An Analysis of the Effects of the Agile Model in Software Testing

Software professionals are under pressure to discover and measure quality aspects including usability, testability, maintainability, and dependability as well as engineering methods that assist the creation of high-quality products with these advantageous characteristics. Like other engineering objects, the software development process has to be designed. In other words, it has to be developed, put into practise, assessed, and maintained. The finest technical and management techniques must be incorporated in a methodical manner throughout the software development process, just as in other engineering disciplines.

App Bug fixing

Agile development approaches are becoming more popular among companies that are under pressure to provide apps of a better calibre in order to remain competitive. Agile and other iterative techniques are actually taking over as the industry norm for creating applications. Agile’s ideal goal is to accelerate the delivery of the greatest amount of business value possible by putting an emphasis on people and ongoing development. Although the agile technique is typically thought of as primarily relevant to development teams, the entire organisation must adapt.

Agile development confronts businesses with two significant challenges: being flexible enough to keep up with the iterative nature of the agile approach, and providing quality and stability to applications much earlier in the development process in order to align with the business.

The fundamentals of agile testing

The fundamental tenets of agile testing are as follows:

1. Working software is the main gauge of success in this Agile testing strategy.
2. Self-organizing teams have the highest chance of success.
3. Our first aim is to consistently and promptly deliver high-quality software.
4. Daily activity gathering is required of software engineers throughout the project.
5. Increasing agility through steady technology advancement and superior design.
6. Agile testing, which offers continuous input, makes ensuring that the final product lives up to the business’s expectations.
7. The Agile Test approach requires us to carry out the testing process as we implement it, which cuts down on the amount of time needed for development.
8. The Agile testing methodology should focus on maintaining a constant development speed.
9. Regularly reflect on ways to improve your effectiveness.
10. Self-organizing teams provide the finest architectures, requirements, and designs.
11. The team evaluates and modifies its behaviour to improve efficiency at each meeting.
12. The most effective and efficient way to share knowledge within the development team is through face-to-face conversations.

Read Also: Agile Software Development Methodologies

Process of Testing Software

Software testing is a technique for confirming and validating the software; it ensures that the software/applications are executed without errors or problems. An agile model created to satisfy all technical and commercial requirements. When applied, this model may be constructed with the same qualities and will function as intended. Software testing finds program/software bugs, mistakes, and faults. The software testing procedure must include fixing these faults, mistakes, and defects. When programme updates are made, the software should be tested once again and then once more after that, until all flaws have been discovered and corrected. The testing process and the condition of the software under test are monitored and reported on during test operations.

Important flaws are checked during test planning by going over the requirements and design papers. The testing team fixes these flaws but is unable to raise the software’s quality. Prior to testing, all enhancements should be implemented into the system, therefore they should all be recorded during the coding phase of software development. If software architects and designers acquire all the improvements within a certain time limit, they will have created a good model. The design of the software or application can be improved by testing before coding.

Read Also: What is Agile Testing? Process, Methodology and Strategies

Pros and Cons of the Agile Model

Agile methodologies are now extensively used in the software industry, however they might not necessarily be appropriate for all products. The agile paradigm has the following benefits and drawbacks.

The following shows the benefits and drawbacks of the agile model:

Pros

  • Is an extremely practical method for developing software.
  • Encourages collaboration and cross-training.
  • Functionality can be quickly built and proven.
  • Minimum resource requirements.
  • Adaptable to both changing and fixed needs
  • Provides early, imperfect answers.
  • Effective model for continuously changing surroundings.
  • Few rules, simple to use documentation.
  • Allows development and delivery to occur concurrently within a larger, planned environment.
  • Requires little to no planning
  • Simple to handle
  • Provides developers with flexibility

    Cons
  • Ineffective for managing complicated dependencies.
  • A greater risk of extensibility, maintenance, and sustainability
  • Without an overarching strategy, an agile leader, and an agile PM practise, it will not succeed.
  • The scope, functionality to be supplied, and modifications to fulfil deadlines are determined by strict delivery management.
  • Relies significantly on client contact; as a result, if the consumer is unclear, the team may be led astray.
  • Since little documentation is produced, there is a great deal of individual dependence.
  • The absence of documentation may make it difficult for new team members to learn technology.
Commercial Agile Testing Methodology

Agile testing is currently widely utilised in industries since it entails close customer participation and short week cycles. Due to all these qualities, the project moves very quickly. The shortcomings of the V-Model and the Waterfall Model are eliminated, making it the optimum technique.

For projects with shifting needs and unclear project scope, it is the optimum model. Customers are more confident and satisfied with the finished product as a result of the regular customer participation at every stage, which also reduces the likelihood of future defects. Since there is client engagement throughout every cycle, the final product that is given at the conclusion of each cycle meets the criteria.

Agile testing also lowers project costs since workable products are supplied in increments after each cycle, reducing the likelihood of future defects. Additionally, this process improves communication and team trust in QA.

Due to its benefits, lower delivery costs, and other qualities in the modern industry, Agile is now a new and one of the methodologies that takes the longest to adopt.

Read Also: Agile VS DevOps: Difference between Agile and DevOps

Distinguish between Agile Testing and Waterfall Testing

The Development Life Cycle activities take place in phases that are sequential in a Waterfall Development approach. As a result, testing is a distinct phase that begins only after the development phase is over.

The key distinctions between Agile Testing and Waterfall Testing are as follows:

Sr. No. Agile Testing Waterfall Testing
1. Testing takes place concurrently with development and is not a distinct step. Testing is a different stage. Only when development is complete can testing at all levels and levels begin.
2. Developers and testers collaborate. Testing is a different stage. Only when development is complete can testing at all levels and levels begin.
3. The creation of requirements involves testers. This aids in establishing the acceptance criteria and linking requirements to behaviours in the real-world scenario. Along with the criteria, logical Acceptance Test Cases would also be prepared. It’s possible that testers are not involved in the requirements phase.
4. Acceptance after each iteration, testing is carried out, and client feedback is gathered. Acceptance Only the last stages of the project is tested.
5. Regression testing may be used whenever new functions or logic are published because each loop finishes its own testing. Regression Testing can only be put into practise once development is finished.
6. There are no wait times between coding and testing. Regular gaps of time between coding and testing
7. Testing that is on-going and involves many test levels. Test levels cannot overlap since testing is a timed activity.

Conclusions

The agile method has been in use for a while. It has proven essential in many of the intricate projects that both small and large businesses are now working on. The most creative businesses of today and future will keep pushing the boundaries of agile methods. For them, the ability to develop, plan, and carry out initiatives successfully in a fast-paced, dynamic environment will be the difference between just existing and thriving. Making the proper judgments throughout project execution as well as planning is a key component of agility.

Testing methods, skills, techniques, and equipment may need to shift in order to handle that sort of change. The mechanics of test execution are one area of software testing that does not change merely because the project team is utilising an agile strategy to build software, although certain testers may need to significantly alter their testing methodology if they are to be useful on an agile software project. Agile testers must decide what work to complete next, how to complete it, how to make it relevant to the client, and how to exercise the application in various ways to enhance their understanding of how things operate and potential risk areas.

Web Application Testing Manually (Step by Step A Complete Guide)

Web applications are a subset of application software, and application software is nothing more than the applications that consumers utilise. Every day, we utilise web applications, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, and online portals; everything falls under the category of web applications. Software testing is a component of the software development process and an activity that detects and identifies faults in software. The primary goal of testing is to deliver a quality product to the client.

Manual testing is the process of comparing the behaviour of created code (software, module, API, feature, etc.) to the intended behaviour (requirements). In Manual Web Application Testing, when it comes to web apps, there is a lot that goes into creating world-class user experiences. Naturally, it all starts with extensive manual software testing. As a result, manual testing is an essential component of any comprehensive software testing process.

What exactly is manual testing?

