Category: Usability Testing

How Much Does Usability Testing Cost?

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With the intensive competition, among the websites, applications, and software, it is extremely important to ensure ease of usability so that your users can easily adapt to your digital product. If the users find it hard to operate your software product they might lookout for an easier alternative to your product. To avoid such a situation you need usability testing. But How Much Does Usability Testing Cost? 


Let’s get into more details about usability testing and the cost of performing it and the overhead cost incurred when we do not perform it.
What is Usability Testing and Why does it Matter?
Usability testing is a software testing techniques that ensure that software product you have developed is easy to use. Usability testing is generally carried out by real users.
They are asked to accomplish a key task of the software, and their ease to accomplish it is considered as the usability test results. The purpose of usability testing is to validate and enhance the usability of the product or the flow of the task that the end-user uses to accomplish the task.
What is Usability Testing and Why does it Matter
For example, you own an e-commerce website. The key task of any e-commerce website is to let your customers search for their products and purchase it. The flow of the process might go like:
Going to the home page, searching for the required product or looking at the product catalog, reading the complete description, analyzing the reviews, maybe adding to the cart and finally purchasing it.
During the usability testing, we look for the blockers that prevent the user from performing these tasks smoothly.
In short, the main aim of performing usability testing is to ensure the user can perform the task or use our solution easily.
But why is it important?
 
Importance of Usability Testing
Usability testing is extremely important in the present world, where you have to compete with hundreds of users. If you do not provide easy to use solutions to your users, you already lose your race to them.
If the users will find it hard to use your product, they will turn to other options available in the market; hence you will find it hard to make your presence in this competitive world.
Cost of Usability testing
The cost of usability testing depends on various factors:

  • Platform Technology Costs

The cost of usability testing depends upon the platform required (desktop and/or mobile), features, and the number of users accessing the product concurrently. Many testers combine all these costs into one.
Commercial UX platforms testing varies between $1,000 to $100K for a simple web-based-only study to multiple studies for a prolonged period.

  • Competitive/Comparative Studies

If you decide to opt for comparative studies/testing, you might have to pay higher for usability testing. Your cost will ultimately increase with an increasing number of comparative products.

  • Cross-device knowledge

Testing Multiple Device Types: Mobile & Desktop
If you want to conduct usability testing on your product for multiple devices, you will have to end up paying more.
Mobile UX is different from desktop UX, so testing on multiple devices requires more time and more effort and hence more cost.

  • Larger Sample Sizes

In the case of larger sample size, like in comparative studies increases the number of participants for usability testing and recruiting costs.
Even single testing can require larger sample sizes if you go for multiple user segments. Hence the larger sample size means larger cost.

  • Participant Recruiting

The cost of usability testing also depends on Participants. Usability testing participants may charge you from a very trivial amount to a hefty amount.

  • Moderated Recruitment costs

Involving a well-trained and veteran moderator who would test the product in the corporate setup can incur you paying a high cost for well-trained and veteran personnel. A moderator can charge you between $100 and $300.

  • Unmoderated Recruitment Costs

If you chose not to use a moderated usability testing, you end up using various other sources like advertising, internal customer online panels, lists, and bulk email costs.
These sources too will add up to your usability testing cost. These sources have their own charges like online panels, range from $7 to $10 for general consumer profiles and can rise up to $40 to $100 for specialized profiles. Likewise, you will have to pay for other sources too.

  • International Studies

If you decide to carry out usability testing on an international level, you will have to pay more. Searching for international participants and their fees will both be added expenses.
Also, you will have to consider the cost of translating and re-translating the responses. Again the translation cost will be directly proportional to the study length.
Example For Usability Testing Costs
Though you cannot deploy any formula for usability testing, here are few examples of usability testing cost based on different budget:

Usability testing can cost you under $10K for an independent contractor that would conduct 5-10 moderated sessions. And if you chose the unmoderated study, an agency would conduct only the analysis phase for you.
These prices would keep rising as per your requirements and more extensive study for both moderated and unmoderated studies. The cost of usability testing can rise up to as high as $100K + for more extensive study.
What cost you might have to pay for not doing usability testing 
You might end up paying much higher cost if you chose not to carry out usability testing.
If your key functionality has even a single blockade that might prevent the users to accomplish the end task, you would have to end up reconsider your development phase and hence consuming more time and ending up paying more money. This complete rework process can cost you around $150K.
Now it is up to you to decide what is more profitable – to do or not to do usability testing!
Conclusion
Although it is believed that usability testing is both costly and time-consuming, but if we look at the benefits of usability testing, it is a better idea.
As we have already discussed above the not conducting usability testing means an extra of 4 sprints leading to an added cost of over $150K and a lot of time. This cost and time could have been saved to an extent by conducting usability testing.
Not only this, the defame and loss of trust that will come along with not doing usability testing is immeasurable.
Hence it is a better option to choose usability testing and get things to work smoothly.

