"one for all" is definitely possible - the Test Centre
In my previous post (read it here) I classified browsers into three types:
- Basic
- Simple
- Rich
This was done so that I could organise the way that I build templates for IBM SPSS Data Collection. This is part of my project to build a single template that works for all browsers both desktop and mobile.
I defined these three classifications by building some simple web pages and testing a number of different browsers on them. The web pages has a range of capabilities from basic HTML with CSS styling to complex HTML 5/CSS 3 and JavaScript.
The Environment
A first I tried building a test, test environment on my new Dell 1645, a 64bit laptop running Windows 7 64bit. Installation of the main desktop browsers was not an issue, however almost all the emulators failed to work properly. Consequently I stopped and reverted to a Windows XP operating system running in a vmWare image. I built this using vmWare Workstation and started by taking a blank Windows XP SP 2 install and then performing a series of upgrades to ensure that I had all the latest patches applied and .net 3.5.
The Emulators
Once that was done I started installing desktop browsers:
Then I moved on to emulators for mobile phones. There were a number of emulators that I wanted to try including the OpenWave emulator that I simply could not download. It seems that the OpenWave browser and many of the older emulators are no longer available.
I installed a Sony Ericsson emulator which was written in Flash. This was, consequently a simple installation from Sony Ericsson’s Developer Site (PhoneGap Simulator). This was by far the easiest of the installers to get working.
The other two emulators that I wanted to install were the Blackberry, because I believe that this is a fairly limited browser that being built by RIM cannot be described as standard and the Android emulator. I would have liked an iPhone emulator but alas my machine is a PC not a mac so I have to make do with testing on my iPod Touch.
Both of these emulators require the Java Runtime emulator (JRE) so that was the first element to install (JRE is available here). Additionally the RIM emulator requires the Java Development Kit (download JDK here).
Next it was off to the Blackberry site to download an emulator. I chose one for the Blackberry Storm (9500), however it is my understanding that you can download a number of them (get a blackberry emulator here). Downloading the emulator, however is not enough if you want to browse the Internet. It is also necessary to install MDS which is a Mobile Delivery Service created by BlackBerry. Not only does this need to be installed but it also needs to be run at the same time as the emulator. Testing with the RIM was concerning. There are two modes the first is Page View this is a smartphone mode that I had expected to be as good as Sony Ericsson, Android and iPhone. What I found was that although it supported HTML 5 and a fair amount of CSS it did not really support JavaScript (even though JavaScript support is switched on). The other mode is called Column view and is a more basic view that is similar to that provided by very basic mobile browsers. As can be seen by the following example neither gives a very good experience. It is really troubling that these phones are the phones of choice for Businesses.
The last emulator was the Android emulator (get the android emulator here). Like RIM there is an opportunity to download a number of different emulators, unlike RIM downloading them all is much easier and therefore I did just that. Also like RIM the Android needs more than just JRE and the emulator. There is also a need for eclipse (get eclipse here). Careful with this download. It is a zip which needs to be extracted in the location where you want to run it. The setup is not an installation routine just a way of quickly setting up the environment and getting to the emulators once they have been installed. Once these items are installed you are presented with an array of different device types. Each takes quite a while to load but there is no doubt that the wait is worth it.
So that just left aDesigner. This too needs Eclipse but as that was already installed this final installation was easy. I may extend my list of browsers and emulators over time (a proper Nokia S60 is very likely). I would really like a proper iPhone emulator rather than just Safari as Safari does not give an indication of how screen real-estate is working nor does it allow me to tilt the device.
If you have any emulators that you think I have missed feel free to drop me a line.
