What are best practices for cross browser/platform testing?

Question

I have to perform cross-browser testing on different platforms. So before to start just want to know the important points that need to be taken care of.

Answer 1

Multi-device/browser testing strategy

Above all else:

Know your user population and the devices they use and the way they use them

1. Determine if your focus is manual or automation testing as they have different requirements
2. Find out what browsers, devices & versions are used by your users (server logs, new relic, etc.)
3. Ask the business what percent of traffic needs to be supported. Make sure you use %'s and not versions like "IE6" becuase version traffic is always changing (constantly decreasing for old versions)
4. Explain why "all users must be served" will cripple modern development and interfaces (e.g. spending 50% of your development on 0.01% of your customers is a no-win situation compared to competitors). There are thousands of android devices and no-one tests them all.
5. Determine whether you want an in-house testing lab vs cloud testing vendors such as Browserstack and Sauce Labs
6. Determine the business needs and future plans. For example if the current audience is only 25% mobile - but expected to grow to 75% mobile over the next 2 years you would want to take that into account when developing for and testing on mobile devices.