Browser testing with virtual machines
This is the promised follow-up to my previous blog post. So, how I do the browser testing myself using OSX and VMware Fusion. In short, the process is:
- Install a clean Windows XP
- Configure “minimal settings” to the virtual machine
- Copy three new virtual machines titled:
- Legacy Browsers
- Modern Browsers
- Future Browsers
- Install multiple browsers to each of these new virtual machines
- Clean up the OS, browser caches etc.
- Take a virtual machine snapshot (to return to a clean state anytime)
- Install Linux using the same procedure
Install Windows XP and configure virtual machine
Some hints:
- If you don’t need USB, disable it (you will not get annoying Windows notifications whenever you connect your devices)
- You might want to enable printers, if you need to test the printing of your site
- You probably don’t need much disk space (VMware Fusion is smart and actually spends the used amount of disk space!)
Copy virtual machines for browsers
With Fusion, you simply copy the existing virtual machine file and open it. You should cope with two or three virtual Windows instances. You do not want to create a new VM for every browser, because you will run out of disc space and CPU resources trying to run them parallel. Here’s my set up:
- Legacy Browsers
- Internet Explorer 6
- Firefox 2
- Opera 8.5
- Java 1.4 (consider an older version!)
- Flash 8
- ClearType fonts disabled (as global Windows setting)
- Modern Browsers
- Internet Explorer 7
- Firefox 3
- Opera 9
- Chrome
- Java 6
- Flash 9
- ClearType enabled
- Future Browsers
- Internet Explorer 8
- Firefox 3.1
- Opera 9.6
- Java 7
- Flash 10
Where’s Safari? Well, I don’t need a virtual machine for Safari as I can use well working “standalone” version on my OSX (actually, Opera can be tested on OSX similarly). See details at my ultimate guide to browser testing article. You will also find download links to the software listed.
Clean up and take a snapshot
VMware Fusion (as well as many other VM solutions) support snapshots. Whatever I do within my testing sessions, I can easily return to a clean starting point. Before taking the snapshot, I…
- clean up browser caches
- tidy up desktop and Start-menu
Finalizing touches
If your browser testing is in active phase, you might want easier access to the browsers. With Fusion you can use a “coherence” mode so that the windows of Windows look just like any other app running on your mac. I even created a dedicated dock for my browsers and I can easily switch using Dock Spaces.
