BrowserPool: Test Your Website on Different Platforms

If you follow the W3C Standards, your website should look the same on all browser and all platforms.

Anyone whose ever developed a website knows this is often not the case. Different browsers render completely differently let alone different platforms.

There’s never been a suitable solution to this problem, so developers have been forced to keep many different browsers and platforms on hand for testing purposes only.

A few years ago, various services were started to help this problem. Basically taking a screenshot of your website in various browsers and feeding the images back to you.

The problems with this is these services is they often take a very long time or they don’t work at all when there’s a lot of traffic.

You’re also limited because you’re only getting a screenshot. You can’t see how mouse movement effects your design. Hovers, Javascript, pull-downs and other items are limited here.

Recently I discovered a great service called BrowserPool. This service lets you VNC into different platforms and try all the different browsers available. Great idea!

The best part, however–it’s free to try. You’ll only get booted off if a paying customer needs the space.

So far I’ve done lots of testing using BrowserPool and I’m ecstatic I’ve found this service.

My Powerbook died, so I’m waiting for MacWorld 2008 before I upgrade. This allows me to continue developing MacTips on Windows (I know, sac religious) and still make sure everything is compatible for 95% of my users.

If you need this type of service, BrowserPool should certainly be your first choice. Free to try, and 30 Euro’s per month to buy.