Manual testing of web applications is the process of executing test cases by hand. This type of testing occurs in the absence of automated technologies. In reality, because Web Application Manual Evaluating necessitates manually testing a software product, the end product is precise. Testers check for faults that may interfere with the app’s usability. Manual testing is used by businesses to validate their products. Similarly, businesses attempt to analyse and qualify a web app product based on factors, such as correctness, completeness, usability, efficiency, and others.

Manual software testing is the first step in creating pleasing user interfaces. Manual testing is used by businesses as a fundamental strategy to producing high-quality software products. Businesses seldom believe in complete automation. This is due to the fact that comprehensive automation comes with a number of financial and time restrictions. Manual testing, albeit labour demanding, is a vital requirement for determining automation viability. Manual testers help firms uncover flaws and gain a realistic understanding of how customers will interact with their online apps.

Read Also: Manual or Automated Testing: Which to Use?

Why is manual testing essential in the development of web applications?

Manual software testing is the secret sauce in the majority of web app development projects’ testing phases. When it comes to testing web apps for aesthetic concerns, automated testing technologies are ineffective. Human sensitivity is the best judge of things, like gestures, image colour, letter size, and so on. As a result, automated testing makes it harder to validate a web app’s User Experience and User Interface.

  • Efficiency

Manual testing successfully overcomes the constraints introduced by automated testing. As a result, app development teams focused on user experience and GUIs that are regularly evolving rely significantly on manual testing to ensure success.

When teams are creating apps from the ground up in the early phases of web app development, the majority of features are in active deployment. It is preferable to begin with manual testing during this time. Because, when it comes to manual testing, one key benefit is its seamless execution for bespoke modules based on business needs. Manual testing can be accomplished with ease and perfection without the need of any fancy code or sophisticated applications.

  • Cost effective

When compared to expensive test automation technologies, the cost of manual testing is significantly less. Integrating the high-level expertise required to run automation tools is an added cost. Manual testing abilities are easy to learn and cost less money. Furthermore, manual testing is easier to implement.

Read Also: How to Improve Your Manual Testing Skills ?

In the event of unanticipated changes in the web app development process, manual testing is a readily flexible and well-suited solution. It’s also a good option for developers who need to test the web app after making modifications. Human observation and intuition can be used during manual testing. It contributes significantly to the overall consumer experience.

Furthermore, manual exploratory testing assists firms in proactively searching for edge situations and unanticipated concerns. Manual testers will occasionally hand-code tests. Hand-coded test suites might take many weeks to complete. In such circumstances, manual testing gives organisations with immediate benefits.

Manual Web Application Testing Techniques

The following are the many forms of Manual Testing for Web Applications that firms must perform:

1. Black Box or Functional Testing:-

The internal details of a programme are not accessible during functional testing, and the software is viewed as a black box. A test engineer is solely concerned with the component of the programme that is visible outside of the programme, namely input and output.

A test engineer adds input to a programme, examines the program’s externally visible output, and decides whether or not the programme output is the intended output. The program’s requirements definition and the attributes of the program’s input and output domains are used to pick inputs. A test engineer is only concerned with the functionality and features specified in the programme specification.

2. White Box or Structural Testing:-

In structural testing, the attention is mostly on source code, with a particular emphasis on control flow and data flow. The flow of control from one command to another is referred to as control flow.

Control can be passed from one instruction to another in a variety of methods, including one instruction after another, function calls, message passing, and interrupts. Conditional statements disrupt the program’s typical, sequential flow of control. The transmission of values from one variable or constant to another variable is referred to as data flow. The data flow component of a programme is determined by the definitions and usage of variables.

Read Also: Top 10 Manual Testing Tools

3. Unit Testing:-

Unit testing is the isolation of programme units. However, there is no agreement on what constitutes a unit. Functions, processes and techniques are examples of frequently known units. A class in an object-oriented programming language can also be thought of as a programme unit.

A programme unit is a piece of code, such as a function or class method, that is executed from outside the unit and can invoke additional programme units. Furthermore, it is believed that a programme unit will implement a well-defined function that will provide a certain amount of abstraction to the implementation of higher level functions. A programme unit’s function may or may not be directly related to a system-level function.

4. System Testing:-

System testing is the process of validating the entire and fully integrated software product. A system test is used to examine the end-to-end system requirements. Typically, software is just one component of a broader computer-based system.

Finally, the programme is linked to other software/hardware systems. System testing is described as a sequence of tests designed only to exercise the entire computer-based system.

5. Integration Testing:-

Integration testing is a sort of testing in which software modules are conceptually integrated and evaluated as a group. A typical software project comprises of several software modules written by various programmers. The goal of this level of testing is to identify flaws in the interaction of various software components when they are integrated.

Integration testing focuses on data transfer between these modules. As a result, it is also known as ‘I & T’ (Integration and Testing), ‘String Testing,’ and, on occasion, ‘Thread Testing.’ Software developers and integration test engineers collaborate to do integration testing. The goal of integration testing is to build a relatively stable system capable of withstanding the rigours of system-level testing.

Read Also: How to Do Security Testing For Web Applications

6. Acceptance Testing:-

Acceptance testing is a formal test that is performed to assess whether a system meets its acceptance criteria—the requirements that the system must meet in order to be approved by the client. It assists the client in deciding whether to accept or reject the system. If the acceptance test cases fail, the client normally has the right to refuse delivery of the product.

7. Regression Testing:-

Regression testing is another type of testing that occurs throughout a system’s life cycle. When a system component is changed, regression testing is undertaken. The main goal of regression testing is to ensure that the update did not create any new flaws in the area that was not modified.

To be more specific, regression testing is not a separate level of testing. New tests are not developed during regression testing. Instead, tests are chosen, prioritised, and performed from an existing pool of test cases to guarantee that nothing breaks in the new software version. Regression testing is a costly procedure that consumes the majority of testing effort in the industry.

8. Smoke Testing:-

Smoke testing enters the picture when the developer team delivers build software. The goal of smoke testing is to discover whether or not the built programme is testable. It is done during the “software development” process. This is often referred to as “Day 0.” It is a time-saving method.

It minimises testing time since testing is done only when the application’s essential functionalities are not working or when key issues are not addressed. The workflow of the application’s main and key functions is the focus of Smoke testing.

9. Performance Testing:-

It is the most crucial aspect of non-functional testing. This testing generally describes how rapidly the server replies to the user’s request. While performing performance testing on the application, we will focus on numerous elements, such as response time, load, and application stability. We will do performance testing after the programme has been stabilised and transferred to production, and it may be used by numerous users concurrently, which may cause some performance concerns. The tester does one round of performance testing to avoid these performance concerns.

10. Load Testing:-

Load testing is an essential part of performance testing that is used to evaluate the software’s performance by applying some load. We also learn about its technique, why we need to perform load testing, the purpose of load testing, examples, different load testing strategies, and the benefits and drawbacks.

In non-functional software testing, load testing is an integral component of performance testing. Load testing is the process of assessing the performance of an application by introducing a load that is less than or equal to the desired load.

11. Stress Testing:-

Stress testing is an important aspect of performance testing and is used to evaluate an application’s behaviour by delivering a load larger than the anticipated load. We also learn about its procedure, why we need to undertake stress testing, goal of stress testing, examples, various elements of stress testing, and the benefits and drawbacks.

12. Endurance Testing:-

Endurance testing involves assessing the system’s performance under various load situations over an extended period of time. Endurance testing is an important component of non-functional testing. It is also known as Soak testing and Lifespan testing in general. Endurance testing is performed at the end of the performance run cycle. We conducted endurance testing to measure the reaction of a tested component under probable duplicated scenarios for a particular load and time. Simply said, the term “endurance” is used to indicate something’s ability to last, which is also known as durability, ability, or endurance.

13. Exploratory Testing:-

If no need exists, we do one round of exploratory testing. So, for this, we will first explore the application in all conceivable ways, learning the application’s flow, producing a test document, and then testing the application; this method is known as exploratory testing. If we want to understand an application, we will first perform unit or component testing.

