November 2015 - Testbytes Software

How Usability Testing Benefits the End User

Posted on November 27, 2015 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

With automated testing and other latest technologies coming up, one may start considering usability testing to be remote and old school. Well, this is a thought that needs to be changed.

Mobile applications are on the rise, and now e-commerce companies are all shifting their focus on increasing sales from mobile applications and websites. This is due to the fact that the purchasing and browsing behaviour of the users are constantly changing. It has become very important to have a mobile optimised, mobile friendly, or a responsive design website, or even better – a mobile application, to attract the prospective customers.
Thorough Mobile Testing is a Must
Your product needs to be tested with the intended users throughout the lifecycle of the product for effective usability. This is where the concept of Usability Testing originates.
The main agenda behind usability testing for Mobile Application Testing is to test the ease with which the different user interfaces in the application can be used. It lets you know if the product or software under test is user-friendly or not. This form of testing is a black box testing technique or specification based technique. It gives you an idea about how the users would feel about your app, if they would be comfortable with the flow, layout, navigation, content, and speed in your application or website. It tests how effective the features are in providing a good user experience.

Read Also: 8 Ways to Make Usability Testing Simple

Usability testing for Mobile Testing basically tests the following features in your app:

How easy your software is in terms of usage
How easy it is to learn your mobile app
How convenient the users will find your mobile app

The following five are the major components in usability testing:

Learnability

It defines how easy it is for your users to perform the basic tasks the first time they open your app, and how easily they can grasp and learn it based on the current design.

Errors

This parameter lets you decide how many errors the users could make, how severe these errors could be, and how easy will it be for them to recover from these errors and get back on track.

Memorability

Suppose the users do not use your app for a long period and come back to it after some time. In such a situation, will the user be able to use the design seamlessly and feel acquainted with it? Will he remember your app well enough to use it effectively no matter how long he stays away from it, or will he have to start all over again to settle down and learn your app?

Efficiency

This describes how fast an experienced user could accomplish the various tasks in your app. It rates their efficiency.

Satisfaction

This factor describes the user satisfaction after using your app. You get to know how happy the users will be and how much they like your app and its design.
In short, Mobile Testing Services and usability testing could be said to have the following benefits for the end users or your customers:

A software that is easier to use
The learning curve is shortened considerably for new users
The software becomes much easier to use
The software quality is increased multifold

Mobile Testing Services always insist on usability testing for effective user experience. This is because of the following advantages it has over all other forms of testing:

It is possible to modify usability test and incorporate all other forms of testing like smoke testing, unit testing, functional testing, system integration testing, and so on.
If you plan properly, usability testing can turn out to be really economical, highly effective, and totally beneficial in all aspects.
Usability testing proves out to be really effective in discovering potential bugs and loopholes in the complete software system. These may generally not be visible to the developers, and could even escape testing. But, usability testing can find them all.
If one uses proper resources, which are experienced and creative testers, then all the problems that the user may face before the final release of the system could be easily fixed. As such, you never have to release a system with errors and issues. This helps in a far better performance and also maintains a standard system.

If you are still wondering why you need to incorporate usability testing for all kinds of Mobile Testing Services, Mobile Application Testing, and even for a Game Tester, then here are 5 reasons that will surely convince you as to why you should never ignore usability testing before releasing your mobile app or game:

In the Wild Testing

Testing the mobile apps in the lab test them in the most unnatural conditions. The users are all sitting upright holding the devices stiffly in their hands and browsing the app with no distractions. Above all, the internet connectivity, acoustics, and ambience are all set up for the perfect experience. Well, does anyone actually use an app this way? No, right?
Researchers have proven that 73% of the users use their mobiles in the evening, curled up on a couch or their bed. While 69% use it during office hours, 51% use it on weekends, and 42% use them while travelling. Lab based experiments and testing cannot give you proper insights for all these conditions. Testing with actual people gives you feedback in the most effective context of use.
Participants are invited to take a usability test in their own context of use for remote task based usability testing. This way, one can get feedback for real world situations and see the outcome of using a specific application or website.

User Feedback is Distributed and Representative

Feedback from the intended audience is the most effective and most important part of all kinds of testing. If the participants represent the target users, then you could ensure that the usability findings are absolutely valid without any bias whatsoever. Remote unmoderated usability testing you can get representation for user segments from all across the world.
It is not tough to get responses from a sample of 10 to a few hundred representative users that could fit in to a wide range of different socio-economic and demographic segments from across the world. This would prove to be really effective for the success of your mobile app.

