. In Firefox, pressing it did nothing at all.

The developer corrected the code and made the form send normally even if its script fails. It was then tested in Firefox, in Safari on an iPhone and a Mac, in Edge and in Internet Explorer 11.

The form now emails a copy to the sender, so a referral that goes missing is noticed the same day. After any change to the site, someone sends a test referral from each browser on the list.

How often to test

After every change to the site: a plugin or theme update, a new form, a redesigned page. Most browser problems arrive with a change rather than out of nowhere.

Again after major browser releases, such as Safari 11 in September and Firefox Quantum this week. A quick pass over the forms and the checkout is enough.

And once a year, open the Analytics report again. The list shifts as offices replace computers and customers replace phones.

Covering the list without new equipment

The office computers and the staff's own phones usually cover most of the list. Borrow whichever phone is missing for an afternoon.

Microsoft offers free test copies of Windows with Edge and Internet Explorer for exactly this purpose, and online services can run a site in real browsers on remote machines.

The phone-shaped preview in Chrome's developer tools helps with layout, but it is still Chrome. It will never show a problem that only Safari has.

Quantum in the office

Inside the business, the update matters for add-ons. A password manager, a screenshot tool or a helper for a booking system that ran inside Firefox may have vanished overnight.

Check the add-ons page in Firefox on each computer. Most popular add-ons have new versions, and for the rest the maker's site usually says what replaces them.

The counter-case

Brochure sites with few scripts fail in fewer ways, and a browser that barely appears in your report, Internet Explorer for many shops, can come off the test list.

Nor does every browser need to show an identical page. Slight differences in fonts or button shapes are harmless; a form that cannot be sent is not.

So keep the test short, but run it in every browser your visitors use, after every change, because visitors rarely report what fails.

The browser check

  1. Open the Browser and OS report in Analytics.
  2. List the browsers that bring real visits.
  3. Send your contact form from each one.
  4. Take a test order or booking to payment.
  5. Check the menu on an iPhone and an Android.
  6. Ask staff which add-ons stopped working.
  7. Repeat the form test after every site change.

Step three is the one that finds what matters. A form that fails in one browser looks perfect in the others, and the visitors who meet it seldom say so; they go elsewhere.

Browsers also choose which copy of each image to download, which is covered in the image sizes WordPress makes from every upload.

Frequently asked questions

What changed in Firefox Quantum?

Firefox 57, released on November 14, rebuilt much of the browser. It is noticeably faster and looks different, and add-ons written the old way no longer run.

Why does my site only work in Chrome?

Probably because it was built and checked in Chrome. Browsers differ at the edges, and code can rely on habits that Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer do not share.

Which browsers should I test my site in?

The ones your visitors use, shown in the Browser and OS report in Google Analytics. Add Internet Explorer 11 if you sell to offices, schools or hospitals.

What should I test in each browser?

The menu, a service page, the phone link, any map, and above all the contact form, bookings and checkout, sent or taken through to the end.

How often should a site be tested?

After every change to the site, after major browser releases like this one, and with a fresh look at the Analytics browser list once a year.

Does Chrome's phone preview test Safari?

No. It shows a phone-sized screen but still uses Chrome's engine. Problems that only Safari has, which includes every browser on an iPhone, need a real iPhone.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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