Internet Explorer Online Testing: Automating Legacy Browser Support for Enterprise Apps

Internet Explorer Online Testing: Automating Legacy Browser Support for Enterprise Apps 

A crucial step in ensuring website compatibility across various user demographics is testing it on legacy browsers like Internet Explorer. Even though modern web browsers are widely used, people still rely on Internet Explorer. As a result, performing extensive testing on Internet Explorer online remains a critical element of web development to cater to this user base. This is why automation testing of legacy browsers is necessary to ensure that a website works properly across several platforms.  

Working with earlier versions of Internet Explorer can be difficult for developers. The browser’s quirks and inconsistencies might lead to unexpected webpage behavior. 

Developers must understand these concerns and utilize appropriate testing approaches to support enterprise applications and provide a consistent user experience. 

In this article, we will uncover all about Internet Explorer Online, how it benefits in automating enterprise applications, and some best practices to overcome the challenges that testers face while automating legacy browsers using Internet Explorer online. So let’s start. 

An Overview of Internet Explorer Online 

Microsoft developed the web browser known as Internet Explorer. Earlier, it remained one of the most popular browsers on the Internet due to its inclusion with the Microsoft Windows operating system, which had a strong position in web development. Its interaction with Windows enables developers to generate interactive material, providing an advantage over competitors. It also added a developer tools feature for testing and troubleshooting websites. 

However, it has received a lot of criticism for security flaws and lack of compatibility with evolving web standards led to its deprecation in favor of Microsoft’s Edge. It became the least popular desktop web browser due to issues with reading and interacting with websites following evolving standards. Despite this, Certain older websites may not function properly in modern browsers, requiring users to use older browsers like Internet Explorer. In such instances, users can reload Internet Explorer Mode in Microsoft Edge, Microsoft’s recommended browser. 

Internet Explorer online testing ensures that enterprise web applications function properly on Internet Explorer. This testing aids in confirming that the website’s functionalities are operating as intended and that user interaction is smooth. Since a large number of legacy applications rely on Internet Explorer, thorough testing is essential to preserve user experience and performance across various browser versions. 

Benefits of using Internet Explorer for automating enterprise applications  

Despite Microsoft no longer supporting it, Internet Explorer is still used for several reasons:  

Legacy Systems 

Many organizations still use legacy applications that were created exclusively for Internet Explorer, particularly those in sectors like banking, healthcare, and government. Because it may be difficult and costly to migrate these applications to a new platform, organizations tend to stick with Internet Explorer. 

Enterprise Support 

Some enterprises have applications and workflows that are strongly integrated with Internet Explorer. These systems would need to be completely redesigned to switch to a different browser, which might be expensive and time-consuming.  

Government and Security Concerns 

Because of security and regulatory considerations, government organizations frequently deploy outdated technology. Because of its strong Windows environment integration and support for Active Directory and Group Policy Management, Internet Explorer is a good option for these kinds of organizations.  

Compatibility for Specific Industries 

Certain sectors, like as banking and healthcare, rely on IE’s proprietary rendering engine for their web applications. Organizations in these sectors will keep using Internet Explorer until these applications are upgraded or replaced.  

Why testing website on Internet Explorer is essential  

When testing Internet Explorer, testers should run many versions on different devices with varying settings and internet connections. There are a few reasons why testers should test their websites on it: 

IE’s rendering engine differs from other browsers.  

It is true that IE uses a different engine than Firefox, Chrome, and other browsers. This implies that Internet Explorer might display the webpage in a different way than the others. 

IE still retains an important portion of the user base.  

Despite a drop in popularity worldwide, Internet Explorer still maintains a sizable user base in certain industries and areas. 

IE supports a different set of features 

This is because some functions that are accessible in other browsers may not function in Internet Explorer (IE) since it supports a different set of features than other browsers.  

The website might be more vulnerable to security attacks in IE 

Compared to other browsers, Internet Explorer has not kept up with security patches as well. 

Challenges in automating legacy browsers using Internet Explorer online 

IE testing is more complex than other forms of automation. It entails various obstacles making it a difficult procedure for a modern browser. Some of the common challenges are:  

Slow Execution Time: Internet Explorer performs significantly slower than contemporary browsers like as Chrome or Edge. 

DevTools and Debugging Features: IE lacks powerful development tools, which makes debugging and troubleshooting difficult.  

Non-Standard Behavior: IE behaves quite differently than most recent web standards, which can lead to seemingly unjustified behaviors such as premature CSS or JavaScript failure. 

Technically Outdated Architecture: IE is no longer needed, and it is no longer available, but it is harder to locate resources and a community to get assistance when problems arise during automation. 

Security experts think Internet Explorer is insecure because its architecture is based on outdated technologies. The constant competition from other web browsers, like Firefox and Chrome, which have surpassed Internet Explorer in popularity, presents another difficulty. There have also been issues with Internet Explorer’s performance. 

Best practices for automating legacy browsers for enterprise apps using Internet Explorer 

Choose Your Right Tools 

Selecting the appropriate tools that support Internet Explorer is the first and most crucial step in automating testing for the browser. Selenium WebDriver is the most popular tool for automating web browsers, and it works with Internet Explorer by utilizing IEDriverServer. For testing purposes, this driver makes it possible for the WebDriver to function on Internet Explorer.  