What is User Testing? How Does User Testing Work?

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User Testing is the only effective way in existence to find out your app or website will work or not. When we put the business into perspective. How does user testing work?
So you have a business idea! But will it work? Any idea if it is not desirable by its prospective users is worthless. The same goes for the software world. Any software or application idea if it is not desirable by its users is of no use.t is hence very important, to get your idea tested before converting it into reality. And here is where you will require
What is User Testing?
It is an idea that gives birth to software or an application. The success of the application depends on how viable your idea is? It is very important to test whether your idea is desirable for its prospective customers or not.
To test this viability, user testing is done. User testing ensures that it is worthwhile to convert your idea into an application or not. For example, you go to a taxi stand and find numerous people waiting for the taxi.

Suddenly an idea strikes your mind to build an app, where people can book the taxi online and the taxi can reach their doorstep when they book it. Now there are many questions in your mind like, “will this application work or not?” And in such scenarios this testing is very important, to tell your idea to its prospective users and see if your product will be desirable and valued by its audiences.
In short user, testing is a type of testing to test whether your idea is desirable or not.
When is user testing done?
This testing is done after you get an idea and before you commence working on the software/ application. The input to your testing is your idea and the output or result is its user’s feedback on your idea.
Who does user testing?
User testing tests the user’s perspective on the application idea. The main reviewers in such kind of testing are the prospective users.
The testers and the idea owners create a survey and the users take that survey. Hence the main participants of this testing are the users and the idea owners/testers.
What is the purpose of user testing?
The purpose of this testing is to evaluate whether the idea you are planning to work upon is desirable by its prospective users or not. It is a good idea to convert your idea into an app-only if people are ready to use it if and only if they think they need such a solution to make their lives easier.

Also Read : How To Secure Website From Hackers?

If users think that your idea is worthless then investing money in building that app would be just a waste of money. Many of the apps fail miserably because the businesses do not consider conducting user testing as an important part. If they would have conducted this testing, they could have avoided many losses. Rather it should be the very first step towards the building of the app.
What factors are considered while performing user testing?
Customer needs, their Perception, and their Demand are the major factors that are considered while performing this testing.
What are the types of User Testing
Usability testing
A kind of user testing where real users embark on a journey to figure out the ease of access of the app/software.  The main goal behind user testing is to measure the human interaction on a particular software.
User scenarios can be verified using this technique and the success percentage can be measured prior to release.
Tree Testing
A tree-like sitemap will be given to users and they will be asked to navigate the software without any distraction.
Remote Usability Testing
There will be a centralized platform that will record user interaction by users located in various parts of the world. Localization testing is the perk of this type of testing.
A/B Testing
It’s one of the most effective ways of user testing. If there is a huge update for the software, for instance, a website is planning to launch a new version of its web app. Through A/B testing the company can release two versions of the web app and seek feedback from users and compare it to get a better perspective. The purpose of A/B testing is to study user behavior and compare it with the feasibility of update or the production of software.
How is user testing conducted?
User testing can be conducted through in-person discussion, coffee shop discussion, Google hangout, Type form, Virtually at Skype, Google forms, Survey Monkey, social media polls, social media discussion, online discussion forums, etc.
What to ask during user testing?
The main concern in this testing is what questions to ask your users while conducting the survey or this testing. Some of the basic questions you can ask are:

  • How you solve that problem currently?
  • Have you ever thought of doing it in a better way?
  • Will you use the proposed solution to accomplish this task?
  • Will you pay money if asked to use this solution?
  • Do you think this solution will ease out your work?