Agile Methodology

Mobile Application Testing in line with Agile Methodology is the best way to make our app way more effective than you expect. Development organizations have started to finally migrate to lightweight or agile software development to develop and ship apps and mobile websites.
Before and after every sprint, you can ensure to execute remote usability studies. It can even be done during the prototype stage, until your mobile app is all set to be released out to the intended users.
The story does not end there. Even after release, it is important for you to maintain the user expectations and user needs. Remote task-based usability tests give you accurate metrics for these purposes. Being lightweight, it is easy to execute. This makes it the perfect part of Agile Methodology. With accurate statistics, you could keep improving and deliver the users what they require. Maintenance is also an important part of every app.

You may also like: 5 Simple Ways to Dodge Test Failures

Quantitative and Qualitative Metrics

You get to obtain feedback all throughout the development cycle of your mobile app or website through remote unmoderated research methodology. Testing various versions gives you qualitative feedback on the early prototypes. It also tells you if the information architecture and content layout are able to convey the value proposition effectively and as desired.
Usability testing provides you easy test findability, effective and efficient metrics with all your prototypes or live apps and websites. Benchmarking performance gives you quantitative and qualitative feedback all through the development cycle and even after that. It also gives you an edge against your competitors.

Resource Effective and Cost Effective

Usability tests on your mobile apps and websites do not consume much time or money. They are effective in terms of cost, resources, and time. The time required is almost half, and the cost is almost a quarter of those required in a usual lab study.

Lab studies could take around 2 weeks for planning and execution, and the cost is also high for incentives and set up.
As for an unmoderated remote usability test, one needs a week for planning, execution, and collecting data for about 30 to 300 responses. Besides being low in cost, designing and execution of usability tests is also effortless. Moreover, you also have the option to reuse already coded usability test plans.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that usability testing is a very wide area of testing. One needs to have a fairly high level of understanding to get in to this field, along with a mind that is creative and innovative. Patience, openness to welcome all kinds of suggestions and ideas, ability to listen to all suggestions, and excellent observation skills to be able to spot and fix issues are some of the most important skills that the people involved in usability testing need to possess.
Mobile applications have become an inevitable part of the human life. The world has become fast paced and consumer focused. As such, it is more important to offer the users a seamless and pleasurable usage experience. By using the unmoderated remote methodology and conducting user research researchers are able to get data right out of the real world for increased accuracy and efficiency. This helps you further in connecting with your users and growing your business.

5 Simple Ways to Dodge Test Failures

Posted on November 24, 2015 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

It is common for every tester to be trapped in certain situations that could limit the efficiency and productivity in the job. The common reasons for such failures are the lack of resources to be able to complete your work, the lack of enough time, and also being surrounded by co-workers who consider your work to be unimportant and do not give it the necessary attention. Any tester could face such kinds of pitfalls, traps, and mistakes if you are not able to work until you get the due respect and credibility for doing the work. Web Application Testing and Windows Application testing are not as easy as people consider them to be. A testing job has its own set of challenges and issues to be faced.

Testers could easily relate to such hurdles several times in their career. Here are a few of these pitfalls and some simple tricks to help you dodge or overcome them easily:

No More Ideas for Testing

This is one of the most common problems faced by any software tester. You get stuck in the middle and keep wondering what more you need to test and how to test it. This is a sort of a block syndrome faced by every tester. You lose your ability to find new bugs in the system or software under test and you get totally confused.
Solution
Here are a few tips to help you overcome this syndrome quite easily:

Read Also: 8 Instances Software Bugs Proved To be too Costly

Brute Cause Analysis, or BCA

This is a sort of brainstorm technique which can be employed easily. One tester has to think about a bug, and the other tester will think of all the possible areas and functions where this bug could be found. Then you could go on to test those specific areas.

Think Out of the Box

Just forget about the specific feature or application or function that you need to test in front of you. Try thinking in another direction, take a step back, and try to reassess the whole situation. Think about other possibilities like performance and load tests, stress tests, functionality tests, and other kinds of tests that involve browsers, devices, platforms, structures, and operations.

Pair Testing

Pair testing could be really advantageous when you run out of ideas. It is nothing but testing in a team of two. Two people sit together to test the software that is under test. You could generate amazing ideas when you sit with someone else and try to brainstorm. Make sure to get a friend of yours to sit with you before you begin your Windows App Testing process.