For example, if the application has a login page with many elements, we will understand each part and perform component testing, but we are actually doing exploratory testing because we are exploring the application.

Conclusion

Manual testing has been determined to be the mother of all sorts of testing since it necessitates extensive knowledge from the inside out, and all other types of testing stem from manual testing. Much of the testing literature is riddled with jargon, which is understandable given that testing technology has evolved over decades and through the efforts of dozens of writers.

Testing is critical to obtaining and assessing the quality of a software product. On the one hand, we increase product quality by repeating a test-find-defect-fix cycle during development. When we do system-level testing before releasing a product, we analyse how good our system is.

Unit Testing Best Practices: 11 Effective Tricks

Unit tests are great! I mean look at the perks.

They help in regression testing, checking code quality, etc.

But they are often discarded to speed up the SDLC.  Often the cost in doing so has been hefty.  What if we say that there are best practices that can take care of the issue?

In order to help you with the process, Let’s have a look at some effective Unit Testing Best Practices

What is Unit Testing?

A Unit testing basically covers every small functionality of your software. It verifies the behavior of one component of your software which is independent of other parts.

In Unit Testing there are basically three parts :

What is unit testing?

  1. Initialization: An initialized, testable portion of an application is tiny. Typically, the program is referred to as SUT (System Under Test).
  2. Stimulus: After initialization, a stimulus is applied to the application which is under test. It is usually done by invoking a method that will contain the code to test the functionality of the SUT.
  3. Result: After the stimulus has been applied to the SUT, then comes the result. This actual result has to be compared with the expected result. If it passes then the functionality is working fine else you need to figure out the problem which is in the system under test.

unit testing processing

11  Unit Testing Best Practices

  1. Tests should be isolated

The test cases have to be separate from one another and they can be organized any way you choose. Apart from this. You can define the cluster  – short or long-running test cases. Every test should be orthogonal in such a way that it should be independent of other test cases.

If it weren’t the case, then every modification to the behavior of one test case would have an impact on other tests. This may be accomplished by adhering to the single, uncomplicated rule: “Don’t try to add unnecessary assertions.”

Assertions that correspond to a particular application’s behavior should be included. They shouldn’t rely on any other external elements and should be able to operate independently.

The example tests whether a number can be added with a zero. Multiplication

2. High Speed

Unit tests are an essential part of the software development process, allowing developers to ensure that their application is free of bugs. To achieve this, developers design unit tests in a way that enables repeated execution, effectively catching any potential issues.

However, it is crucial to consider the efficiency of these tests, as slower test execution times can negatively impact the overall test suite. Even a single slow test can significantly increase the time required to run the entire suite of unit tests.

To mitigate this issue, developers should adhere to best coding practices when writing unit tests. By incorporating concepts such as streams into the test code, the execution speed can be improved exponentially.

Therefore, utilizing streams in unit test code is considered a highly beneficial practice. It not only enhances the speed of execution but also contributes to more efficient and effective testing processes.

3. High Readability

For successful communication of the functionality being tested, readability and clarity should be given top priority in unit tests. Each test should outline the situation it is testing and provide a concise tale. If a test fails, the reason why should be obvious, making it easy to find the issue and fix it.

Test cases should be organized logically and simply in order to improve readability. It might be challenging to comprehend and manage tests with complex test cases. So, order and simplicity are crucial.

For both variables and test cases, naming is essential. Each term should appropriately describe the capability and action being evaluated.

Avoid employing meaningless or ornately-sounding names. For instance, a variable or test with the name “Show Logical Exception” doesn’t make it obvious what it performs.

Developers may write unit tests that are simple to understand by following these guidelines, enabling effective debugging and troubleshooting.

4. Good Designing of Tests

Developers may adhere to the following best practices to ensure that unit tests are well-designed:

Single Responsibility Principle: Each test needs to concentrate on a particular action or circumstance. This improves isolation and makes tests easier to read and comprehend.

Use descriptive names for tests and variables to make the purpose and functionality being tested very obvious. This makes the text easier to read and makes it easier to comprehend the exams’ objectives fast.

To minimize cascade failures, test independence should be maintained. Every test need to be autonomous and able to function alone.

Arrange-Act-Assert (AAA) Pattern: Create tests that follow the AAA pattern, which divides the test into three parts: setting up the required preconditions, carrying out the action or operation, and asserting the anticipated result. The readability is improved, and worries are divided.

Test Coverage: To offer thorough coverage, make sure your tests cover a variety of situations, edge cases, and corner cases. This makes the code more resilient and helps in recognizing possible problems.

5. High Reliability

Unit tests are essential for finding problems and guaranteeing the dependability of software systems.

Tests need to ideally only fail when the system is really broken. There are, however, several circumstances in which tests may fail even in the absence of flaws.

It is possible for developers to get into situations where a test runs well on its own but fails when included in a bigger test suite.

Similar unexpected failures could happen when tests are moved to a continuous integration server. These circumstances often point to system design faults.

Minimizing dependence on external elements, such as the environment or certain machine configurations, is crucial for producing high-quality unit tests.

Regardless of the execution environment, unit tests should be created to be independent and consistent. This guarantees that tests get trustworthy results and correctly detect issues.

There may be dependencies or design problems in the codebase if tests repeatedly fail or are sensitive to the execution environment.

The reliability and efficiency of unit tests must be increased by recognizing and fixing these design faults.

Developers may construct strong unit tests that regularly find flaws and provide accurate feedback on the behavior of the system by aiming for test independence and reducing external dependencies.

6. Adopt a Well-organised Test Practice

In order to improve the quality of software development and testing, it is essential to use a well-organized testing procedure.

Significant advancements may be achieved by ensuring that the testing process is in line with software development.

One efficient method is to write test code before production code so that tests may be evaluated while the software is being developed.

This proactive strategy guarantees that tests are in place to confirm the functioning of the code and enables the early detection of any problems.

A well-organized test practice may also be considerably aided by using approaches like test-driven development, mutation testing, or behavior-driven programming.

These methods aid in improving test code quality and encourage a better understanding of the source.

Developers may create a strong and organized testing process that improves the overall quality of the product by adhering to these best practices.

Early defect identification, communication between developers and testers, and complete codebase validation via efficient test coverage are all made possible.

Some effective unit testing good practices that we follow

 7. Automates Unit Testing

Though automated unit testing may sound challenging. But it is for no doubt ensures quick feedback, more test coverage, better performance, etc. It in short helps in in-depth testing and gives better results.

8. Focus on a Single Use-Case at a Time

Another good practice of unit test coding is to test a single-use case at one time to verify its behaviors against the expected output.

 9. Keep it Unit, Not Integration

Sometimes, we unknowingly shift our focus from unit testing to integration testing. Including more external factors and thus making it difficult to isolate issues and also increasing the production time. And hence we should ensure that unit testing is compulsory unit testing.

10.  100% Code Coverage

Since unit tests concentrate on evaluating distinct pieces of code, it is theoretically feasible to achieve 100% test coverage using just unit tests.

However, aiming for comprehensive coverage in every circumstance may not always be feasible or essential.

Code coverage is a useful indicator, but to guarantee thorough software validation, it should be combined with other testing techniques like manual testing and integration testing.

However, to ensure maximum efficiency,

  • Divide the application into more manageable, testable components like classes, functions, or methods. Each unit needs to have a distinct function and be capable of independent testing.
  • Create unit tests for each unit that cover various situations and edge cases. Aim to test every potential code path included inside each unit, being sure to exercise all branches and conditions.
  • Use test coverage tools or frameworks that can gauge the level of code coverage attained by the tests. These programs provide reports identifying the parts of the code that the tests do not cover.
  • Review the code coverage data to find regions of poor coverage. Analyze. Concentrate on building more tests that specifically target those places, making sure to exercise all code paths and eliminate any untested parts.
  • If specific sections of the code are challenging to test, think about restructuring those sections to make them more testable. To separate units for testing, remove dependencies, disconnect closely connected components, and use mocking or stubbing approaches.
  • Include unit tests in the development process by automatically executing them after every change to the code. This guarantees that any new code additions or updates are checked for coverage right away.

