See how you website appears in Macintosh Safari using Browsrcamp

Last updated on December 15, 2009. Tags: , ,

Safari is the default web browser of Macintosh OS and the third most widely used browser accounting for 7.18% of all internet users as of 4th Quarter of 2008 (according to Net Applications). Depending on whether or not you consider 7.18% significant, you might want to test your website on Safari.

If you do not have Safari, you can use Browsrcamp to see how your website would appear on Macintosh's default browser.

Browsrcamp screenshot

An example of a banner that says NOT professional website developer or NOT professional web designer is a message like this:

"Best viewed with Internet Explorer ver. 6.0"

This shows that you have particular bias in favor of certain browsers or you do not care for your visitors. As a businessperson, you are the one who should be adjusting for your clients (i.e., your website visitors), not the other way around.

Recent survey shows that the top three widely used browsers are Internet Explorer (69.80%), Firefox (20.66%) and Safari (7.18%).

Browsrcamp with an embedded screenshot of ICONTesting your website for Internet Explorer alone (assuming that you are using Windows) is not a wise move since you are neglecting more than 30% of all internet users. You can download Firefox for free. Hence, there is absolutely no reason not to test your website on it. Now, how about Safari? How can you test your website in Safari if your are using Windows?

I personally do not own a Macintosh computer. However, based on the feedback from some of my friends and acquaintances who own Mac, my web designs work perfectly fine in Safari. I assume that if a website works in both Firefox and Internet Explorer, and passed the W3C Validation, it would work in Safari as well. However, to be sure, I would like to see how my websites appear in Safari. After searching through the internet, I found Browsrcamp.

How to use

Using Browsrcamp is very easy and straightforward:

  1. Enter the URL of the website you intend to test.
  2. Set the monitor width.
  3. Choose the image quality.
  4. Click "view".

After you click the view botton, Browsrcamp will generate a screenshot of the website as seen in Safari. Setting it in low quality (PNG or low JPG) means faster generation of image while setting on high quality (high JPG) means slower generation but higher quality image. Then, you can click on the preview to see the actual size of the screenshot.

Uses:

As stated, the main use of this website is to test how a website appears in Safari. You can also test your website for other browsers. However, testing them for other browsers comes with a fee.

You can also use this website to test how your website appears on different monitor resolutions (assuming that you cannot adjust your monitor resolution or can adjust it only up to certain limit). I also found it useful in obtaining screenshots of my and my clients' websites to present them as portfolio. For this purpose, you must set the quality to high JPG.

Limitations:

Using Browsrcamp to test your website's appearance in Safari has certain limits.

Addendum (March 19, 2009):

I've recently uploaded Safari 3.2 for Windows, making the use of Browsrcamp obsolete as far as Safari testing is concern (since Safari for Windows can also display the behavior of elements whenever the mouse hovers and does not require my web pages to be online to test them). However, Browsrcamp is still useful in obtaining screenshots of an entire webpage; in particular, those that are big enough to require scrolling.

Disclaimer:

  1. This is merely a review of a useful tool for webmasters and website developers. I am not in anyway affiliated with the owners of Browsrcamp and I do not in anyway claim their trademarks as my own. I shall not be responsible in cases wherein the use of Browsrcamp resulted to any unpleasant effect on your computer or website.

Posted by Greten on December 20, 2008 under Webmasters' Tools

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Read Comments

  1. Posted by d on 02.02.10 4:13 am

    safari for windows does NOT respond the same as safari for mac. i design websites on pc (pathetic, i know…) and one of my clients uses mac. there are very often issues with them looking different. (usually when I forget to check browsrcamp before sending the update to her)

  2. Posted by Greten on 02.02.10 9:18 pm

    Hi d, interesting observation. From time to time, I asked my friends who have mac to view my websites and so far, they didn’t see anything wrong, but I rarely do this. Maybe I should buy my own mac, or perhaps start using Browsrcamp again. Thanks

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