Missing the Goal of Testing

There are several situations where you are unable to understand what exactly you need to test. You could be having a meeting about this new feature to be tested, but you do not get even a slight hint about what it is supposed to do. When all others in the meeting seem to be getting the point, you start wondering what you lack. In such cases, you may just nod your head so as to not look foolish in front of all others who get the idea. Well, this could be a great problem later on. You will end up in a fix when you have to start test planning and execution for this feature.
Solution

Open Up and Ask Questions

If you want to be an excellent tester, you need to make sure to be vocal and ask relevant questions. You need to have good questioning skills to save you from situations like this. If you do not understand something, it is alright to admit that you do not understand it. Getting it clarified will help you a lot in the long run, or you may have to remain ignorant all through your life.

Learn to read between the lines

When any new application, software, or feature is implemented, there will be some sort of documentation to detail it before work even starts on it. You could refer this to get yourself started. But, you need to do this carefully. You need to read the whole thing carefully, but also realize that there may be things not mentioned in it but implied. You need to find out such implied messages in these project documents to help you to understand the requirements clearly.

Brainstorm

Brainstorming is an effective process for every task. You attend the meeting, ask all kinds of relevant questions, take proper notes, and have understood all requirements well. After that, you need to sit with your windows app testing team and start the brainstorming session. This will yield a whole lot of possible ideas, plans, and strategies for your test project. When all minds come together, you get really innovative ideas gathered up.

Attention Deficiency

It is very common to miss out on certain bugs and issues that are right in front of your eyes. You might be so busy looking out for other test items that you absolutely miss out this prominent bug. It might turn out to be embarrassing later on as it is too obvious to not notice. You just do not realize it as you are so religiously following your test cases. Well, this happens to everyone, and you should not worry too much about it.
Solution

Do not follow the test cases and test matrix blindly

There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before you start on any test case. Once you get the answers to them, adjust your test cases and fill in all missing links before you continue your work. Here are the major questions you need answers to:
“Which part of the specific product functionality is covered by this test case?”
“What are the things this test case covers? What are the things it does not cover?”
“Are there any other methods or ways to test this test case? If yes, what are the methods?”
“Why is this test case so important? What is there about this functionality?”

Bring out a change in your whole approach to the testing process

You need to follow your test cases and test matrices effectively. But, in the process, make sure to keep your eyes open for other things as well. There may be several other things happening during the test execution. Notice these processes also. Even if certain areas are not mentioned in your test cases, try to expand your view and explore them. Subtle looking actions like a small sound or a slight flickering of the button or view could be an indication of some other issue. Such tiny things are extremely significant in Web Application testing, and ignoring them can be a major mistake. Even if they may be in some other test area, make sure to note them down and verify them.

Unsure if It Is Working

There may be certain issues or bugs you find, but you are unsure if they are actually issues or you just did something wrong or missed out certain steps in the test case. As such, you do not report them, and later these issues may be found out by someone else, then this could be a bad reputation for your job.
Solution

Trust the Tester in You

If you find an inner voice telling you something is wrong, trust yourself. You need to learn to trust your instincts in such cases. Report it to the developers if you feel there is some bug and it is not your mistake. Do not hold yourself back. In the worst scenario, the developer/developers may just come back to you telling it was your mistake and you did something wrong like misconfigured the actual settings required or misunderstood the feature. Well, this is far better than ignoring a bug with a confused mind and regretting it later on. Having your manager or customer find out the issue is even more heartbreaking.

Have a Fellow Tester Test it as Well

Get hold of one of your fellow testers and ask them to help you out. They could go through the same test and confirm if what you experience is actually a bug or not. This gives you a double confirmation.

Start Again Afresh

You could just take a short break, relax, and then start the test case all over again. Starting afresh helps you confirm if what you find is actually a bug or not.

You may also like: How is Auditing and Software Testing connected

Test or Skip??Is it Safe?

Testing has a huge number of possibilities. You may get confused as to what path you should follow and how you need to approach the testing process. Software and technology are developing day by day. This has also increased the complexity of these systems. As such, a tester has innumerable possibilities to test a single feature or software. With specific deadlines set for this, you may be in for a fix when you need to decide what to test, where to start your testing process, how to approach it, and what can be skipped safely without affecting the quality of the product. This is particularly confusing when you are in for Integration testing.
Solution

Follow the DIQ, or Dive In / Quit, approach

When you get the software to be tested, you also get a list of all the important things that need to be tested in the current iteration. Here, you need to follow the DIQ approach, which is just magical. DIQ stands for Dive In / Quit. As per this approach, you need to pick any one of the critical test items from the list and just dive in completely and test it. In case you find it to be too hard on you, then just quit and take the next item from the list. You just need to continue the dive in and test process until you have implemented all the test ideas completely. Once that is done, just repeat. This process just follows this cycle of taking an item, diving in and testing, quitting when you are unable to go further, repeating the process with another item, and then coming back to the initial item when you completed all the other test items. It is as simple as that!

