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Modern Tribe’s Development Testing Standards

Last Updated: November 10, 2023

Modern Tribe has published this page in an effort to be wholly transparent about our company’s development testing standards. This page covers the company’s testing policies with regard to desktop browsers, mobile devices/operating systems, accessibility, and email. Note that the standards outlined here are by no means set in stone; like any technology company, we aim to stay on top of the latest trends and will keep this updated based on industry changes. (To see when the last change was made, look no further than the “last updated” date at the top of this post.)

If you have questions about the contents of this page, or are unsure whether the testing your project requires will be covered by this policy, please reach out to us directly.

Our Testing Philosophy

Quality Assurance will be handled in tandem with project development. Modern Tribe knows the code; our clients know their organization’s needs and their users’ expectations. A Modern Tribe QA analyst will be assigned to the project and stay with the project for its entire lifecycle. This person will partner with the Lead and the Client team to keep the features stable and working as expected.

At the end of the day, no project will ever ship at Modern Tribe without two big thumbs up from the QA team.

Browser Testing Standards

Modern Tribe’s supported browsers are:

  • Chrome (latest + 1 previous version)
  • Firefox (latest + 1 previous version)
  • Safari (version 16+)
  • Microsoft Edge (latest + 1 previous version)

Why these browsers? Largely because they dominate the landscape. Our testing efforts are focused on the browsers that have the most traction on the modern web. The greater market share a browser has, the greater the odds that a user will be running one of those browsers when they visit your site. Because of this, it is important that our projects get the heaviest testing in the browsers that are most widely used.

Our browser testing approach primarily focuses on the latest version(s) of each browser in the latest version of both Mac and Windows operating systems, with additional testing of earlier versions done on BrowserStack or a related browser simulation tool as needed.

Browsers not included in the list above, beta/experimental versions of supported browsers, and outdated browsers no longer supported by their authors or do not meet a threshold of greater than 5% of your total web traffic will not be tested.

We can support just about any legacy browser or device, but it will be documented and estimated in the statement of work.

Mobile Device Testing Standards

Modern Tribe’s supported mobile devices are:

  • iOS (version 16+)
  • Android (version 13+)

As per the list above, Modern Tribe focuses our mobile device testing on iOS and Android. Testing is done on physical hardware as much as possible or using BrowserStack or a related browser simulation tool when appropriate. Mobile device testing generally includes phones (iPhone and Android phones) and tablets (iPad, iPad Mini, Google Nexus, etc.). All testing is done in both landscape and portrait modes.

Testing is done using these devices’ default browsers—Safari for iOS and Google Chrome for Android. Less popular mobile browsers, such as Dolphin and other tablet/phone brands (Amazon, Windows, Blackberry, etc.), will not be tested unless special arrangements are made in advance.

Accessibility Testing Standards

A robust accessibility testing plan ensures that people with disabilities are actively able to use and interact with your site. Ensuring that interactive elements (e.g., buttons, anchors) and modules (e.g., sliders, site navigation toggles, dropdown menus) have proper color contrast, hover, focus, and active styles, and are reachable and maintain the same level of functionality whether interacted with by screen reader or use of a keyboard are all primary focuses of Modern Tribe’s accessibility testing.

Modern Tribe focuses our accessibility development and testing procedures around the Section 508 Accessibility Program as well as WCAG 2.2 – Level AA compliance.

Email Testing Standards

Modern Tribe’s supported email clients are:

  • Gmail
  • Gmail App
  • Apple Mail
  • Outlook
  • Yahoo! Mail

In testing email clients, we prioritize ensuring messages are received and aesthetically consistent, to the extent possible, within a range of email services. Our testing centers largely on delivery checks (e.g., did the message arrive when it was expected?) and content review (e.g., do all images render? Is styling consistent? Do links work?).

Our Approach To Legacy Code

Modern Tribe uses the latest technologies, pragmatically, to build awesome products. But it’s worth remembering that as the technology behind the scenes (e.g., browsers, email clients, devices) continues its march forward, it has a direct impact on your site. This means there is a possibility that updates to the technology could result in issues with your site displaying or functioning properly.

If you notice such an issue after your site has launched and your maintenance period has ended, let us know. We’ll work out a maintenance contract and find a path to resolution that works for everyone.