One of the reasons we all (hopefully, all of us who design web sites) do cross-browser testing is to maintain the integrity of the design. This means that we make sure the site is running and displaying properly across browsers. However, some people may take it to an extreme level by pointing out the fact that their web sites do not look the same in all browsers.

The reason for testing is to make sure it doesn’t break. We make sure that visitors can get to see and use all the functionality that the site offers.  Regarding to the design, It doesn’t have to be pixel perfect in all browsers.

Why? Browsers are developed by different companies around the world by various development teams. And most of them don’t render like each other. Our job is to make sure they render web sites consistent, NOT to an extreme that it has to look exactly the same. If you find yourself doing this, you need to get over it and move on.

Your visitors will not know that your web sites don’t look the same in all browsers. When they browse the internet, they use their favorite default browser. For non-techie audiences, the default browser might be already set for them when they purchase the computer. Therefore, spending tremendous amount of time to perfecting it is unnecessary. And guess what, you may never make them work like each other because they all have differences in their rending engines.