 11. Start Using Headless Testing in the Cloud

Conducting automated tests on online applications or software systems without the use of a graphical user interface (GUI) is referred to as “headless testing” in the cloud.

Through direct contact with the underlying code and APIs, headless testing simulates user interactions and verifies functionality.

Headless testing may be carried out in a scalable and distributed way by using cloud infrastructure, enabling the concurrent execution of tests across several virtual computers.

This strategy has advantages including increased testing effectiveness, fewer resource needs, and the capacity to test in many contexts and configurations, improving the general quality and dependability of the program.

Conclusion

Unit tests are mostly considered a burden, especially in a team where team members are working on multiple projects at a time. in this kind of scenario, automation can help a lot. Just make sure that the tests are accessible, maintainable and readable, and self-contained.

Hope you will put our suggestion for unit testing best practices to better use. Together, let’s make sure that quality remains a habit. 

 

Agile VS DevOps: Difference between Agile and DevOps

Agile vs DevOps which is better? Agile, Scrum, and DevOps are some of the buzzwords these days. They are changing the way people look at how and when testing and automation need to be done. In this section, we will discuss the difference between Agile and DevOps and the testing methodology in both.
What is Agile Methodology?
Agile Methodology diagram
Agile literally means “moving quick and easy”. In terms of software development, Agile means delivering small chunks of stand-alone and workable codes that are pushed to production frequently. This means your traditional project plans that spanned over months and sometimes years in now cut short to sprints no longer than 2-3 weeks. All timelines are shrunk to deliver working code at the end of each sprint.
Know more: Why Agile testing is so innovative!
What is DevOps Methodology?
DevOps Methodology
DevOps is a set of practices that aim to automate the development, testing, and deployment so that code gets deployed to production as small and rapid releases as part of continuous development and continuous deployment (CI/CD). DevOps is a combination of the terms Development and Operations and aims to bridge the gap between the two entities enabling smooth and seamless production code moves. 
Test your app in various screens
Testing in Agile
The traditional STLC holds no good when it comes to Agile. There is no time for all the documentation and the marked-out phases. Everything from plan, design, development, testing, and deployment needs to be winded up in a 2 to 3-week sprint.
Here are some pointers that explain how testing is done in Agile projects:

  • Testing is a continuous process. It happens along with the development. The feedback is shared with the dev team then and there, ensuring a quick turn-around. 
  • Testing is everyone’s responsibility and not only of the testing team. Product quality is the greatest priority. 
  • With shrinking timelines, documentation is a bare minimum.
  • Automation Testing is used for the N-1 iteration code. That is, in the current iteration, the automation team would be automating the functionalities of the last iteration and running the automation code for N-2 iterations. This will give more time for the manual testing team to work on the thorough testing of the current iteration functionalities

Agile Testing Methods
Traditional testing methods are difficult to fit in Agile and are unlikely to give the desired results. The best-suited methods for agile testing are listed below:

  • Behavior Driven Testing (BDD)

BDD Testing makes life simple for both testers and developers. The test cases and requirements are written in readable English with keywords (Gherkin Given/When/Then syntax). These requirement documents double up as test cases. 

  • Acceptance Test-Driven Testing

This is another way of ensuring the best test results for an Agile process. Think and test as a customer would do. In this case, meetings are held between developers, testers, and other team members to come up with different test scenarios to match the application usage by the end-user. These are given the highest priority for testing.  

  •  Exploratory Testing

Another very useful but non-structured testing approach frequently used in the Agile process is exploratory testing. This involves playing around with the application and exploring all areas as per the understanding of the tester. This is done to ensure that there are no failures or app crashes. 
Testing in DevOps
DevOps testing is mostly automated just like most of the other things in DevOps. The moment there is a code check-in, automated code validation is triggered. Once that passes the testing suite or Smoke test is triggered to ensure nothing is broken. If everything goes well, the code is pushed to production. 

  • Most business-critical functionalities are tested through automation or API responses to make sure there are broken functionalities due to the latest code change. 
  • Based on the business requirement, the automation code can be expanded to include more functionalities or limit to a smoke/sanity test. 
  • The testing is triggered with the help of microservices and API responses. 

DevOps Testing Methods
Here we discuss some tools and techniques in testing that can be very beneficial for the DevOps process. These help to reduce the time-to-market and also improves the overall product and testing efficiency. 

  • Test-Driven Development (TDD)

In a TDD approach, the developers are expected to write unit test cases for every piece of their code covering all the workflows. These tests ensure that the piece of code is working as per the expectation. 
Apart from TDD the DevOps teams also use the ATDD and BDD approach as discussed above in the Agile section. These are equally helpful in ensuring greater quality and a streamlined approach to continuous development and deployment to production. 
Read also: Software testing Models: Know about them
Core Values of Agile and  DevOps (Agile VS DevOps)
Let us now discuss the core values of Agile and DevOps that make them different from each other. 
Agile – Core Values
Below are the values that govern any Agile process. 

  1. People over Process: In Agile there is more focus on the people, their skills, and how best to put them to use. This means elaborate processes and multiple tools may take a backseat. While the process is important, things as rigid as the traditional waterfall model can not work in Agile 
  2. Working code over documentation: Agile lays more importance on a stand-alone working code to be delivered at the end of every sprint. This means that there may not be enough time for all the documentation. In most cases, there will be a minimal document for the agile development processes and more focus is on getting a working code at the end of the sprint. 
  3. Customer Feedback over contract: While there are contracts in place on when and how the complete project needs to be delivered, in Agile the team closes work with the customer and is flexible to move around the dates of the planned features within a specific project line. This means if the client needs a certain feature ahead of time and needs some improvements these can be easily prioritized for the next sprint. 
  4. Flexible over fixed plan: Agile sprints can be redesigned and re-planed as per the customer’s needs. This means the concept of fixed plans does not fit in Agile. Since the Agile plans are created for sprints that are only about 2-3 weeks long, it is easier to move features from one sprint to another as per the business and customer needs easily. 

DevOps – Core Values
DevOps is an amalgamation of Development and Operations. Both these teams work together as one to deliver quality code to the market and customers. 

  • Principle of flow: Flow means the actual development process. This part of DevOps normally follows Agile or Lean. The onus is more on quality than quantity. The timelines are not as important as the quality of the products delivered. But this is true only for new features, not the change requests and hot fixes. 
  • Principle of feedback: The feedback and any broken functionalities reported in production need to be immediately fixed with hotfixes. The delivery features are flexible based on the feedback received from the features already in production. This is the most important aspect of the feedback principle. 
  • Principle of continuous learning: The team needs to continuously improvise to streamline the delivery of features and hotfixes. Whatever is developed needs to be automatically tested and then a new build delivered to prod. This is a continuous process.

Test your ecommerce website for bugs
Wish to know about TMMI (Test Maturity Model Integration) Reas this!
Agile VS DevOps: The key differences
In this section, we have tabulated the differences between Agile and DevOps for a quick understanding and review. 

