css testing

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does anyone know of a css testing service? i have already found http://browsercam.com/, but it's too expensive (and has too much features) for my simple needs. i also found http://danvine.com/icapture/, which takes screenshots using osx/safari, which is free, but also limited and slow.

my own test bed has opera 8.5x/9.x, firefox 1.5.x and ie7b2 on the windows platform. unfortunately my linux boxes are all command line only, so i have to fire up some livecd to do basic linux testing. i already know that the site i'm working on looks a bit funky in win/ie6, but i would really like to extend the range of browsers, platforms, and screen resolutions, so that i can get an overview of things i need to fix, or code differently.

so if anyone knows a css testing service similar (and cheaper) to browsercam.com, then i would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.

thanx in advance.

 

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Are these the sort of site that you're looking for d?

 

simon, thanks, but no, that's not what i'm looking for.

different versions of different browsers on different operating systems each render css ... uhm ... differently. so while i am designing a site, and coding the css, i usually test it in win32/firefox1.5. but while it may look the way i want in that particular setup, it might look completely wrong in another browser on another platform, simply because of different or flawed css support.

as such i already found out that with the site i'm currently working on, certain things just don't get displayed as i would want them to when viewed with win32/ie6 and some other things don't match when viewed with osx/safari2.

to provide a broad platform/browser support it is sometimes necessary to use css hacks, or code workarounds, or even to give up on certain design ideas. but to do that i first need to find out what parts of my design don't work. and since i have no access to a workstation farm consisting of all possible browsers on all possible platforms i can't sufficiently test my css. hence my search for a service like browsercam, that will provide the possibility to find out how your site looks in different platforms/browsers/browserversions/resolutions.

 

Found this d. Its supposed to be simillar to browsercam.

Took, a fair bit of searching mind you, which makes me think that there aren't many sites offering this type of service.

 

thanks, simon! indeed at first glance it seems exactly the kind of thing i'm looking for. i'll give it a closer look. at least it's cheaper than browsercam.

 

Hi d-Faktor,

The first thing before getting it tested is to get it validated at CSS Validator, that will get rid of any bugs and should make it compliant for most browsers.

For testing purposes you only really need IE and Firefox. If it works in FF then it should work in all the others.

Keimos

 

keimos, thanks, but i know the css validator. but even if my css validates that doesn't mean that it works in all browsers. not all browsers have full css support, or correct css support, so i will always need to have hacks or workarounds. take internet explorer version 6, which i think is still ranking #1 in usage. even though my css is valid, and looks okay in firefox, i still need to hack around ie6 quirks to make my site look okay.

as to your other point, that is also not true. even firefox is not fully compliant. and if it works in firefox, that most definitely doesn't mean it will work in other browsers.
furthermore, sometimes clients request support for certain browsers. designing solely for firefox will not help me.

 

OK, I know sweet FA about web design, but do you mean just pages that use CSS (in which case I will keep quiet) or do you mean any website that looks OK in FF will work in any other browser? If this is the case, I would strongly disagree with that. Although it's getting better all the time, I still often find websites that only work properly with one browser or another (I use the IE Tab extension for FF which is great).

 

Well d-Faktor,

All browsers suport CSS 2, which is the one you need to currently validate against.

You will never overcome the slight differences. IE has slightly different line heights to the rest. FF you have to be explicit for or you will not see transparencies. An example is a site I do for a hobby, Penmaenmawr Golf Club , viewed in IE 6 you can see the transparency, FF it is the graphic side or presentation that needs to be adjusted.

So agreed it is not perfect, but at the same time these two constitute the main players, whether you like it or not.

Do not create a ROD for your own back.

FF supports CSS 3, IE 6 (the most common does not) IE 7 , I do not know, have not tried it yet.

All the other OS browsers support strict CSS, blame the DCOM or the programmers. IE will interpret to the nearest that it can and that is the main difference.

Basically, good question but why are you creating more work for yourself?

Keimos

 

i'm sorry, but no, they don't. ie6 is about 80% compliant, firefox is about 90% compliant. and even the properties that are supported are sometimes handled differently. [edit] these are ballpark figures. point is, not all are fully compliant, with ie6 being among the ones that are least compliant.

css3 is still in development, so to say that firefox supports css3, is like nicking a half-finished car from the middle of the assembly line, and trying to take it on the road. sure, some things may work, and you may even get to your destination, but it won't be a smooth ride.

excuse me, are we talking about the same thing here? if you really want to discuss css and browser compatibility, please get your facts straight first. maybe start reading this, and some of the links you find there.
and even if css was indeed so well supported by all browsers, as you claim, then browsercam.com and sitevista.com would have no reason to exist. and it's those kind of sites that i'm looking for, and are why i created this thread. and here i am defending my need for their services.

as i said, sometimes clients request specific support for certain browsers on certain platforms. do you suggest i give them the finger, and tell them to stick to internet explorer 6 on windows, because that is the "main player"?