Browserling is one of the leading browser cloud platforms that offers virtual browsers for secure and anonymous browsing, as well as browsers for cross-browser testing and checking if your website looks correctly on various system. It can be used to get a quick secret browser but it’s also used by the world’s most experienced website developers for testing the design, appearance, and functionality of the websites they developed. Another popular use case is using Browserling as a URL sandbox service to test suspicious websites. Instead of loading websites on your computer, you can load them in Browserling first to see if they are not harmful. The virtual browsers are always updated to the latest versions and you can choose which operating system the browsers run on. You can get access to different browsers in just 5 seconds as the browsers are already running on Browserling servers.
How does Browserling offer virtual browsers?
It provides all the commonly used and most popular browsers from a cloud environment. These are the virtual online browsers that run on Browserling’s servers and all can be accessed from Browserling’s homepage. The browsers are streamed to your browser and you can access them in a live and interactive way, as if they were installed on your computer. When new browser versions are released, they are installed in the cloud and instantly made available for use.
Browser maintenance
Installing and maintaining your own browser is a lot of work. It’s often hard to even install two versions of the same browser side by side. Browserling takes care of all this maintenance and they install browsers in separate virtual machines. Each virtual machine contains one browser so there are no browser version conflicts. It’s also tedious to run browsers on different operating systems at once. You now need twice as many virtual machines. Browserling also takes care of that as each browser and browser version is installed in all operating systems. What’s more, all virtual machines are running online and there’s no boot time waiting. You can get a browser in 5 seconds or less!
Quick access to browsers
Browserling’s homepage is similar to Google’s homepage as it focuses on the action first and everything else second. When you visit Browserling, you can instantly enter the website that you will be testing without hesitation. After you enter the website, there are 3 more select boxes below the link field. The first is for choosing the operating system (ranging from Windows XP to Windows 10 and from oldest Android KitKat to the most modern Android 11), the next is for the online browser that you need (ranging from Chrome to Internet Explorer to Safari to Edge), and the last option on the right side lets you select a browser version (ranging from 1 to the latest).
Browserling as a cross-browser testing tool
Browserling can not only be used as a way to get a quick browser but also for serious website development work. If a developer needs to check appearance and design on multiple browsers, then Browserling can be used for this purpose. It’s very popular for this purpose as all browsers are pre-installed and ready to be launched. Developers can perform responsive testing, take screenshots, and run automated tests, such as Selenium tests and Cypress tests.
If the developer sees an issue, they can create a bug report through the Bug Hunter feature that instantly captures the browser as a screenshot and allows quick editing, such as draw lines, boxes, and circles, and add annotations. The bug reports can be sent over email or uploaded via Imgur.
Browserling as a security sandbox
A new use case for Browserling is using it as a security sandbox. As the browsers run on Browserling servers, they are isolated from your network. This allows security testers and information security analysts to load a website in a sandboxed environment to check if it doesn’t contain computer viruses and malware. After the check has been performed, the browser and the virtual machine that runs the browser gets destroyed.
Browserling features
Live interactive sessions:
The virtual browsers are accessible in live and in an interactive way. What this means is you don’t get just a screenshot but full access to a browser as if it was running on your computer.
Real browsers:
Already covered in this article, the browsers are installed in virtual machines from browser installation packages. The browsers aren’t fake emulators but the same browsers that you run on your devices.
Screenshots:
You can easily take screenshots of the browsers as you are using them. You can add annotations and also save them for later. You can clip parts of the browser through a snipping tool.
Responsive browsers:
As different devices have different screen sizes, it’s often important to view a browser at various sizes. You can adjust the resolution of the virtual machine and resize the browser to any size.
Secure and safe browsers:
Also already covered in this article, the connections between Browserling and you are encrypted and you can have secure and safe browsing sessions. After the browser session ends, the browsers along with the browsing history are destroyed, so your browsing is anonymous. There is also no chance for a virus or a trojan to hit your computer as the browsers run outside of your device and network.
Browser extensions for quick browser launching:
For quick access of the virtual browsers, you can use convenient browser extensions. There are Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari extensions available and when you install them, then loading a Browserling browser can be done by a click on the extension icon in your browser’s toolbar.
Browser bookmarks:
This feature allows you to bookmark any site for fast testing. It creates a special bookmark entry that loads and saves the website together with the preferred browser so you can start your favorite browser very quickly by just clicking on a bookmark.
Summary
As a web developer, I’m a fan of the virtual browsers that Browserling offers. I no longer have to install browsers and I can get all the browsers in a couple of seconds. Sometimes, I want to see how my website would look like in an older browser version and I can quickly access it, too. There is even Internet Explorer 6 available.
About the Author:
Shanawar Shafiq is a Blogger, Top rated Freelancer & Co-Founder at I’Mr. SEO. He is a content writer for multiple niches like SEO, SMM, SEM, Technology & Web Development etc…
