Cross-Browser Testing with Playwright

Benefits of Cross-Browser Testing

• Detect browser-specific bugs early
• Improve user experience across platforms
• Ensure consistent rendering and functionality
• Increase test coverage and confidence

How to Configure Playwright for Multiple Browsers

Playwright supports Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit out of the box. You can configure tests to run across all these browsers using the Playwright Test configuration file.

Example `playwright.config.ts`

import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';

export default defineConfig({
  projects: [
    { name: 'Chromium', use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'] } },
    { name: 'Firefox', use: { ...devices['Desktop Firefox'] } },
    { name: 'WebKit', use: { ...devices['Desktop Safari'] } },
  ],
});

Sample Test Code

Here's a basic login test that runs across all configured browsers:

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('Login test', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://example.com/login');
  await page.fill('#username', 'user1');
  await page.fill('#password', 'pass1');
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/dashboard/);
});

Handling Browser-Specific Issues

• Use conditional logic based on browser name
• Avoid browser-specific features or provide fallbacks
• Use Playwright's `browserName` to detect the current browser

Example

if (browserName === 'webkit') {
  // WebKit-specific workaround
}

CI Integration Tips

Integrate cross-browser tests into CI pipelines using GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or Jenkins. Ensure that all browser dependencies are installed in the CI environment.

Example GitHub Actions step:

- name: Run Playwright Tests
  run: npx playwright test

Reporting Options

• Use Playwright's built-in HTML reporter
• Integrate with Allure for advanced reporting
• Generate per-browser test reports for better traceability