Collect Intelligence Data

The first step is to have a look at all the existing bugs in the tool you use for bug tracking and make a note of all the bugs that are critical. Then you need to have a talk with the developers to understand the top 10 most critical things in the product under test that could affect a majority of the end users. Make another list with these bugs. Once you have these notes ready, have a look at the review documents, implementer’s guide, user manuals, and all such things that could give you an idea about what is most important in the product from the user’s perspective. These steps will give you a clear idea about what you need to test for in the product. You will then be able to plan your test cases even more effectively.
Failures happen once in a while. The complexity of the software and technology in today’s world is so high that there is enough room for errors and mistakes. Along with this, the methods and techniques of testing also need to change and improve. As a tester, you need to keep evolving. This includes learning the latest trends, keeping you acquainted with all emerging processes, and updating yourself from time to time. There is always room for improvement, and one must always be ready to learn and improve. The chances of failure could be really high if you are not evolving fast enough to keep up with the pace of emerging technology. Keep in mind that failures do happen and it is perfectly alright to fail once in a while. All you need to do is learn from your past mistakes and failures and keep upgrading your skills as a tester. Happy testing!

8 Must-Know iOS Testing Tips

Posted on November 11, 2015February 12, 2024 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

There is high demand for iOS applications these days. iPhones and iPads are gaining popularity with every new release, and so are the apps that come along with them. With so many people demanding iOS apps, the importance of thorough testing has become much more than ever. High standards and good quality are most important for users. With so many apps emerging in the market, one has to maintain really high standards to make it big in the App store.

You need to ensure that your app runs well on all the iOS devices. This is the first thing to keep in mind. You could reach out to a wider audience this way. iPhone App Testing requires a good amount of homework beforehand. Here are some tips to help you in your testing process:

There is no “Untestable Behaviour”

“Untestable Behaviour” cannot exist. There could only be ‘untestable code”. It is a very simple point to remember.
You should be able to test every part of your app. If there is any part that cannot be tested, you must think about refactoring some parts of the code to make it happen. You must have a good answer to the question,” Why can’t I test this?” Your answer could most probably be that the code is either too complicated or there may be too many actions in the code. Resolve such issues by dividing the code and making it cleaner. Make your code more modular, as it helps you to test it more effectively.

There must be only one Source of Truth

You must be very thorough about how your object should behave. It is also important that you have complete confidence in yourself when you say that.
Always attempt to make simple classes that have well defined and concrete responsibilities independent of one another. You must understand these specified responsibilities and should be able to describe them well. There are two important testing frameworks in the world of iOS, Quick for Swift and Specta for Objective C.

Ensure that Objects have Minimum Dependencies

Your objects need to know as less as possible. The lesser they know, the lesser you will have to test, and the easier it becomes for you. Remember the rule to minimize adhesion and maximize cohesion. Objects should not be too dependent on each other. Each module must be complete in itself. Your test writing becomes simple if you have less to test in a single module. This ensures a better quality for all your products through effective iOS App Testing.

Read Also: 11 Differences Between iOS And Android Mobile App Testing

Remember the SOLID Rules

Over time, there are a lot of changes in the devices, the hardware, architecture, operating systems, and the programming languages. But, there are some classic rules that remain true no matter what changes. They are the solid foundations for building an efficient software product. The S, L, and D rules are essential in the case of iOS App Testing.

S – Single Responsibility Principle

According to this, your class must be entrusted with only a single responsibility. This makes it much easier for you to understand its purpose and role in the product. When you understand what exactly it does, it makes it easier for you to write its specification.

L – Liskov Substitution Principle

You should make sure that your objects can be replaced with other instances. You should be able to substitute objects with instances of their subtypes as well. Mocks are often used to test any specific behaviour exhibited by objects, but such testing could not be applicable for your whole program or system.

D – Dependency Inversion Principle

Using protocols to decouple your classes is the most effective practice you could use in iOS for testing purposes. Do it for a few parts only and test them independently to assess the behaviour individually. You must test bit by bit as testing it as a whole will never help you.

Restrict your class to 150 lines of code

Your class must never have more than 150 lines of code. If it exceeds the limit, there is definitely something wrong in it. Divide it in to smaller parts that can be easily managed and maintained. This makes your code break up in to smaller units of logical codes. This helps you as well as other who look in to your code. A legible code is an indication of a good developer. It helps you in iPhone App Testing also.

