5 Free Sites for Testing Site Designs

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When you work as a Web designer in the corporate world, your employers may give you access to different devices. Testing the responsiveness of the websites that you created is a cinch when you have multiple platforms that you can test them on, such as different tablet and laptop sizes and a variety of smartphones that run different platforms.

Now that you work as a freelancer though, you need to make an effort to test your design. For example, you need to emulate the screen size on different devices. If you don't have access to multiple devices, there are a number of free websites that you can use to check how your design looks on different screen sizes and resolutions.

Screenfly

With different screen size settings for simulating desktops, tablets, mobile, and even TVs, this web-based app from Quirktools also has a custom screen size option. Choose from nine screen sizes for notebooks with screens that are larger than 10 inches, nine smartphones, and three TV sizes. Any size also offers the option for portrait or landscape mode. According to their site, “Screenfly can use a proxy server to mimic devices while you view your website. The proxy server mimics the user agent string of the devices you select, but not the behavior of those devices.”

Device Responsive

Cleanly displays your site with no controls or options for devices, as they are shown all together at once in one webpage. One feature that makes this site stand out is a customized header option where you can edit the header, embed a logo, and add a watermark before sharing it with a client.

Responsive Test

Simulates your website design in a variety of devices, but instead of displaying all at once, you can choose which simulated device to view first from a top-page menu. You can view your site from 13 different options.

Screen Queries

What sets this site apart from other web-based testing tools is the separate controls for portrait and landscape mode. With 14 handsets and 12 tablets you can use to simulate viewing, the test is displayed on a grid with pixel numbers for easier orientation. The dimensions are shown on the bottom right of the simulated display, and you can drag the edges to set custom sizes. The site also offers a Trueview option where it shows your site wrapped in a simulated device’s Chrome browser.

Responsive.is

This site has the least of the display options available. You can only test your website design on five screen simulations. All of them have generic sizes aside from Auto; Desktop, Tablet Landscape, Tablet Portrait; Smartphone Landscape, and Smartphone Portrait. Also, the screens fill your browser window and no pixel dimensions are given. One feature that is unique to the site though, is Typecast, where you can brand your site with different fonts.

There still are other sites available on the Internet, and quite a few other resources that you can use for testing your website's responsiveness. Each site offers unique features and different options that you can maximize. It doesn’t have to be just a single-site test, so feel free to use them and mix them up to come up with a particular routine of testing and checking your website screen responses without physical devices.

 

Posted 10 March, 2015

benjiesambas

Freelance Writer

Passionate about anything and everything, zest for life translates to both writing, travel, and new discoveries whenever and wherever that may be.

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