• Headless
• Browser
• Inbetween
• Clouded

Simulates a browser in memory without actual rendering

• envjs (Rhino)
• HtmlUnit (Java)
• Zombie.js (Node)

Pro:

• Fastest
• Easy to set up, barely any infrastructure needed
• Can run local as part of build (before commit)

Contra:

• Only a simulation
• Will fail to show actual browser problems
• Will show false negatives due to implementation limits
• No or incomplete JS runtimes

An actual browser, remote controlled

• TestSwarm
• Selenium
• Watir
• Windmill

Pro:

• No simulation, only real results
• Will highlight actual cross-browser issues
• Good (Selenium) to everything (TestSwarm) browser coverage
• Often includes a recorder

Contra:

• Slowest
• Lots of infrastructure required with multiple OSs/platforms for good coverage
• Recorder results rarely produce maintainable code

A remote controlled browser engine, without the chrome.

• Watij (Java/JRuby)
• PhantomJS (QT)

Pro:

• Actual browser engines
• No simulation
• Fast enough
• Can run silent, in developer build
• PhantomJS easy to get running

Contra:

• Can be problematic to get running (Watij not working on current Debian)
• Only browser engine, so may lack features (local storage, geolocation, history.pushState)
• Watij limited to XulRunner for cross-platform, IE on Windows, Safari on OSX
• PhantomJS relying on heavy dependency: QT

Browser testing as a service.

• http://saucelabs.com/
• http://browsermob.com/performance-testing
• http://www.cloudtesting.com/

Pro/Contra:

• In the cloud
• fixed monthly cost
• no administration
• no direct access
• YMMV

var zombie = require("zombie");
var assert = require("assert");

zombie.visit("http://google.de/", function (err, browser, status) {
  browser.
    fill("q", "pizza").
    pressButton("btnG", function(err, browser, status) {
      assert.equal(browser.text("title"), "pizza - Google Suche");
    });
});

[...]
ck: [Function]
   , jsrt_kill: 1
   , y: { first: [] }
   , x: [Function]
   , dlj: [Function]
   , dstr: []
   , rein: []
   }
, gbar: { qs: [Function], tg: [Function] }
, _listeners: { load: { false: [Object] } }
}

 threw error

{ message: 'Uncaught, unspecified \'error\' event.'
, stack: [Getter/Setter]
}

 handling event

{ _eventType: 'HTMLEvents'
, _type: 'error'
, _bubbles: true
, _cancelable: false
[...]

if (phantom.state.length === 0) {
    phantom.state = "loading";
    phantom.open("http://google.de/");
} else if (phantom.state == "loading") {
    phantom.state = "submitted";
    document.getElementsByName("q")[0].value = "pizza";
    document.getElementsByName("btnG")[0].click();
} else if (phantom.state == "submitted") {
    console.log("result: " + document.title);
    phantom.exit();
}

result: pizza - Google-Suche

• http://www.envjs.com/
• http://zombie.labnotes.org/
• http://htmlunit.sourceforge.net/
• https://github.com/jeresig/testswarm
• http://watij.com/
• http://watir.com/
• https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs
• http://seleniumhq.org/
• http://www.getwindmill.com/
• http://saucelabs.com/
• http://browsermob.com/performance-testing
• http://www.cloudtesting.com/