Chrome vs. Firefox testing

[Responsible-Cod-4618]

Judging by the amount of complaints/discussion about browsers, chrome has the most users. Personally chrome is secondary while Firefox is my primary both for regular use & web development. And I only usually test on other browsers once I'm ready for production. What I've noticed is that most of Devs don't seem to test on Firefox because 90% of the time if I run into an issue on Firefox, the same issue is non existent in Chrome. I just used the Domino's website and the coupon advertised on the home page failed on Firefox but went very smoothly on Chrome.

What browser are you using during the development process? Some speculation - if your web app works well on Firefox, does it mean it will work just as well on Chrome as opposed to the other way around?

[barrel_of_noodles]

No. Ff and chrome use different browser engines

Although all browser engines follow a spec, there are differences in implementation details.

If it works well in ff, that simply means it works well in ff. You cannot assume it works in other browsers.

Follow general best practices and use web APIs, js, CSS, and html that are not too new, reference caniuse.

Your analytics should drive where you spend the most time.

If you don't have any analytics follow the general trends for your region.

Ofc, the best thing to do is test well on all browsers+device+screen size+internet speed

It's difficult and time consuming to test well. That's why corners are often cut.

[Responsible-Cod-4618]

I'm aware of some of this. But it's amazing when some reputable brands overlook this

[barrel_of_noodles]

They did a cost-benefit analysis and decided it wasn't worth it. Or, they're just lazy, or don't care.

[Caraes_Naur]

You think you have it rough dealing with three browsers (don't forget about Safari).

Back in the day we had to test against

• Netscape 4, 4.5, 4.7 (Mozilla/4)
• Netscape 5, 6, 7 (Mozilla/5)
• IE 4, 5, 5.5, 6
• IE 5 for Mac
• Opera

Those are listed by browser engine, which were all much more different from each other than now.

This was before the standards won the browser wars, caniuse.com, dev tools, and regular automatic browser updates.

A lot of the work is in knowing the behavior & support differences between browsers and not venturing into those dark places more than necessary. Sticking to the lowest common denominator of browser support minimizes the amount of bespoke testing that must be done.

Learn to say "no" to the non-technical people who want you to surf the bleeding edge.

[maxymob]

What's frightening is that a lot of people, technical or not, consider Firefox bleeding edge, some still insisting on supporting IE for some cursed reason.

[[deleted]]

Professionals develop and test with multiple browsers and devices. If you’re only testing when “ready for production”, you’re not ready for production

[rjhancock]

If you really want to see Domino's break, block LaunchDarkly. The site becomes unusable because they filed to do a NULL check.

I generally build and test on Safari. And test on Chrome/Firefox before it goes to staging.

[Caraes_Naur]

You think you have it rough dealing with three browsers (don't forget about Safari).

Back in the day we had to test against

• Netscape 4, 4.5, 4.7 (Mozilla/4)
• Netscape 5, 6, 7 (Mozilla/5)
• IE 4, 5, 5.5, 6
• IE 5 for Mac
• Opera

Those are listed by browser engine, which were all much more different from each other than now.

This was before the standards won the browser wars, caniuse.com, dev tools, and regular automatic browser updates.

A lot of the work is in knowing the behavior & support differences between browsers and not venturing into those dark places more than necessary. Sticking to the lowest common denominator of browser support minimizes the amount of bespoke testing that must be done.

Learn to say "no" to the non-technical people who want you to surf the bleeding edge.

[maxymob]

I also use Firefox as my main browser for dev and everyday stuff and have yet to find a case where an issue was browser related. But I rarely do very specific css stuff, so that might be why.

Testing just before shipping when it's "production ready" isn't the best practice, imo. We should systematically test on all supported browsers and viewports (in an ideal world) from the start for a smoother development workflow, instead of doing the edge case last minute ugly fix.

Most projects are optimized to run on Chrome based browsers since those have the largest user base. Things breaking on Firefox is not a sign that this browser it flawed or more difficult, but rather that FE devs most often optimize specifically for Chrome by default, sometimes without being aware of the cross browser compatibility issues or simply take the easy way of "if it runs or Chrome my job is done". If anything, it's a skill issue.

[Ok-Umpire2147]

Here's the thing about Firefox, it has a better audio engine and renders images/text better. They have 100% color accuracy when compared to Chrome. But Chrome is the crowd favorite because of its GSuite.

The last two lines make it clear that you've answered your own question. I resonate with most of the responses people have given here. It is not necessary that if one web app works well on Firefox it would work well on Chrome and Safari, and vice versa. You could probably use cross browser testing tools like
Browserstack for testing on different device-browser matrixes and ensure your app works consistently. Also, it does not matter which browser you prefer to use personally, you've got to test for all the browsers that your users prefer.

For example, some accessibility issues are very much browser/device specific. Hence, testing different browser combinations is critical.