How to do user testing done?
User testing serves as the analysis of the achieve ability of any idea. A questionnaire will be prepared including all the questions that will extensively define the user’s perspective to that particular idea. This questionnaire is then presented to the prospective users and their answers will be collected. Based on their answers a decision will be made whether to give the idea a go-ahead or dissolve the plan.
Does user testing really pay?
There is an on-demand user testing platform called usertesting.com  which helps products acquire real-user feedback.
Basically how it works is that you have to visit the website and register yourself as a user tester you get to test.  As per the information provided on the website you ger to earn $10 for every 20-minute. However, the dubious part is whether you get enough chances to test the website or will there be any geographical disparity to not?
Difference between user testing and usability testing
difference between user and usability testing
Many of us get confused between user testing and usability testing. In fact, too many of us, user testing and usability testing are some of the same things. But in reality, they both are very different. Here are the differences that might clear your doubts on the user and usability testing.

 

User Testing

  

Usability Testing
Do users need your app? Can users use your app?
Done after you have an idea Done after you have you’re your design ready and continues till the end before the app is live
A discussion or a survey is best suited for this testing You have to have a design ready to get usability testing

Conclusion:
An idea is the creator of everything including the software. but the success of your app depends on whether your idea is desirable by its users or not. Many applications like Uber, Amazon, Facebook, etc. have become a huge success because their idea was open-heartedly accepted by its users.

It is always better to be double sure before putting your efforts and your money on an idea. And this testing is a perfect answer to be sure whether your idea would be accepted by its users or not.
Also, it can help you identify your right audiences so that when you design and work upon your app, you can keep in mind its perspective users and build it according to their demand. Testing on the contrary as believed to be the last phase of the software testing life cycle begins at the very early phase just after the birth of the idea.

Top 20 Free Usability Testing Tools Available now

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To improve the execution of your site, you have to see how users are utilizing it. Usability testing is an approach to assess how effectively people can achieve a given task. In this test, a subject is approached to finish a task, usually while being seen by a researcher, to reveal possible user issues. A usability test is otherwise called a user test.
We’ve accumulated the top 20 usability testing tools that will help you perform this test productively.

  1. Optimizely

Optimizely is an A/B testing platform which is pretty famous for being user-friendly, enabling its users to track both visits and conversions. This tool provides a lot of features including:

It’s free for users on the basic plan, though some additional features are available only on the enterprise paid plan.

  1. Usabilla

It is an advance usability testing tool which empowers you to gather feedback from your real users. You can additionally get in-depth reviews from potential users. From these, you can find what your visitors consider of your content, letting you optimize the web pages better.
Features of this tool include:

  • User-friendly
  • Heatmap analysis
  • Instant feedback
  • Offers solutions for visual surveys as well as email feedback
  1. Usability Hub

Usability Hub is a tool to test your mockups and designs on real users. They aren’t free, yet you can procure free tests by helping test other websites. This tool demonstrates interactions of visitors on your site, what they recall and where they commit errors. It can likewise be utilized before your site goes live.

Their tools include:

  • Five Second Test – for design
  • Nav Flow – to track conversion funnels
  • Click Test – to test clicks on site’s landing page

These features can give you every bit of knowledge essential to enhance your site’s ease of use and begin drawing more clients.

  1. Userbrain

Userbrain is a free remote usability testing tool, which is so simple to utilize that you’ll get dependent on testing your application with real users.
You can watch video recordings of individuals visiting your site and hear what they think. It’ll enable you to spot bugs, issues, and complex areas. You can consistently improve your website’s experience and assemble better products for more satisfied users with the help of weekly automated user tests.
Other features are:

  • Test on numerous devices and in various languages to encounter your site under different conditions
  • No restriction on the number of tasks you can request from the testers to perform

The tool is available at a moderate cost with just $14 for every user test with 100% satisfaction assurance. Also, there is no recruiting requisite as you get access to a pool of over 15,000 testers from throughout the world.

  1. Crazyegg

It’s a valuable and well-known visual analytics tool. Crazyegg is a great optimization tool which supports you in tracking the user’s behavior on your sites utilizing mouse tracking to get real-time reviews.
A click-based user experience tool with four critical features:

  • Heatmap – logs where every guest clicks on your website page.
  • Scrollmap – demonstrates how far down the page every visitor scrolls usually.
  • Confetti – gives comprehensive information about search terms, visitor sources, other different elements.
  • Overlay – separates the number of clicks on per page element.

Users get a free 30-day trial, without any requirement to buy a paid membership. Although these aren’t costly too, beginning at $9 for a month.

