Why this matters
Many Ghanaian businesses, schools and NGOs run websites that customers open on every kind of device. A page that works on the developer's large screen can break on a small phone or an older browser. Web testing adverts ask for cross browser checks and comfort with browser tools, and these are skills you can show quickly in a portfolio.
What to check on a website
- Different browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari can show the same page differently. Data saving browsers such as Opera Mini can show pages differently again.
- Different screen sizes: a small phone, a large phone, a tablet and a computer. Look for text that overflows, buttons hidden off screen and menus that cannot be opened.
- Forms: required fields, error messages, what happens on refresh, and whether your typed data is lost when you press back.
- Links and images: broken links, missing images, pages that never finish loading.
- Slow networks: does the page show something useful quickly, or a blank screen for a long time?
You can check page behaviour on any phone or computer. The developer tools below need a desktop browser on a laptop or desktop computer, because phone browsers do not include them.
Browser developer tools
Desktop browsers include free developer tools. In Chrome or Edge on Windows, press F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I; on a Mac, press Cmd+Option+I. Three panels matter most for testers: