Here at Hornet Web Solutions, the development platform of choice is the Apple Mac. Whilst Windows PCs are on hand for testing, it is becoming increasingly hard to develop for the vast array of different browsers that website visitors are using. Due to varying rendering processes, certain web browsers display web pages differently to others, and trying to juggle designs so they are at least functional to the majority of visitors is an ongoing task.

Obviously it is difficult to get access to all of these possible browsers, but there are ways to at least get a snapshot of how web pages are displayed in them, without having to resort to having several computers on hand. Here are two of the free options to be found online:

browsershots.org is a very useful resource, with a massive number of different browsers and operating systems available. Simply enter the address of the page you wish to test, and then select as many different browsers as you wish.

Netrenderer works in a very similar way to browsershots, but is specifically aimed at testing sites in different versions Internet Explorer, still the most popular browser. In contrast to browsershots, results are displayed instantaneously, which can significantly cut development time.