  1. Chalkmark

Users can initiate tasks and welcome others to participate after uploading of the screenshot for the UI they need to test. The outcomes are given heatmaps to indicate where visitors clicked, and a report determining the average time taken to finish the undertakings.
Key features include:

  • Build personas and assign tasks
  • Create up to three tasks on a similar image or different images for every test.
  • Wireframing and design
  • Information architecture
  • Analyze the test results
  1. Trymyui

Trymyui is a stunning tool available online for usability testing. It just takes minutes to set up your test with this tool.
It empowers testers to personalize their tasks. You can compose a list of tasks or questions that you want users to reply or perform on your site.
You’ll at that point get constant feedback which unmistakably proves what visitors think about your application or site and notices where they’re restricting.
Other features include:

  • Impression testing
  • Demographic curation
  • Written survey
  • Keystrokes
  • Video screen caps
  1. OptimalWorkshop

This tool offers three distinct parts of usability, and every one of them comes with a free-for-life plan. While the complimentary benefits have a few conditions, utilizing them could enable you to determine if it’s worth to try for a paid test.
The key features are:

  • Optimal Sort for card sorting
  • Treejack to perceive how individuals connect with your website structure
  1. IntuitionHQ

Utilizing IntuitionHQ gives you target data about how visitors will utilize the pages designed by you.To make a usability test, you transfer screenshots after that compose tasks to be completed by users.
With the free plan, you can:

  • conduct ten live tests with up to 350 participants
  • create unlimited questions
  1. UserPlus

The UserPlus is a free tool, presently available in alpha. The tool offers incredible tips and best practices for improving the usability of your website.
In three simple steps, users can:

  • Transfer a screenshot
  • Tag elements on the page you are searching for guidance on
  • Discover the usability score

Also, with UserPlus Advisor, users can find the most significant hindrances that might negatively affect your income stream. Users can sign up to be welcomed to participate.

  1. Five Second Test

When users use five seconds test, they don’t just get a chance to set up their test for the website.However, it also enables them to test others’ site.
Intended to enable users to quantify the viability of their designs, users can direct a five-second test to discover which components of your designs are the most notable. You can do this in two different methods:

  • Memory test: In it, users have five seconds to take a look at the design and after that are approached to recall particular components.
  • Click test: In it, users have five seconds to find and tap on the particular components of their design.
  1. Feng-GUI

With Feng-GUI usability testing platform you get a free demo that enables you to test one picture at regular intervals. The features include:

  • an algorithm to simulate users
  • an eye-tracking map to indicate which regions of the page get the most attention

  1. GTMetrix

GTmetrix gives you understanding into how well your site loads and gives significant suggestions on the most proficient method to improve it. Alongside that monitor performance of the page with scheduled managing and picture it with intuitive graphs.
The key features you get with this tool are

  • Page load time
  • Total page size
  • Total number of requests
  1. Google Analytics

Every site must use it by default because it can tell you so much about sharpening and improving its usability. It determines where you are losing visitors and after how much time.
Other features are:

  • Establish conversion goals and measure them
  • Offers valuable insights to tweak layout and content
  1. Google PageSpeed Insights

It’s a free tool which is a simple dashboard enabling you to insert any URL you require speed data on, and within a few seconds, you get an accurate report on its speed.
The data is offered on two specific metrics to check how fast a web browser of user begins to show the pixels of your site after the user clicks a button. Those metrics are:

  • First Contentful Paint (FCP)
  • DOM Content Loaded (DCL)
  1. Website Grader

Usability tester by Hubspot, which shows UX score of your website in four simple sections:

  • Performance grades
  • Mobile grades
  • SEO grades
  • Security grades
  1. Mouseflow

Mouseflow comes with a free version using it you can see detailed heatmaps and scroll-reach statistics. Heatmaps are overlays displayed on top of the content of your site where you can view precisely which portions of the page are receiving the maximum attention.
Its features cover:

  • Tweaking layouts to boost conversion rates
  • Doing analytics
  1. Qualaroo

It’s a platform which integrates directly with your site as well as with many other software tools used by you. Its features are:

  • Offers insight relying on how your visitors behaved on it
  • Generate brief exit questions to present to the visitors when they leave your site
  1. ClickHeat

An open source software which gives a visual heatmap of clicks on a webpage. It remains on your web server, so you get results from the actual website visitors.

