This tool looks promising as more and more browsers are surfacing these days. Adobe’s Browserlab claims to display and compare your web design in such browsers as: Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari running on different operating systems. You can try the tool out if you have an Adobe ID (which I’m sure most of us do in this field). Since it’s currently not accepting new users, I couldn’t demo it to give my opinion. You can check the status of their progress at the Adobe Labs Wiki site. The only drawback I see…and hope they can avoid…is the lack of consistency with browser emulators. Rarely does a TRUE browser related design or front-end development issue get checked off or resolved using an emulated stand-alone browser product. In the end, you still have to double check in a legitimate version of that browser for certainty that all issues are resolved. I would love to see the day that there is one cross-platform universal tool we can all use to make our lives that much easier. In the mean time, I’ll run my multiple VM’s and call it a day.
CNET News did a has a nice article on the tool and some of it’s competition. Below are a few excerpts from their actual article.
Browserlab: Side by Side comparison (Credit: Adobe)
“Cross-browser testing has been one of the biggest challenges for Web designers because it is such an arduous and time-intensive task…Now with Adobe BrowserLab, designers have a simple solution that enables comprehensive browser compatibility testing in just a matter of minutes, leaving Web designers with more time to be creative and deliver the high-impact sites customers are demanding.” ~Adobe’s Lea Hickman
Browserlab: Onion Skin mode (Credit: Adobe)
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