Tests help you out

Most developers have the wrong notion about writing tests. They do not help the end user in any way. Moreover, there can be cases where the test case for a class has more lines of code than the class itself. As such, it is considered to be an unnecessary waste of time. But, this is not the case. When you get a code and have no idea what is happening in there, the test cases can actually help you out. There are numerous classes and tricks in every code. Cracking them is not an easy task. When you write tests, it will definitely help in maintenance and testing.

Look at the Picture as A Whole

When you are working and get stuck with a piece of code, you tend to overlook other things that matter. Your focus is always put on this single piece that you are working with. You tend to stop seeing other ways to resolve your issues or get your work done. In such cases, you must always take a small break and get your mind cleared. This lets you see the bigger picture at hand. You will be able to find other different ways to get your work done. You could even consult a fellow developer for new ideas to pour out.

Recommended Read: Best Practices to Follow for iOS Mobile App Testing

Keep Learning

Even if you are a pro, you could always learn something new. This is applicable to testing and programming in general. Never keep your mind closed to new things. Most professionals consider their code to be perfect. Even if that is the case, you could always improve. Writing tests will always speed up your development time. Even you break your code unknowingly at times. As such, machine check of the code helps you faster. It is much faster that manually going through every line of your code. So, keep learning and improving yourself for the better every time.
So, here were a few tips you need to keep in mind with regard to iOS App Testing. Some of them are applicable to Android App Testing as well. Building efficient apps that work seamlessly on the intended platform is the ultimate aim of every developer. Follow these steps to make that possible in a more productive and efficient manner.

How is Auditing and Software Testing Connected

Posted on November 5, 2015 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Everyone in the business of testing software is aware of its importance. But auditing is just as important. This blog will help you to understand its importance and how it helps in your testing process.

Software testing is a process of executing a program or application with the intent of finding the bugs within. It is a type of software review in which one or more auditors conduct an independent examination of a software product. These auditors may not necessarily be members of the same software development team.
It comprises of a process or set of processes that helps you to assess a product’s compliance with pre-mentioned specifications. You can also use it for validation and verification that ensures a software program or application or product meeting your requirements that helped in its design and development.

How software testing and auditing complement each other?

A software firm’s test management software provides high-quality collaboration, even for your employees who work offsite. It lets you share information with ease. There is also the added benefit of reusing these test scenarios. This will help you to remove friction that may accompany test standardization and remote interaction.

Read Also: 5 Types of Testing to Make Your Mobile Apps User Friendly

What more do you need?
Software auditing also keeps your testing and QA teams on track. For those of you who are unaware, auditors are often responsible for verification of a product’s compliance with certain standards. But it is also their responsibility to maintain the integrity, security and sustainability of technical processes.
Hence responsible auditing and test management further ensures you that software is being developed and used in accordance with company requirements. This pairing is especially benefitted by organizations as it gives a good insight into day-to-day practices, along with areas needing improvement. Combining technology and procedure helps you to put these applications in a context where they can be correctly evaluated.
Need for Auditing In Testing
Auditing the Software Development Processes helps you to ensure transparency and reliability of the IT systems. From a technical point of view, an audit checks for what kind of bugs may have slipped through the cracks during testing which may cost your company millions.
In the context of testing, it helps us to ensure that the testing processes are followed as defined.

Various Testing Process Audits

The reasons to conduct auditing are in plenty and will certainly help you to achieve certain set of goals. Based on that we can classify them as follows:
Audit to verify compliance: The prime motive here is to evaluate if a process complies with given standards. In these scenarios, the actual testing process is compared with a documented one. For example, our software testing processes needs to be defined according to ISO Standards. The audit verifies whether testing was conducted as per documentation.

Recommended Read: Top 5 Software Testing Trends to Look Out For in 2015

Audit for improving process and problem solving: Here the motivation is to audit and trace the various steps involved in the process and try eliminating the problems. For instance it was noticed that quite a lot of software defects were overlooked even after following testing process to the core. So the audit is done as a preliminary step to collect facts and analyze them.
Audit for Root Cause Analysis: This type of audit deals with finding a root cause for a specific problem using various testing processes. For instance, if a customer discovers something wrong with your software. Retracing our testing steps helps to find out where and how things went wrong in a specific case.
Internal Audits
Here initiation of internal audit is done from within an organization.
External Audits
Auditing is done and initiated by external agencies while conducting external audits.