Is a framework enough?: cross-device testing and debugging

Abstract

Although numerous cross-device frameworks have been proposed in recent years, we know of only a few cross-device applications that have been implemented and many of these are prototypes to showcase the frameworks. Fewer still have been deployed and are accessible to the public. To go beyond prototyping, applications need to be carefully tested and bugs eliminated but current cross-device frameworks provide little support for this and it therefore remains a challenge. Tied to the lack of real-world applications, there is also a lack of cross-device developers who could be studied to gather requirements for better support. However, based on principles of responsive design, there are many tools available and widely used in practice to support the development of web applications that can be accessed from diverse devices, including ones to facilitate testing and debugging. Inspired by these tools, we have created XDTools -- a new integrated set of tools for testing and debugging cross-device applications. A preliminary qualitative evaluation with 12 developers produced promising results.