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I agree with you, and I think it can be done today, by taking matters into your own hands. I've done it by testing with historic browsers alongside modern, and

I agree with you, and I think it can be done today, by taking matters into your own hands. I've done it by testing with historic browsers alongside modern, and challenging myself to make it work with all of them, JS and noJS, without errors, reliably. In the process, I found a set of "lowest common denominator tags which work across almost anything. I use these to build the "base" HTML. Then, I add JS with feature-checks to allow older browsers with JS enabled to still run it, though it doesn't do much at the moment. I think it's a worthwhile exercise to learn where the roots of the web are, and how it evolved, and allows you to write much more resilient code in general. The reason for this is that the longer a technique or syntax has been in use, the longer it's likely to continue to be used. Lindy effect is the name of the trend.

thealig 5y ago
I'm curious, what kind of tools and processes do you use to test that the webapps/website work on so many platforms?
- forgotmypw17 5y ago
  For the time being, I mostly use manual testing. Most of the older browsers are covered by three VMs: Windows 95, Windows ME, and Windows NT 4.0. Most Windows Netscape can run in Wine, so I can use symlinked .wine directories to switch versions. I also do occasional testing at Best Buy or Walmart (many thanks to those places) at a cross-section of their available devices -- a couple of desktops, a couple of phones and tablets of each flavor, etc. I also often ask people if I can test out my website with their device (or if they want to participate in a 5-minute user study) For difficult things like Mac IE, I just have a couple of devices e.g. G4 Macs and iOS 7 iPad. Of course, there are text-mode browsers, which I usually install with apt or whatever. I also use online emulator services like BrowserStack, they have a pretty good slice in their free tier, and a couple of minutes is enough for smoke testing. Also, I sometimes come across public devices, such as desktops in survival center, library, hotel, or public community space, and I test on those. With my own devices, I test across various public wifi locations, so that I can provide workarounds for e.g. content blockers or inadequate proxying. I use Charles Proxy locally to simulate low-bandwidth connections and other common issues. I have also asked rare use-case users, such as visually impaired, to test using a script, usually through topical Facebook groups. That's about all I can think of for now, there's probably more.

thealig 5y ago

I'm curious, what kind of tools and processes do you use to test that the webapps/website work on so many platforms?

forgotmypw17 5y ago
For the time being, I mostly use manual testing. Most of the older browsers are covered by three VMs: Windows 95, Windows ME, and Windows NT 4.0. Most Windows Netscape can run in Wine, so I can use symlinked .wine directories to switch versions. I also do occasional testing at Best Buy or Walmart (many thanks to those places) at a cross-section of their available devices -- a couple of desktops, a couple of phones and tablets of each flavor, etc. I also often ask people if I can test out my website with their device (or if they want to participate in a 5-minute user study) For difficult things like Mac IE, I just have a couple of devices e.g. G4 Macs and iOS 7 iPad. Of course, there are text-mode browsers, which I usually install with apt or whatever. I also use online emulator services like BrowserStack, they have a pretty good slice in their free tier, and a couple of minutes is enough for smoke testing. Also, I sometimes come across public devices, such as desktops in survival center, library, hotel, or public community space, and I test on those. With my own devices, I test across various public wifi locations, so that I can provide workarounds for e.g. content blockers or inadequate proxying. I use Charles Proxy locally to simulate low-bandwidth connections and other common issues. I have also asked rare use-case users, such as visually impaired, to test using a script, usually through topical Facebook groups. That's about all I can think of for now, there's probably more.