# Cross browser/platform testing **URL:** \ **Category:** RapidWeaver Classic\ **Created:** [May 9, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/cross-browser-platform-testing/14005 "2017-05-09T15:35:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![1611mac](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/1611mac/32/5675_2.png) [@1611mac](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/1611mac)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/cross-browser-platform-testing/14005/1 "2017-05-09T15:35:14Z")
Do you use a utility for cross browser testing? ie: GhostLab, BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, etc… (If not, how do you test across browsers and across platforms, etc?) ---
**Author:** ![teefers](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/teefers/32/8173_2.png) [@teefers](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/teefers)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/cross-browser-platform-testing/14005/2 "2017-05-09T18:26:50Z")
Browserstack works great: [https://www.browserstack.com](https://www.browserstack.com) ---
**Author:** ![1611mac](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/1611mac/32/5675_2.png) [@1611mac](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/1611mac)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/cross-browser-platform-testing/14005/3 "2017-05-10T12:33:11Z")
I obviously need to do some self education as these tools don’t seem to be very intuitive on their use… Live testing, screen shots, automated testing, local testing, remote testing, etc etc etc and the docs/tutorials are hard to wade through. And one of the services (browserstack) gives you 30 minutes in the trial to figure it all out… teefers… could you briefly explain how you use “[browserstack.com](http://browserstack.com)?” I don’t really need life testing (I guess I could be convinced otherwise) but I like the idea of simply receiving screenshots from all the dozens/hundreds of hardware/browser combinations. However, one of the “screenshot” services I looked at didn’t include IE which I think is the most needed one! ---
**Author:** ![teefers](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/teefers/32/8173_2.png) [@teefers](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/teefers)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/cross-browser-platform-testing/14005/4 "2017-05-10T21:01:46Z")
Honestly, BrowserStack is pricey for a single website. I use it in live mode, and with local hosted files mostly. I find that most screen shot services don’t always work; they tend to timeout or give you other errors. Plus you would need to run them for each page, or assume all pages behave the same. The other issue with screenshots is they are exactly that, just a screen shot. You can’t test navigation and links, looking for proper spacing and margins, is the link easy to hit on a small screen. As for IE BrowserStack does support IE back to old XP versions (6 I think). You can also run a virtual machine on your MAC to test IE versions back to IE 8. You will need to install a virtual machine like Oracles VirtualBox: [https://www.virtualbox.org](https://www.virtualbox.org) You will need The Unarchive (the Windows OS images are enormous): [http://unarchiver.c3.cx/unarchiver](http://unarchiver.c3.cx/unarchiver) And then install the Microsoft Virtual Machines you need. They have a 90day license so make sure you do a snapshot. [https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/) If you are running MAMP, you can get to your local MAMP site at: [http://10.0.2.2:8888](http://10.0.2.2:8888) (assuming you are using the default port (8888) with MAMP). ---
**Author:** ![1611mac](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/1611mac/32/5675_2.png) [@1611mac](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/1611mac)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/cross-browser-platform-testing/14005/5 "2017-05-11T00:24:56Z")
great… thanks for the info and detail! I much appreciate it.