Feature  Agile DevOps
Type of Activity Development Includes both Development and Operations.
Common Practices Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and more CI (Continuous Integrations), CD (Continuous Deployment)
Purpose Agile is very useful to run and manage complex software development projects DevOps is a concept to help in the end-to-end engineering process. 
Focus  Delivery of standalone working code within a sprint of 2-3 weeks  Quality is paramount with time being a high priority in the feedback loop (hotfixes and changes requests)
Main Task Constant feature development in small packets Continuous testing and delivery to production
Length of Sprint typically, 2-4 weeks It can be shorter than 2 weeks also based on the frequency of code check-ins. The ideal expectation would be code delivery once in a day to once every 4 hours. 
Product Deliveries Frequent, at the end of every sprint Continuous delivery. Coding, testing, and deployment happen in a cyclic manner
Feedback Feedback and change requests are received from the client or the end-users Feedback and errors are received from automated tools like build failure or smoke test failures etc.
Frequency of Feedback Feedback received from the client at the end of every sprint or iteration Feedback is continuous
Type of Testing Manual and Automation Almost completely automated
Onus of Quality More than quality, priority is on working code. Ensuring good quality is the collective effort by the team. Very high-quality code only is deployed once it passes all the automated tests. 
Level of Documentation Light and Minimal Light and Minimal (sometimes more than Agile though)
Team Skill Set The team will have a varied skill set based on the development language used and types of testing used The team will be a mix of development and operations. 
Team Size Agile teams are small so they can work together delivering code faster Teams are bigger and include many stakeholders
Tools Used JIRA, Bugzilla, Rally, Kanban Boards, etc. AWS, Jenkins, TeamCity, Puppet

Agile VS DevOps Infographics for quick understanding
difference between agile and devops
Last Thoughts,
Agile VS DevOps which one is better?
Both Agile and DevOps are here to stay. While Agile is a methodology or process that focuses on the delivery of small packets of working code to production, DevOps is more like a culture. A culture that advocates continuous delivery of code to production automatically after successful testing. Agile enhances DevOps and its benefits too. Both work hand-in-hand for a better and more quality product.

Automation Testing Tutorial For Beginners

Automation testing not only relieves testers of repeatedly executing the same test cases again and again but also enhances the execution speed and decreases the chances of human prone errors. Will not you like something as effective as automation testing to be on your stride?
Let us learn more about automation testing here
What is Automation Testing?
Automation Testing, automates the manual testing nullifying human efforts.  It uses an automation tool to run your test cases. These automation tools do not require any human intervention and automatically enters test data into the System under Test, compare expected and actual results and generate detailed test reports.
Why do I spend Extra Money on Automation testing?
Below mentioned benefits of automation testing will definitely convince you to consider automation testing for your system and will assure you it will not be a waste of money.

  1. Sometimes you have to repeatedly execute the same test cases for many numbers of times, test automation tool allows you to record the test suite and re-execute it when required.
  2. Thus it eliminates the boredom of executing the same test case again and again. It also improves the ROI as no human intervention is required for automated test suits.
  3. Automation testing saves time, as manually testing all scenarios for various devices and browsers can be very time-consuming.
  4. Testing multilingual sites manually can be very difficult; hence automation testing is very beneficial in such a case.
  5. In case of long test cases, they can be left unattended whole night in automated testing.
  6. Increases the speed of testing.
  7. It gives wider coverage of test cases.
  8. Manual testing can be boring at times and can hence be error-prone; this issue is very well taken care by automated testing.

But it is not a good idea to automate all type of testing, so be particular in deciding when to automate your test cases and when not.
Which Test Cases should We Automate?
Our main aim is to get a higher ROI. Based on it, here are few test cases you can consider automating

  • High Risk – Business Critical test cases
  • Test cases to be executed repeatedly
  • Tedious or difficult test cases
  • Time-consuming test cases

There are a few types of test cases that are better suited for manual testing. So it is better not to automate such test cases.

  • New test cases that are not even manually executed even once
  • Test Cases with frequently changing requirements
  • Test cases executed on an ad-hoc basis.


What are the Common Myths of Automation Testing?
Many myths are linked to software testing. It is important to be well aware of these misconceptions before you kick off your automation testing
Some of the common myths associated with automation testing are:

  • Automation completely replaces Manual Testing

Automation testing is definitely not a complete replacement of manual testing. There are many unpredicted scenarios that might require human intervention and there are some errors that are better determined by manual testing.

  • Automation Testing is not necessary, Manual Testing provides a solution to all kinds of Testing.

There is another side of the coin where some people believe that everything can be done manually. But there are some scenarios like regression testing where manual testing cannot be effective and might take longer to accomplish the tasks.

  • Automation consumes a Lot of Time

It might seem that automating the tests is time-consuming, but if we consider the complete picture, once automated, the automation testing can save us a lot of time.

  • Automation Is Very Easy

Automation testing as believed is not an easy-peasy task. Writing test scripts requires knowledge and experience and is definitely not an easy task. But if you compare it with manual testing, it definitely is easier if you know how to write the test cases.

  • Automation is only for Regression Testing

To much automation testing is only meant for regression testing. But the fact is that it covers many other areas like performance, product setup, security, compatibility, and many others.

  • Automation testing does not require cooperation between the Testers

It is completely a myth that automation testing has nothing to do with cooperation among the testers. Software development as a whole requires a fine-tuning among the engineers and automation testing is no different and requires close cooperation between the testers.

  • It returns a Faster ROI

Automation testing is a long term process and expecting immediate returns on your automation investments is a huge mistake. You have to be very patient to start getting a positive ROI.

  • Automation Testing only detects Bugs

If you are the one who believes automation testing only finds the errors then let us acknowledge you with its other benefits. It delivers valuable data and insights which help in improving the end product and solve many technical issues.
What should you do and what not in Automation testing?
There are always Dos and Don’ts for everything. These dos and don’ts are very important to perform your task effectively. Here are dos and don’ts of Automation testing that can help you conduct your automation testing effectively.
The Dos of Test Automation

  1. Break Your Tests Into smaller And Autonomous Scenarios

Shorter and more specific scenarios can help you detect issues with ease. Single test scenario makes troubleshooting difficult.

  1. Choose the Tests to Automate wisely

Automating all the test cases are not a wise idea, so be very ingenious while selecting the test cases to automate.

  1. Start small, don’t hurry

Don’t be in a hurry to create the complete test suits all at once. Follow the project’s workflow and automate only what is required.

  1. Set Priorities

Prioritize your work. Spend more time on test cases for the functions that are more crucial the simple and less important ones.

  1. Employ Professionals

Using an expert hand for your automation testing requirements can promise you greater benefits.
The Don’ts of Test Automation

  1. Do Not start Automating From the First Day Itself

Don’t be in a haste to automate your test cases. Give your project a little time and understand the scope of automation for your project.

  1. Don’t Try Running Everything at Every Time

It’s certainly not a good idea to test everything all the time. Spend time on testing only the functionalities that require testing and don’t waste time on testing everything all the time.

  1. Don’t Automate All the Manual Tests

Automating everything is not a good idea. Manual testing holds a very important place in software testing and is capable of finding the most unexpected defects at time.

  1. Don’t Automate Everything

Don’t just automate everything; it could be simply a waste of time and money.

  1. Don’t Ignore Further Development

Don’t ever think your work of automation testing is done. Keep a track of developments in the project and don’t miss to add test cases for them.
How to automate Test Cases?
Automating test cases follows a predefined process. Here are the basic steps to follow while automating your test cases.

  1. Test Tool selection

Test Tool we select is largely dependent on the technology your application is built on. It’s a good idea to conduct a Proof of Concept of Tool on Application Under Test.

  1. Define the scope of Automation

The scope is the part of your Application that has:

  • Scenarios with extensive data
  • Business important features
  • Functionalities that is common among applications.
  • Technical feasibility
  • Components with Reusable test cases
  • Complex test cases
  • Components to be tested across cross-browser testing
  1. Planning, Design, and Development

This phase is all about automation, strategy, design, and development. Your automation planning and design should include the below-given points:

  • Shortlisted Automation tools
  • Design and features of the Framework
  • Automation testbed preparation
  • Scripting and execution schedule and timelines
  • All the Deliverables

  1. Test Execution

Finally, it’s time to execute the test cases. In this phase, input test data are set to run and after execution, the test report is produced. You can directly execute test cases through automation tools or through test management tools that further invoke the automation tools.

