8 Online Screen Capture Services for Consistent HTML CSS Layout

Written by Kevin Liew on 14 Dec 2009
37,358 Views • Web Development

Introduction

It's essential to ensure a finished website it looks identical across different brands of browsers. However, the problem we have is- we don't have all the browsers we need to test the website. For example, we can't have IE6, 7 and 8 altogether. I know about MultiIE, I used it and I can tell it's not accurate in some cases and quite buggy. And also, if you're using mac, you can't have windows based IE as well.

Well, we have several common solutions that able to solve this issue:

  • Virtual Machines - We can use Parallel or VMware virtual machine. We can install multiple copy of windows with different versions of IEs. The problem is, we need licenses for all the windows and a quite powerful host computer to run multiple OSes in the same time. I used Mac Pro at my workplace and it's capable to run multiple OSes without any problem. This is a good solution but can be quite expensive.

  • Dedicated Test Machines - I guess this is about the same with Virtual Machine with extra disadvantages though. You need spaces, electricity to run all the computers. And it's not practical to have computers setup just to use different version of browsers. This was the solution I was using few months ago until we bought VMWare. Of course, just one PC and with MultiIE installed (because we are using MAC). However, we weren't happy about it.

  • Online Screen Capture Services - If the solutions above won't work for you, you can try these online screen capture services. Simply type in your website URL, choose the browsers you want to test and it will send the screen shot of your website. What you have to do is - you need to upload your website to your web server, wait for A WHILE and see the result.

I have collected 8 Online Screen Capture Services for you. Most of them provide free trial and some of them are totally free. This will be handy if you really desperate and want to test your websitess :)

  • Net Renderer

    IE NetRenderer allows you to check how a website is rendered by Internet Explorer 7, 6 or 5.5, as seen from a high speed datacenter located in Germany. Just type in a URL in the field above and try it out - it's free!
  • Browser Camp

    BrowserCam's Screen Capture Service lets you submit single or multiple URL's, choose the browsers and operating systems you want to see, and screen captures of your webpage are loaded in the different browsers and operating systems you selected.
  • Litmus App

    Litmus is lightning-fast, reliable and affordable. It's relied upon by thousands of smart freelancers and switched-on agencies; as well as big companies like Yahoo!, Facebook and eBay.
  • Browsrcamp

    Browsrcamp allows you to test the compatibility of your design with Mac OS X browsers.
  • Cross Browser Testing

    Test the look and functionality of any website on multiple browsers and operating systems.
  • Spoon Browser

    Browser Sandbox - Run any browser from the web
  • Browsershots

    Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then they will make screenshots and upload them to the central server here.
  • Browsera

    Browsera automatically detects cross-browser layout problems and scripting errors on your website. Try it for FREE!
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9 comments
Abid 14 years ago
http://browserlab.adobe.com is also a good (free) one.
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jagoane 14 years ago
thank for list..
Reply
FAIZI 14 years ago
Awesome posting very useful list of the web designing blogs thanks for sharing
Reply
trio 14 years ago
usefull post. thanks.
Reply
Flo 14 years ago
Hi Guy,
very useful post and go resource for finding an overview about the available Tools for x-Browser-checks.

Since we develop our Application in a non-public intranet, we always have the problem, that we can't use the online tools.

Are there any apps (besides a big browsershots farm) you can instal locally or inside the intranet?

Thanks,
Flo
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BrowserSeal 14 years ago
http://www.browserseal.com is a multi browser screenshot tool with som enice features
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Technology News & Review 14 years ago
Thanks for a useful post, have a good resource in your blog.
Reply
Moksha 13 years ago
Very useful post thanks or it.
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Maximus 10 years ago
Useful post, I have used GrabzIt (http://grabz.it ) to provide screenshots in the past, and have loved their fast free service!
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