Its key features include:

  • Low logging activity
  • Screen sizes and browsers are logged
  • Allows you to group the same pages
  1. WebPageTest

One more open source optimization tool developed by Google & AOL for checking website performance. A thorough visual comparison is likewise possible with it.
Its test results offer rich diagnostic data including:

  • Page Speed optimization checks
  • Resource loading waterfall charts
  • Suggestions for changes

A Complete Beginners Guide to Cross Browser Testing

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In a present-day technology-driven world, where people have numerous choices to pick their preferred browser, it becomes very important to have your website go through cross browser testing. Any anomaly in the loading of a website can lead to the loss of its user’s trust from it.
Hence when you know your users have an extensive option of browsers, ensure your website is compatibles with all of them. Some of the frequently used browsers are Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc.
What is Cross Browser Testing?
Cross browser testing validates the proper working of your application over different browsers. It verifies that your website works steadily and as per requirements. It can be used both for web and mobile applications
What kinds of applications should be tested for cross browser testing?
Applications that are Customer facing are more desirable to be executed for cross-browser testing. But finally, the question arises that most of the applications are meant for end-users only.
Let us consider a scenario. There is a company, and it has an application for its inventory management and another application for the end-users to purchase its products.

Now the application for inventory management is used only by the internal staff of the company and company has complete right to limit the browser usage to a single browser, but for the second app that is meant for end-users, the company has no powers to restrict the usage of browsers by its customers.
Hence it becomes very important for the company to get the second application properly tested for cross browser testing.

Why is cross browser testing needed?

Cross browser testing as discussed earlier is done to test the application’s compatibility with multiple browsers. Some of the other common reasons for executing cross-browser testing are:

  • To find defects in the applications and be able to rectify them.
  • To enhance user-experience across all browsers.
  • To increase the efficiency of the app
  • To find any probable drawbacks
  • To test if the app looks the same across various browsers.
  • To validate if all the functionalities of the app work fine on various browsers.
  • To verify if it fulfills the client’s requirements across all the browsers.

Who Performs This Testing?
The answer to this question might end in a single word –“Testers”. But it is not exactly the case. The testers play an important role in cross browser testing, but business analysts, clients; stakeholders have an equally important role in deciding upon the number and names of the browsers, the testing has to be conducted on.
Analyzing the statistics of the users using different browsers, they pick up a few browsers that are more frequently used by the application users. It is next to impossible for the testers to perform cross browser testing on 1000’s of browsers available in the market.
The analyst team and the clients make a list of the most frequently used browsers by the application end-users and testers then perform testing over it.

How to Perform Cross Browser Testing?

Talking about the most important part – performing the cross-browser testing, the very first thing that has to be decided is whether to perform manual testing or automation testing.
Manual testing can be performed for cross-browser testing, but considering the multiple machines, multiple OS, Multiple browsers, manual testing can lead to many problems, and various challenges. Hence automation testing is a preferred method of testing for cross browser testing.
Manual Method
When executing cross browser testing manually, it is very difficult to test the application on the number of diverse browsers. In manual testing, the app can be tested over a few limited browsers only and hence delimiting the efficiency of the app.
Also, manual testing for cross-browser testing is both costly and time-consuming.
Automated Method
Cross-browser testing requires running the same test suit over various browsers. This is a recurrent task, and can result in errors if done manually and is also very time-consuming and costly when done manually.
Hence, cross browser testing is generally executed using automation testing. Cross browser testing is more cost and time effective when done using automated testing tools.
A lot many tools are available that assists in cross-browser testing.
Recommended Tools
1. LambdaTest
LambdaTest is used to test web app on over 2000+ combinations of different browser and operating system. It is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform.

It allows executing Selenium automation tests on Selenium grid. It helps conduct live interactive cross browser testing of websites and web app on the cloud.
2. Cross Browser Testing
Cross browser testing has a vast competency to execute manual, visual, and Selenium tests in the cloud on over 2050+ real desktop and mobile browsers.

The amazing Record & Replay feature permits recording live test and run that recorded test in parallel for faster testing.
3. Experitest
Experitest allows executing a parallel test on different browsers and mobile devices.
4. Selenium
Selenium with an easy transaction of browser can help test the web applications easily in parallel. It is a well-known automated testing tool.
5. BrowserStack
This cloud-based web and mobile testing allow on-demand browsers, operating systems, and real mobile devices testing.
6. Browserling
Browserling is a live interactive for testing effortlessly. Browserling offers speedy access to all the common browsers and popular operating systems.