Test compatibility with older versions 

When dealing with browser-specific issues in web applications, browser compatibility with legacy versions must be prioritized. Older applications may not have been optimized for smooth operation with modern browser versions. In this instance, developers should test the application on older browser versions to discover any compatibility issues and make any required adjustments. Although testing may be done on virtual machines and environments, real devices are the best way to test Internet Explorer Online.  

However, physically setting up a real device lab is impractical; in such cases, an effective option is to leverage the cloud platform for efficient testing with Internet Explorer online. LambdaTest is one such cloud platform that gives testers rapid access to numerous browser versions, including Microsoft Edge Online, real devices, and operating system combinations without installing them on their local devices.  

LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that enables testers to perform both manual and automated testing at scale on various versions of Internet Explorer. To ensure thorough testing, testers can execute their test scripts across over 3000 real-world devices, browsers, and operating system combinations available in the cloud.  Additionally, with LambdaTest, testers can run the test on real IE browsers rather than emulators, assuring accurate results. 

Furthermore, this platform provides a scalable solution for testing legacy enterprise applications in parallel on real devices. This not only reduces overall testing time and resources but also tests the applications’ compatibility and performance to ensure accurate testing across several browser versions of IE.  

Testers may also rapidly identify UI discrepancies by utilizing LambdaTest’s real-time testing features and automated snapshot capture. Particularly for testing with Internet Explorer, it offers a secure platform for automating older web applications. 

Another notable feature is the platform’s support for Selenium scripts, which enable the execution of existing test cases without modification. It also offers seamless integration with the most popular CI/CD tools for faster development cycles, improved code quality, and less manual intervention. 

Run Internet Explorer with Specific Test Suites 

Modern browsers operate considerably differently from Internet Explorer, which is the main reason for developing test suites exclusively for IE when automating the IE tests. Certain tests would not pass on Internet Explorer but would pass in Chrome or Firefox. Separate test scenarios that are specific to IE.  

Additionally, avoid using the same test suite in every browser. Create separate test suites for particular scenarios that are known to operate differently in Internet Explorer instead.  

Test Optimization with Internet Explorer 

Internet Explorer is generally slower in executing automated tests and fine-tuning the test scripts improves execution performance in a variety of ways. The best way is to minimize DOM interactions because IE fails with complex and large DOM structures. Minimizing unnecessary clicks, scrolls, and element lookups reduces unnecessarily high execution of JavaScript since IE doesn’t handle JavaScript as smoothly as other fresh browsers do. 

CSS Compatibility 

The visual component may fail in some tests due to a lack of support for particular CSS attributes. CSS fallbacks and conditional comments are recommended to take into consideration for differences between IE and other modern browsers. 

JavaScript Errors 

A JavaScript error in Internet Explorer should always be noted, even if it would not be displayed in other browsers. By using polyfills on Internet Explorer, functionality for modern Javascript methods, such as fetch or Promise, can be supported. 

Alert and Popup Handling 

Using Internet Explorer to handle alerts and popups may not function as well as using other browsers. Testers may utilize the Alert interface offered by Selenium WebDriver to automate communication with pop-ups and alerts. 

Integrate IE Testing into Your CI/CD Pipeline 

The only way to ensure that errors are spotted early in the development cycle is to automate Internet Explorer tests and have them run as part of the CI/CD pipeline. This implies that IE tests are automatically executed by Jenkins, GitLab, or Azure DevOps after each commit, as part of planned builds. 

Parallel Test Execution 

Parallel testing would assist in maximizing testing time because Internet Explorer is a slower browser. Testing can be done in parallel using Selenium Grid or LambdaTest when combined with CI/CD tools. This would allow for the simultaneous execution of several tests against various browsers and IE versions.  

Automated Reporting 

As part of the CI pipeline, generate automatic reports. Developers and testers may quickly identify the issues and troubleshoot the Internet Explorer issue by using Allure or ExtentReports to obtain comprehensive information. 

Test Responsiveness and UI Elements 

Unfortunately, IE has issues with responsive design due to the use of CSS media queries and Flexbox. Automation testing is strongly advised to guarantee that the web application displays properly across a variety of screen resolutions and devices.  

Testers may use a responsive test automation platform like LambdaTest to validate that a web application appears and acts as intended on various screen sizes while using IE. Also, make sure that all UI elements, including buttons, input fields, dropdowns, and other interactive components, are properly rendered on Internet Explorer.  

Periodic Updates of Test Scripts 

There may be features and behaviors exclusive to Internet Explorer as a result of Windows upgrades or application modifications. Test scripts are periodically reviewed and updated to ensure that automation keeps up with changes and prevents test flakiness. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, Internet Explorer is still a vital browser for many legacy applications, despite its declining popularity. Because of its unique behaviors and lack of support for modern web standards, automating tests on Internet Explorer can be challenging.  

However, testers can successfully automate testing in Internet Explorer with the appropriate configurations and strategies. But by following the appropriate techniques and adhering to best practices testers can facilitate a more efficient testing process and provide a seamless user experience across diverse platforms. Hence, ensuring that the enterprise web applications are compatible with legacy browsers.