  1. Maintenance

Maintenance is an on-going and a very important phase of automation testing life cycle. Whenever new functionalities are added to the system under test, automation scripts need to be reviewed and revised. Hence maintenance becomes important to enhance the effectiveness of automation scripts.
What are the various tactics for Automation Testing?
Automation testing is a crucial part of STLC. To accomplish it you can follow any of these three approaches.

  • Code-Driven: Code-driven automation testing, which is popularly used in agile software focuses on validating whether the code works as per expectations or not.
  • Graphical user interface (GUI) testing: It is meant for GUI rich applications. User actions can be recorded here and can be analysed multiple times. It supports test cases in multiple languages like C#, Java, Perl, Python, etc.
  • Test Automation Framework: A Set of automation guidelines, modularity, project hierarchies, concepts, coding standards, reporting mechanism, practices, processes, test data injections, etc. are predefined to help execute automation testing effectively.

These are the various methods that you can deploy to automate your software testing. Let us now learn in detail about the most important one – Framework for Automation
A Set of automation guidelines, modularity, project hierarchies, concepts, coding standards, reporting mechanism, practices, processes, test data injections, etc. are predefined to help execute automation testing effectively.  You can use these guidelines while automating test cases to get effective results.
What are the advantages of Test Automation Framework?

  1. Enhances code Reusability
  2. Maintains test consistency
  3. Gives Maximum coverage
  4. Minimum code usage
  5. Recovery scenario
  6. Low-cost code maintenance
  7. Minimal manual intervention
  8. Data involvement when required
  9. Reduced training period
  10. Easy Reporting
  11. Enhanced test structuring

There are five types of frameworks used in automation software testing:

  • Data-driven Framework: It focuses on separating test scripts logic from test data.
  • Linear Scripting Framework: Focuses on sequential or linear recording and replaying of test scripts.
  • Modular Testing Framework: Dividing application into numerous modules and creating their test scripts separately.
  • Hybrid Testing Framework: A combination of all the frameworks to pull the powers of each.
  • Keyword-driven Framework: test scripting is done based on the keywords specified in the excel sheet and accordingly tests are executed.

What are the Automation Testing Best Practices?
The below given best practices can help you increase your ROI and to get the best result from your automation testing:

  • It is always advisable to set the scope of Automation before starting the project. It helps in setting the right expectations from the project.
  • Selecting the right automation tool can make a huge difference in your testing results. You should always select the tool that suits your requirements and not the one with the best ratings and high popularity.
  • The framework plays a very important role in the success of automation testing. So spend time in creating a framework for your automation.
  • Always follow the best Scripting Standards. You can follow the below-given standards to meet your requirements.
  • Create uniform comments, scripts, and indentation of the code
  • Be prepared for Exception handling; the automation tool should be well prepared to handle unexpected errors and exceptions in.
  • For the ease of testers, the error logging messages should be standardized.
  • Defining the Success of automation requires some metrics. You cannot just compare the manual effort with the automation effort. Below are some of the metrics that you need to take into account to define your automation test success:
  • Defects percentage
  • Productivity improvement
  • Automation testing time for each cycle
  • Minimal release Time
  • Index for Customer Satisfaction

What are the Advantages of Automation Testing?
Automation testing has many advantages and it is a good idea to consider it for your testing whenever required.

  • It is around 70% quicker than manual testing
  • The results of automation testing are more reliable and less prone to human intervened errors
  • Automation testing Guarantee Consistency
  • It saves a lot of Time and Cost
  • Higher ROI
  • Increases accuracy
  • Does not require any Human Intervention for execution
  • It enhances Efficiency
  • Test scripts can be re-used whenever required, hence saving a lot of time for recreating them.
  • Automation testing gives a wider coverage of test cases

Know More: Top 10 Automation Testing Tools 2019

What are the Applications of Automation Testing?
Automation can cover a big part of testing. Some of the common applications of automation testing are:

  • Performance testing: Automated testing is very efficient for testing the performance of your software product.
  • Test data generation:  Automation testing can help you to program tests to automatically generate entry data.
  • Product Setup:  Automating Product setup ensures that your software product is efficiently set up.
  • User interface components’ interaction: It takes care of smooth interaction between various components of a user interface.
  • Regression Testing:  Automated regression testing helps to avoid errors incurred because of code changes.
  • Security Testing:  Atomization of tests helps in easy detection of security-related bugs if any.
  • Functional (White-Box and Black-Box):  Functional testing can be a daunting task at times; it is a wise idea to automate functional testing.
  • Installation / Integration / System: Testing installation/integrations and system bugs can be head honking if done manually. Automation of such test cases can easily ensure proper installation and integration of components within a system.
  • Smoke and Sanity Testing: Automated scripts can reliably conduct both smoke and sanity testing.
  • Usability/UI/GUI Testing: The user interface, GUI and usability testing are other tests that can be better if automated
  • Compatibility: Compatibility testing is another task which is very time consuming and daunting if done manually, automating compatibility testing can promise better results and wider coverage.
  • Internationalization: Internationalization is better when automated.
  • User Acceptance: User acceptation demands greater accuracy, and Automation promises you enhanced accuracy.

How to Choose Which Automation Testing Tool is best for me?
You cannot just randomly pick an automation tool for your automation testing. Picking up the right tool is very important for getting the maximum benefit out of your automation testing. The following criteria can help you pick the best automation tool:

  • Environment Support
  • Testing of Database
  • Ease of use
  • Image Testing
  • Object identification
  • Object Mapping
  • Tools that support various types of test
  • Error Recovery Testing
  • Scripting Language Used
  • A tool that can identify objects in every environment
  • Multiple testing frameworks support
  • Easy to debug the automation software scripts
  • Minimal training cost
  • Detailed test reports and results

What are the Various Automation Testing Tools?
Selecting the best automation tool is a challenging task. We would advise you to first identify your requirements, study about different automation tools and their features and then choose the one that fits your requirements the best.
Here are the Names of some very Popular Automation Testing Tools.

  • Selenium – It is a very popular automation testing tool for a web application, supporting various platforms and browsers.
  • Watir – It is an open source automation testing tool for web applications. It is created using Ruby libraries.
  • Ranorex – Ranorex is a GUI automated testing tool for multiple environments and devices.
  • Appium – Appium is known to be one of the best Open source mobile automation testing tool.

Can We trust all Testers for our Automation Testing needs?
With time automation testing has become very simple and a manual tester can easily accomplish it if he has a good business.
Any tester can execute expert’s created test automation scripts.
But there is another side of the coin, there are different skill sets that require more technical knowledge which is not easy to be learned by a manual tester overnight.
Today a test automation expert is expected to design an overall automation strategy for the entire product.
They require knowledge to select the right set of tools for every stage and give a cost-effective and unified integration strategy.
Automation testers are also expected to develop functions that can reduce manual testing and test data generation work.
Hope you would have found this article informative!

The Absolute Necessity of UX Testing: Best Practices, Tools & Methodology

We make inquiries. We take notes. We get the hang of all that we can about the targeted prospects, and afterward repeatedly test our work all through the design procedure.
So, User Experience, or UX, is the observation or response a client has when in connection with the design of a product or service. This insight would make him or her either needs to have a recurrent affair or wince at the possibility of having this experience once more.
The process is also called Usability Testing.
UX Testing process is basically a kind of product testing where, a little set of target end-users, of a product framework, “utilizes” it to uncover usability errors.

The testing chiefly centers around the ease of use of the user to utilize the application/product, adaptability in managing controls and capacity of the framework to meet its goals.
What Methodologies and Practices to Apply for an Effective UX Testing Process?

  • Planning

In this stage, the objectives of UX testing are resolved. Having a workforce sit before your system and recording their activities isn’t an objective.
You have to decide basic functionalities and goals of the framework. You have to appoint errands to your UX testers, which practice these basic functionalities.
Also, during this stage, the UX testing technique, demographics, and the number of UX testers, test report plans are additionally decided.

