Open Device Lab Groningen

Testing whether your responsive website or native app works well can be challenging in a small team or as a freelancer. For this, you need devices. You can either procure them yourself or look for a location that offers a wide range of devices for testing. In that case, an Open Device Lab would be very useful. Unfortunately, such a facility is currently lacking in Groningen.

Every day we work on responsive websites and web applications. Testing becomes especially difficult when everyone in the office only has an iPhone or iPad. That’s why I frequently rely on family and friends to test on Windows Phone and Android devices. Far from ideal.

Why test so extensively?

1. Resolutions vary across hundreds of devices. We must ensure that our websites and applications work well on all of them. So, let’s look beyond just the media query breakpoints for iPad and iPhone.
2. There is often insufficient testing of fluidity and responsiveness in the vertical dimension. Devices force you to take this into account.
3. You can’t accurately test device performance in an emulator; for that, you truly need the physical device.
4. Device browsers often have many unexpected bugs that you won’t encounter in your desktop browser.

In short, testing is important for both small and large projects. That’s why I’m searching for ways to facilitate it as effectively as possible. I’m looking for as many designers and front-end developers as possible who would benefit from this initiative. Together with, among others, Kris de Jong, Stef Thoen, and Bram Willemse, I have come up with the following options:

1. An Open Device Lab in central Groningen. You could drop in any time during the day and the devices would be secure. A testing environment could be set up there using, for example, Adobe Edge Inspect. Unused devices could be loaned by colleagues, friends, and family. A solid and reliable Open Device Lab, as many of us know, could be a solution. But, is it really necessary? Let’s examine the alternatives.
2. A hybrid Open Device Lab where multiple devices are available at several locations and can be easily exchanged. One person would manage the setup and distribution.
3. An Open Device Community. I see this more as an online list where people can sign up if they’re willing to make their device (even if it’s just one) and location available. In short: if you want to test, you check the list for the right device and location, then email or tweet that person to arrange a meeting.

Get in Touch

There are probably many more great possibilities. If you have ideas about this, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at aljan@studiowolf.nl.

Starting the Open Device Community

I believe it’s a good idea to implement the last option. So, if you have one or more devices and are open to testing on them, please email your name and devices to aljan@studiowolf.nl. I will set up an online list.

— This post was originally written on the Studio Wolf blog.