CODEWITHSUNDEEP
firefoxcross-browser
Ryan Shripat
Ryan Shripat

Reputation: 5704

Should I test my application with older versions of Firefox?

In the interest of browser-compatibility checking, and given limited resources, is it worthwhile to test my HTML 4/CSS 2 web applications and sites with older versions of Firefox, or is it sufficient to test with the current version (v3.6 as at the time of writing)?

If I need to test against older versions, why? What are the things that I need to look out for?

UPDATE 1: This applies to a generally available audience and we can assume the browser usage patterns are the same as for the general public.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1720

Answers (6)

Doc Brown
Doc Brown

Reputation: 20044

If you want to test with a lot of different browsers, this free service might be helpful for you:

http://browsershots.org/

(Adobe had a commercial service in the past, but they shut it down in 2013.)

Upvotes: 2

Daniel T.
Daniel T.

Reputation: 38380

As a general rule, test your application in as many different environments as you can. It's never a BAD idea to test it against an older version of a browser.

Of course, given time limits and realistic requirements, you may want to limit the scope of your tests. For example, unless you're creating an application for the government, you usually won't need to test anything below Internet Explorer 6.

As for Firefox, the 2.x release was when it started to become really popular. It's easy to imagine that there are many people out there still on Firefox 2.x. The main thing you need to watch out for is differences with the way CSS is handled. Older browsers may render certain CSS tags differently or just plain don't have support for some of them.

Upvotes: 3

Pekka
Pekka

Reputation: 449385

Good question!

If your application targets less tech-savvy people, I'd say a basic test against 2 is still mandatory. I've seen plenty of machines still running 2 because of turned off auto-updates and such.

Upvotes: 0

The Archetypal Paul
The Archetypal Paul

Reputation: 41749

If a significant fraction of your intended audience use the old versions, yes.

Is this a generally available application, or will it be restricted to one organisation? If the latter, then the corporate policies on browser support will determine this.

Upvotes: 1

Bill
Bill

Reputation: 5668

I usually do check in older browsers, and follow this list http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/articles/gbs/ of A grade browsers. Unless it's just a very quick site I test in all A Grade Browsers.

The main reason to check different browsers is to make sure that the different users get the same experience and that your site actually works. Some obvious things are css fixes, javascript / ajax fixes, or things not working, PNG transparencies not working in IE6 and so on.

As said before, you need to know your demographics and what the site is used for. If it's an internal site, or one where only a limited people have access to it, and you know they don't use IE 7 or lower, or the older versions of Firefox, then there is really no need to cross check. But I'd say for the general public websites, stick with A grade browsers and you're pretty good.

Upvotes: 3

Oded
Oded

Reputation: 498904

First, find out what the browser demographics to your site are like.

That should drive any compatibility testing.

If you find that you have many users with older versions of Firefox, then it would be worthwhile.

You might find out that some other browser you had not considered should be a focus.

Upvotes: 0

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