Browser testing

[eluser]txomin[/eluser]
I've been testing a new site design with IE7 and the latest versions of FF and Opera (all in Windows). I was forced to work in some funky css magic (no hacks, though) and am worried that it might not work in Safari or other Mac browsers.

So, my question for those experienced in these matters, is: What kind of browser testing do you consider sufficient? And, if like myself, you don't have access to a Mac, is there a way to get around this?

Thank you all.

[eluser]pistolPete[/eluser]
[quote author="txomin" date="1237630649"]am worried that it might not work in Safari or other Mac browsers.[/quote]

You can get Safari for Windows: apple.com
The CSS rendering should be quite similar.

[quote author="txomin" date="1237630649"]if like myself, you don't have access to a Mac, is there a way to get around this?[/quote]
You could try BrowsrCamp: http://www.browsrcamp.com/remote_desktop_osx.php

[eluser]txomin[/eluser]
Thanks, Pete.

I did download Safari for Windows and everything looks as it should.

I also found a free service that tests a bunch of browers for several OS's:

http://browsershots.org/

May I ask the kind of testing you do? I'm quite keen to find out how experienced developers deal with cross-browser compatibility.

[eluser]pistolPete[/eluser]
[quote author="txomin" date="1237646800"]May I ask the kind of testing you do?[/quote]

I'm on a Mac and I did install Win XP in a virtual machine.
There I use IETester which allows me to test the IEs from 5.5 to 8.

[eluser]txomin[/eluser]
Very, very nice tool. Much appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to help me out.

[eluser]muttlogic[/eluser]
I use http://browsershots.org/ frequently. On occasion, I pay for the priority service to help support them when I know I'll be running tests over a couple of weeks. -Jeff

[eluser]txomin[/eluser]
Yeah, I just found them. Good to know you give them the thumbs up. Thanks, muttlogic.

[eluser]jalalski[/eluser]
One thing that I've started doing is making use of some of the cross browser CSS frameworks. I've just used YAML (yaml.de/en) which saved me a lot of time in setting up the site. It's also very well documented.
Another I'm looking at is the Yahoo framework (http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/), particularly the grids for layout.

The first time I used YAML it didn't save a lot of time, but on the next project it probably knocked days off CSS tweaking and testing, because by then I understood how it worked.

There are other toolkits around and I'll take a look when I have time. jQuery is also pretty good for adding controls and stuff on a form or page.

[eluser]Daniel Moore[/eluser]
@jalalski: Thanks for the YAML tip. Getting projects to work with multiple browsers has always been a pain. I think this idea is excellent.

@pistolPete: Thanks for the tip on Safari for Windows and for the tip on BrowsrCamp. I'll be giving these a try.

[eluser]txomin[/eluser]
Thank you, jalalski, for the YAML tip. Bookmarked.