Q: What is BrowserSim ?
A: BrowserSim is a Browser Simulator which primarily is intended for having a quick, easy and multi-platform way of testing if your webapp will render and behave correctly on a mobile device.
Q: How does BrowserSim works ?
A: It wraps a webkit browser and makes it respond and send work like a mobile browser by spoofing content and media request headers.
Q: What do I need to run BrowserSim?
A: The requirements for different platforms are as listed below:
- Windows:
- Only 32-bit Eclipse/JBDS is supported;
- Apple QuickTime or iTunes must be installed (they contain Apple Application Support which provides WebKit engine for BrowserSim).
- Linux:
- WebKitGTK 1.2.0 or newer must be installed and available in the library load path.
- This should be available on RHEL and Ubuntu by default, if not use your package manager to install libwebkitgtk
- Mac OS X
Q: How to add BrowserSim to the toolbar?
A: Go to Window → Customize Perspective and select "BrowserSim" under "Command Groups Availability". Then it becomes available in the global toolbar via the "phone" icon:
https://community.jboss.org/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/102-18100-5-18715/113-38/browsersim-enabled.png
Q: Can I use the browser as a replacement for testing on a real phone or emulator?
A: Browsersim make it easy to test basic layout questions/issues on any platform without having to install a platform specifc emulator or manually try use a phone.
That said it is not 100% reliable since there are so many different brands/versions of phones there will be differences in behavior, thus no, BrowserSim does not replace real or emulated phone testing.
For full verfication/testing you should test on a real phone.
