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I am developing my web application locally on a Windows 8.x machine. Right now I am updating the web design for Flexible Box Layout Module support.

It is easy to test the design for Chrome and IE. But is there a way to test Safari 6.1+ support also locally?

It seems like Apple is no longer developing Safari-browser for Windows and that Safari 5.1 is the most recent release for Windows. Safari 5.1 doesn't support the most recent syntax of flexbox.

Is there an easy way to test this locally on Windows 8.x or must I get my hands on a iOS-device for local testing or put the new design live so I can test it on various testing sites?

cimmanon
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  • [Cross-browser testing: All major browsers on ONE machine](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10541225/cross-browser-testing-all-major-browsers-on-one-machine): `[...]Apple dropped support for Windows, so you need to get a Mac or run OS X in a VM to test pages in Safari.[...]` – t.niese Sep 11 '14 at 07:32

3 Answers3

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I think it is possible if not for apples greedy licensing agreements. Search google for "OSX on VirtualBox". Virtualbox is virtualization software for running other operating systems and there are posts on how to install OSX in VirtualBox (this violate apples Terms btw - so you are warned).

I'm trying to find a legal way to test newer versions of Safari for my companies website and the answer is to buy a Mac or violate terms and conditions. We are going with Apple + Aqua Connect software. I guess the other option is to use a cloud solution like BrowserStack that allows you to test web pages for different OS's / browsers. These are browsers opened on their servers controlled by scripts you set up (so you'll spend a lot of time trying to setup the scripts if they are in anyway complex). I think they use selenium or some other browser automation tool.

FYI you can test all versions of IE on all versions of MS for free at the following website: http://www.modern.ie. This is one Microsoft actually got right. kudos to MS for making web developers lives easier.

Apple is greedy/annoying/stupid and tries to find ways to force developers to buy a Mac. Most software developers are smart enough to look under the hood and realize macs are overpriced PCs. So Apple license says you can only install OS-X on Apple hardware (or people would buy/build a cheap PC and install their software). Try developing an iPhone app without buying an overpriced Mac (look at the hardware and then look on NewEgg - you'll see they charge 3x what the hardware should cost). There is no technical reason Apple does this - its just to get your money (and I used to think MS was greedy).

Roham Rafii
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George
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  • Yes, that's the situation. However, just as XIMRX mentioned, using Safari 5 can help you debugging a lot of Safari's issues. Sauce Labs and BrowserStack (and others) can also help, but their live views are painfully slow, so keep that in mind. The best thing you can do is to either buy a Mac or have/find a colleague who's got one. – CunningFatalist Nov 18 '14 at 08:10
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No you can't test web application on Windows with Safari. Possible alternates (which you already know):

Sorry but no good solution is possible for this problem.

XIMRX
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BrowserStack allows one to test local websites in the Safari browser from Windows using their tool: https://www.browserstack.com/local-testing. I have also seen that Sauce offers similar functionality: https://wiki.saucelabs.com/display/DOCS/Sauce+Connect+Proxy.

bnp887
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