How to Debug your HTML and solve errors?

The most common problem for web developers while developing a web page is getting random errors like some functions not working, interface issues or the lack of cross-browser compatibility. After hours of coding, getting these errors can be frustrating. So developers must debug HTML and properly resolve the errors to focus on web development. 

This guide covers how to debug your HTML and a quick way to find & fix errors. 

Introduction to HTML

HTML is the core language of web development and is the most popular. It is used by 97.4% of all websites available on the internet. Today, billions of people are actively visiting websites and making purchases along with a user-friendly customer experience. So it becomes essential for developers to keep the website user-friendly, adhere to responsive design, and be error-free. 

HTML has kept evolving over the years and added new features and elements, including better structure, in-built compatibility, storage capability, and many more features that make the HTML-based website more powerful and preferred.

Why is Debugging HTML important? 

Whenever HTML comes with new features and elements, developers also need to update their knowledge. Now, it is very common to get errors while writing the HTML codes for a web page. It may get unexpected errors like functions not working, interface issues, or not supporting cross-browser compatibility. Debugging plays an important role for developers to prevent all these errors from the HTML code. 

By debugging the HTML codes, developers can identify the errors and resolve them to build an HTML website error-free according to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) formal guidelines and structure. That’s why developers always prefer to debug their HTML codes to save their efforts & eliminate bugs/errors before they may cause any significant issues.

Some Common HTML Errors

Syntax errors

One of the most common errors developers face in HTML is syntax errors. A developer can make mistakes while writing hundreds of lines of HTML codes that can cause issues like functions not working, programs not working, or showing different results. Usually, these are common syntax errors because of small typos or closed tags left by the developer. So it’s important to check the HTML codes in a validation tool to find such bugs or errors and resolve them faster. 

Outlining elements

Outlining elements is a complex & time-consuming process for developers that sometimes cause errors in HTML codes. Developers must resolve the issue to make the website interface mobile-friendly and interactive. Instead of writing CSS, many Chrome extensions are available to outline the elements that save developers both time & effort. 

Turning off styles

For developers, it’s difficult to find a particular element style error by CSS. These errors are not easily recognized among hundreds of lines of HTML codes and can cause an issue later. So it’s essential to identify whether a CSS is applied on the element or is overridden by the default CSS. 

In such a case, developers can use the in-built browser developer console to showcase the properties of CSS applied on each selected element. It helps developers to find whether CSS is applied on the element or overridden with another.

Display type

Every unique element in a web page has its display type, whether flex, block, inline-block, or many more. For developers, it’s hard to identify any element display type until their HTML codes follow the W3C guidelines. 

To prevent errors and identify each display type, developers should write HTML codes according to formal W3C guidelines & standards. 

Cross-browser Compatibility issues

Device-browser fragmentation is a hard-hitting issue in the testing ecosystem!

In today’s world, where billions of people are using smartphones and tablets, the demand for mobile-friendly websites is increasing. Sometimes HTML websites can face cross-browser compatibility issues where a website does not perform similarly on each device and this is an essential error that needs to be resolved.  

Making your HTML5 code cross-browser compatible is also key to overcoming browser inconsistencies and ensuring a seamless experience across the different versions of various browsers.

Whether you’re testing HTML code in browser or finding HTML elements, BrowserStack is a one-stop testing platform for debugging and compatibility testing on 3000+ real devices and browsers. Let’s follow it up with the steps for debugging and more. 

Debugging HTML Errors with BrowserStack Live

With the help of BrowserStack Live, testers can test their website functionalities in different conditions & browsers (like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge) to debug HTML code, detect bugs and get detailed bug/error reports. 

You can find bugs/errors on your website in just 4 simple steps

Step 1- Sign in to your BrowserStack account and go to Products – Live.

Step 2 – Select the OS & Browser from the list of available operating systems and browsers

Step 3 – Insert your website URL and start testing its functions.

Step 4 – Get your detailed test report

By following these step-by-step processes, testers can easily identify – how to fix HTML errors on any website. 

There are a lot more testing and debugging covered within the BrowserStack infrastructure, including

• Geolocation Testing: It’s mainly used to understand the website performance for different geographical locations as per your business requirements in different regions.  
• Detailed bug reporting: While conducting cross-browser compatibility testing, get a detailed report of errors/bugs found on the website.
• Responsive testing: It’s used to identify the website screen resolution support on different devices. 
• Local testing: Local testing is a type of testing where testers test the website as an end user’s environment. 
• Network throttling: This type of testing identify the website performance on different network bandwidths

To sum up, QA testers and developers are advised to debug their HTML to identify and fix HTML errors. However, do note that you can get faster results without compromising on the accuracy and solve any HTML errors before users do by testing software in real user conditions.

Debug HTML with BrowserStack Live