European web applications must support diverse browsers and devices—Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, plus mobile variants. Manual cross-browser testing proves impossibly time-consuming. Automated testing enables comprehensive coverage with fast feedback. However, test maintenance, flakiness, and infrastructure costs require strategic approaches balancing coverage with sustainability.
Test Strategy and Prioritization
Not all functionality requires testing on all browsers. Critical user journeys deserve comprehensive coverage. Visual components need wider browser testing than backend-heavy features. Analytics data showing actual user browsers guides coverage decisions. Risk-based prioritization focuses testing effort where browser differences most impact users.
- Test critical paths on all major browsers and devices
- Use browser usage analytics to prioritize less common browser coverage
- Run visual regression tests catching rendering inconsistencies
- Automate responsive design testing across viewport sizes
- Include accessibility testing as part of cross-browser coverage
Reducing Test Flakiness
Flaky tests that randomly pass or fail undermine confidence and waste time. Waiting strategies ensure elements load before interaction. Explicit waits replace arbitrary sleep calls. Retrying failed tests catches transient issues. However, excessive retries mask real problems. Systematic flaky test investigation and resolution maintains test suite reliability.
Infrastructure and Scaling
Cross-browser testing demands significant compute resources. Cloud testing services provide browser instances on-demand. Containerized Selenium grids enable self-hosted infrastructure. Parallelization reduces total test execution time. Balancing infrastructure costs against test speed requires monitoring resource usage and optimizing test distribution.