  • Focus Groups

Focus groups are an attempted and genuine strategy for correspondence between the users and tester. In a focus group, you unite 6 – 12 users to examine issues and worries about the traits of a User Interface.
The group ordinarily keeps going around 2 hours and is controlled by a moderator who manages up the focus of the group.
Focus groups can be a useful asset in framework development. This strategy can enable you to inspect both user’s needs and emotions before the design of a product and long after its launch.
In the mobile application or website development, the best possible job of focus groups isn’t to evaluate design usability. However, to find what clients need from the product – their own preferences and ideas.
Remember, it is suggested to run over one focus group, as the result of one session may not be symbolic.

  • Tree Testing

The tree testing is a powerful technique that gives a sharp perspective to both the user experience designer as well as your business.
It enables you to look at how well users collaborate and discover products or components in the website chain of command.
It encourages you to comprehend what points in the hierarchy require work depending on where the client staggered.
This testing methodology permits a halfway reality check. The methodology uncovers whether your data design structure is effectively understandable.
A fundamental paper-print strategy can serve for this; however, now there is software accessible for tree testing too.

  • Prototype testing

Design prototype testing can be utilized for testing an entire workflow of the user in a wireframe or an entirely designed segment of an item before it goes into the development phase.
It will regularly be alluded to as beginning period testing. A UX designer will make the prototype and structure work processes.
Design prototype testing will help with settling usability problems before the starting of development engineering. A few rules to follow when beginning a design prototype test are:

  • Characterize the objectives and budget for the testing process.
  • It is best to depend on beginning phase tests to uncover particular zones that may require upgrades.
  • Pick a right prototyping tool. There are many prototyping tools available that UX designer may utilize.
  • Pick a measuring device for the prototype to accumulate analytics from the users. The QA team handling the test should get comfortable with this device and figure out how to calculate the testing.

Moderated Usability Testing
Moderated usability testing is drilled by experts hoping to get reviews from live clients. Amid a moderated test, moderators are live with test members (either remotely or face to face), encouraging them through undertakings, noting their inquiries, and answering their reviews continuously.

Also Read: CRM Testing: Goals, What and How to Test?

Live correspondence with test members is a quality of this kind of testing, since nothing beats watching members progressively, and having the capacity to make examining inquiries about what they are doing.
Moderated usability tests are prescribed amid the design stage – when a group has a design that hasn’t yet been entirely created.
You can run a moderated usability test to locate the potential concerns of your working model. By watching members responses on your model, you can assemble baseline data that can spare you from investing a considerable amount of time on the design and development process of a product that is hard to utilize.

  • Unmoderated Usability Testing

This methodology is suggested when you require a substantial specimen of results.
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This type of testing is usually led through a platform or a site that records the session tracks metrics and randomizes groups and tasks.
A portion of the accessible tools can get you results in as lesser as a couple of hours so you can keep the development procedure continuous.

  • Take Notes

You should make notes while testing or analyze the recordings and take notes later. Select a way that is most convenient for you.
You must note everything that the member is doing: what they say and where they go. Also, note timestamps and quotes for significant things. Furthermore, search for verbal signs and facial prompts if in person.
Keep in mind: Abstain from making a decision about what is a problem and what isn’t. Doing this while taking notes adds to the note taker’s inclination.
Consider yourself to be a copyist, taking notes without handling the data. This practice supports to gather increasingly and close to genuine information.
Best Tools Available for UX Testing
In one day, you have covered the specific peak of the UX testing process, but a chunk of that peak becomes bigger and bigger consistently. So, one question always pops up on the UX tester’s mind is the place where can I discover more and better UX tools for testing process?
We’ve listed 5 of the best tools you can use for UX testing.
Microsoft Inclusive Design
This toolbox as the name suggests has attention on the Inclusive design, yet as they appropriately bring up, the designing for individuals with inabilities indeed results in structures that benefit individuals all around.
Incorporated into the toolbox are comprehensive design standards to follow such as learning from diversity, videos showing inclusive design in action, activity cards describing case studies and tools.
IDEO Design Kit
The IDEO Design Kit is an extraordinary tool from IDEO, a standout amongst other known and regarded design firms out there.
Inside the pack, you can discover ‘Mindsets,’ which enable sketch main design standards to follow, alongside models for design strategies and case studies indicating how ‘human-centered design’ has driven actual outcomes.
IDEO basically talks about human-centered design, instead of user-centered design.
Design Practice Methods
The Design Practice Methods site is by the RMIT University, an international University of design, technology, and enterprise.
UX strategies are incorporated which are also alluded to as Human-centered techniques, alongside more great design techniques, for example, material testing and mood boards.
Methods can be searched by category such as Creative and Analytical and with a little classification and models presented for every strategy.
Crazy Egg
It very well may be utilized for a free 30-day trial and after that will cost $9 per month. What will you get in this toolkit?
The Heatmap which will help you to see where every user has tapped on your site. The Scrollmap – this will demonstrate how far down on the page a guest has frequently looked over.
The Confetti will give insights with respect to search terms and visitor sources. And, the Overlay that will analyze the number of clicks per page component.
Usabilla
This tool has a wide range of features to be employed by UX testers, making it an ordeal bundle that is very exhaustive.

A couple of the elements that can be actuated are: mobile feedback, exit reviews, click heatmaps, directed feedback forms, and feedback widgets that assemble information through emails.
Any user can give it a shot on a 14-day free trial mode otherwise they have a month to month, a yearly pricing structure.
Also Read: Cloud Testing: A boon For Software Testing
 

How To Do Security Testing: Best Practices

The industry of software has a huge reputation and presence in almost every sector.
Most businesses utilize IT solutions and web-based systems to manage and maintain their business. The banking, payments, stock, purchasing and selling, and many other activities are conducted digitally these days.
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The rise of digital business has made security testing extremely important. This article will show you the major steps to perform security testing.
1. Test The Accessibility
Access security should be your first priority to ensure the safety of your business and your customers.
Accessibility includes authentication and authorization. You decide who will get the accessibility and how much accessibility is allowed to an authenticated person.
This helps in ensuring that your data stays safe from internal and external breaches.
To conduct the accessibility test, you are required to test the roles and responsibilities of people in your company.
Hire a tester who is qualified for the job. He or she will generate multiple user accounts, including different roles.
security testing those generated accounts will help in ensuring the security level in terms of accessibility.
The same test can also include password quality, default login capacities, captcha test, and other password and login related tests.
2. Test The Protection Level of Data
The security of your data depends on:

  • Data visibility and usability
  • Data storage

While data visibility is about how much data is visible to users, the data storage involves the security of your database.
Proper security testing measures are required to ensure the effectiveness of data storage. However, you have to test first to check the vulnerabilities.
A professional tester can test the database for all kinds of critical data such as user account, passwords, billing and others.
It is important that the database stores all the important data. The transmission of data should be encrypted as well. The qualified tester also checks the ease of decryption of the encrypted data.
3. Test For Malicious Script
Hackers utilize XSS and SQL injection to hack a website. A malicious script is injected into the system of a site, which allows the hacker to control or manipulate the hacked website.
selenium
A tester can ensure the safety of your site against these practices.
The tester can check the maximum lengths allowed for the input fields. This restriction doesn’t allow a hacker to include these malicious scripts.
4. Test The Access Points
In today’s market, collaboration is the way of doing business. Many businesses collaborate on a digital level by providing services in a collaborative way.

