Sam Ruston

With today’s technologies, almost anyone can create a website. Only a few will succeed in the business world. This is because of many factors. Have you ever been to a website and it doesn’t look right? Graphics many appear in incorrect places and navigation menus may not work. This happens because the website developer hasn’t took into account that different web browsers on different operating systems render pages in separate ways. Safari and Google Chrome use the Webkit rendering engine and that is why pages in those two browsers should almost appear the exact same. However, others don’t, such as:

. Internet Explorer

. Mozilla Firefox

. Opera

Browsershots is a web service where you can see your website in 80 different browsers on 4 different operating systems. It is easy-to-use and functional but does have a few drawbacks. However, these limitations are to be expected because of bandwidth and cost related issues.

How does it work?
1. User inputs URL and selects browsers

2. Request is sent from website to the computers

3. Screenshots are taken and sent back to the website

Pros:

. Easy-to-use

. Able to check website in most internet browsers

. Free

. You are able to change web browser preferences, eg. screen size, Javascript, Flash, Java

Cons:

. Request deleted after 30 minutes

. Limited to 80 web browsers

. Only one website a day

. Some screen shots are taken before the page has loaded

In conclusion, Browsershots is a great utility and it is recommended that you use it when creating your websites.