Also Read : How to Test a Bank ERP System

For instance, a stock trading app has to provide consistent access to the latest data to the users and new visitors as well. But this open access also presents the risk of unwanted breach.
To immune from such attacks, a tester can check the entry points of the app.
The professional tester evaluates and ensures that all the access requests come from reliable IPs or application.
If not, the app system should have the capacity to reject those requests.
5. Test The Session Management
Session on the web includes the response transactions between your web server and the browser utilized by a user.
Testing the session management involves multiple actions such as expiry time of the session after a certain idle period, maximum lifetime of termination, session end time after a user logs out and others.
6. Test The Error Handling
Testing the error codes is important too. This includes the errors of 408, 400, 404, and others.
The tester can perform directed actions to reach such pages and ensure that the presented page doesn’t contain any critical data or information.
This helps in ensuring that all the data presented on error pages are safe and can’t help the hackers.
This test also includes the checkup of the stack traces, which can help the potential hackers to breach.
7. Test For Other Functionalities
Other functionalities that require testing are the file uploads and payments. These functions require thorough testing.
app testing
Any malicious file should be restricted. Also, the tester should check the vulnerabilities associated with the payments such as buffer overflows, insecure storage, password guessing, and other issues.
Apart from the mentioned tests, a professional tester can recommend others, according to the business model you have.
Conducting the tests in the mentioned way will help you ensure a comprehensive security of your digital presence.

7 Best Practices You Can Consider for Functional Testing

Testing plays a vital role in any software or application development.
Functional testing is done to test features or functionality of an application or software. All the possibilities, including failure and boundary conditions are considered in functional testing.
app testing
Any functionality is tested by providing inputs, observing its output and comparing the actual results with the expected ones. Here are some effective procedures or best practices that may come handy while you perform functional testing:
1. Collect information required to perform testing
It is important to know what is to be tested and what the plan or procedure is, for testing. The development team has information about critical user commands and processes. Collect the information and test the critical things first.
It is important to be aware of market demands for product development. Document or matrix should be prepared to link the product to the requirement and to the test cases. Matrices should be modified as per the changes in requirement.
2. Make Test plan and test cases
Planning for what should be done to perform the testing, includes goals and scope of testing, number of people, hardware and software tools to be involved in the testing and schedule of testing, and number of test cases that should be written to perform testing. Test cases are nothing but input data based on the functionality’s specification. These test cases should be arranged and ranked as per priority to reduce delay and risk. The development team should review these test plans.
3. Execute the test
Test plans and actual functionality should match to execute the test correctly. Test cases should be written in such a way that it canbe modified if necessary with the changing needs of the product. For further analysis, problems faced and its solutions can be documented.
4. Consider the automated testing
Automated testing is done to improve quality of the product or software and also to save time. The tester has to decide about what should be automated.
Automated testing is slightly costlier in short span; but, in the long run it is more beneficial for the product. Avoid performing automation on things that can be cheaply and effectively done by manual testing.
5. Manage defects with data storage system
Many people working on same functionality may result in repetition of defect reports, incorrect order of issue solving, consideration of wrong defects and much more. To avoid this, acentralized data storage system should be managed which can be referred by everyone.
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The system includes standard templates for defect reporting and verifying, ranking of defects as per priority and information about the assignment of tasks. This helps in solving problemsone by one.
6. Reporting of test results
A test result report is presented in a specific format which includes summary of all test cases executed and the time taken at each stage for each feature with its status and progress. It also provides details of any new defect found during testing.
Overall, test result report should be presented in a clear and simple way for understanding of the development team.
7. Analysis
Problems and options in both testing and development can be detected during analysis. It helps in improving procedures followed in product development. Analysis is helpful to make product success.

Best practices to follow for iOS mobile app testing

There is no doubt about what iOS has done for mobility gaming. The exquisite functionalities coupled with a simple user experience have paved way for the ‘mobile era’. In spite of this, working with the iPhone/iPad mobile application for software testing and monitoring can be challenging.
mobile app
Challenges and complexities surrounding iOS mobile testing continues to interfere with development even as iOS app market continues to produce a record growth. One of the greatest challenges is in Apple iOS being a closed operating system when compared to an Android OS. The development and app testing stages for a closed system is far more complex, since extracting the necessary data from low level objects is impossible for users. This is crucial for test automation.
The best approach to get the necessary access to these levels of an iOS app testing are rooting (jail-breaking) and compile-time source instrumentation. But nothing can match a cloud-based hybrid approach which can offer developers and software testers the necessary coverage, capabilities and flexibility to deliver better iOS apps.
Rooting (jail-breaking)
These are the two common methods used in today’s mobile testing industry to address the challenges of inadequate access to the low level objects. These are rooting and source instrumentation.
The process of removing the limitations placed by Apple on the iOS devices is called jail-breaking. This helps achieve low level (root) access to the operating system, thus allowing testers to recognize objects within the application being tested.
Source Instrumentation (compile-time)
Compiling the application that is being tested with an additional piece of code to get a back door access to the low level OS for object recognition is referred to as source instrumentation. These codes help testers to execute low level calls and get the Object ID’s from the operating systems without the need to root or jailbreak the device.
The decision on what approach should be adopted depends on several considerations like SDLC process used, corporate policies, application under test, frequency of testing and many more.
Comparison
The jail-breaking approach is less suited in situations where customers need a quick test for a new iOS version or a new iOS device. In such cases, even though additional codes in the test application will complicate the SDLC, compile-time method is preferred.
The advantage of jail-breaking a device is that it lets you test the application with the exact same code by which it will be released. In compile-time before store submission, the “back-door” will have to be removed or they will be exposed to serious security issues. Jail-breaking therefore eliminates the need for compilation and intrusive operations which avoids any risk to quality.
While using a compile-time approach companies should also consider possible regulations (such as HIPAA) which implements testing on the final binary version and not on debug or test friendly version.
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The Hybrid Approach
The combined (hybrid) approach lets you choose your iOS app testing methods depending on the nature of your application, project needs, and policy. Deploying and securely managing the test devices in a “private cloud” guarantees that a jailbreak does not introduce any risks or abuse to the platform for non-testing purposes. Such jail-broken devices are used only in a closed and secure testing environment for testing purposes only.
Since the use of visual analysis may pose to be insufficient, a strong object recognition capability is mandatory for testing a mobile application. For example, the OCR technology can detect UI issues and glitches on the test devices while its heuristic nature makes it incapable of ensuring 100% accuracy. On the other hand, a low level object can easy miss the obvious qualifications that a visual analysis could easily detect. That’s why an analysis using a hybrid approach incorporating both visual and native object can be instrumental for covering all mobile business cases.

Enjoy endless testing support for your software – only with Testbytes

Testing is an integral part of any software development process. It is by testing that developers find out the wrinkles that need to be ironed out to provide a great user experience. But how long do you need testing support? Is it enough to have support until your application is launched?
Software testing is a never ending process as there would be changes happening all the time that would inevitably cause your application to misbehave or fail. It might be a small aspect that hardly affects most of your users, or it might be a glaring issue. One thing is clear, though. Without continuous testing support, your application will probably aggravate a lot of defects over time.

When is testing stopped under normal situations?
Under normal conditions, testing is stopped when:

  • There are not any more high priority defects
  • The rate of finding defects have fallen dramatically
  • The budget for testing reaches its limit
  • The risk factor seems to be under the acceptable limit

How does Testbytes differ?
At Testbytes, our clients are our foremost concern. When we test an application, we ensure that a thorough job is done. However, as mentioned earlier, testing is a never ending process. The testers discover defects, developers fix them and again it comes back to testers and it goes on as a cyclical process.
From a quality perspective, when your application is defect-free, it is a testimony to our testing process. In other words, we own the quality aspect of your application and therefore it is our responsibility to ensure the quality of your application before the release. Therefore we would continue to monitor it for years to come, providing full fledged support system to ensure that your application is running seamlessly. If we identify a risk, we alert the stakeholders as soon as possible and avert any forthcoming issues.
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We help build frequent sanity tests that are automated to run at specific times of the day, week or month as required. Sanity testing is performed on the application in order to check whether we need to perform further testing. It is conducted very often to confirm that the application is stable.
With our endless testing support, it becomes easy for you to maintain the quality of your application. A better quality application can get more positive reviews from your end users.