When to do cross browser testing?

When to do cross-browser testing depends on testing methodology and testing timelines.
This test can be performed:
#1) As soon as possible:
You should start testing as soon as possible, whenever any page is ready to start testing it on different browsers. Though it will increase the efforts, it will help resolve defects at early phases of the software testing life cycle.
#2) When the application is complete:
Start with testing once the development of the complete app is done. It will save a lot of efforts of repeatedly testing single web pages. But it will be less cost-effective than the above scenario, but will ensure defect detection and resolving the defects before code release.
#3) When the application is released:
Though testing the code after release is not a good time for testing, but it is never too late if it means providing quality to the users. It is better than giving bad experience to the users.
Cross-browser testing requires various browsers to tests the supplication. These browsers can be:

  • Locally installed.
  • Installed on a virtual machine.
  • Tools that have their browsers for testing
  • On cloud

In short, the cross-browser testing can be done on one of- Dev/QA/Production environments.
What to Test?

  1. Base Functionality: if the app works per the requirements. Also, it includes Links, dialogues, menus etc.
  2. Graphical User Interface: Look and feel of the application.
  3. Response: response of the application to users actions
  4. Performance: timely and proper Loading of the page

It is not necessary that if your browser works well on one browser it will work well on the others too. Hence cross-browser testing is very important. It let the testers know what a defect that is found in different browsers is.
Based on what defects are found in which particular browser, the developers resolve the defects. And if in case the application does not at all open up in any of the browsers, the users can be easily told about it.
To summarize “how” to cross-browser test

  • Collect and analyse the Traffic statistics to understand which browsers to test.
  • Analyse which functionalities of the application to be tested on which browser. Though it is advisable to test the complete applications on every browser, considering the time to test and the cost of testing it is not a feasible idea. The best approach is to test the complete application on one browser and test the most critical and used functionalities over the remaining browsers.
  • Next perform the testing, test all its functionalities and look and feel features.
What are the effective strategies to be followed while performing cross browser testing?

1. Understand the fundamental concept of cross browser testing
Before you start with cross-browser testing, it is very important to understand all the basic concepts of it. Be sure you are clear on all the concepts like
What is cross browser testing?
Its requirements and objectives.
When you are required to do it.
Skills you are required to know to perform cross-browser testing.
The complete procedure to do it.
When you have all the above answers follow a systematized procedure to carry out cross-browser testing.
2. Delineate a checklist
Preparing a checklist can help you execute your tests in an organized way saving you on time and efforts.
They help in setting scope for your cross-browser testing. It can also help you to estimate the time required for the testing and can assure you that you don’t miss out on any browser or operating system.
Your checklist can include the below-given tabs –

  • Operating Systems
  • Devices
  • Browsers and their versions
  • Combinations of the above three
  • Design and Animation Authentications to be checked
  • Functional Authentications to be checked
  • Content Authentications

3. Getting the Correct Combination
The main objective of Cross Browser Testing is to test the proper working of web applications on multiple browsers and operating systems.
With new versions of browsers and operating systems releasing almost every month, the possible combinations keep growing and thus increasing the efforts and time required for testing.
In such cases, the best strategy for you is to consider the most recent versions and the most popular versions.
As per to W3C, 97% of the internet users uses 4 major browsers i.e. Chrome, Firefox, IE and Safari.
4. Mobile
The web world has now moved out from your desktops and laptops and has spread its wings to the mobile devices.
With a number of platforms available to access the websites, it becomes very important that your website design is responsive.
Your website should be easily accessible on desktops, tablets, and mobile for being available to a large section of people.
But with numerous devices available, it is difficult to test them on all the devices.
So a better strategy in such a scenario is to use tools to simulate the environment of the diverse device than testing them manually on every device.
Or another strategy could be to use Google Analytics or other similar tools and find out the most commonly used device and to carry out the testing in those specific devices.
5. Summarize the Test Scenarios
Seeing the vast possibilities of test scenarios, it is better to summarize them first.Start with choosing the major browsers first and then covering other browsers.
Check if you need to test the complete application or checking a part of it will suffice.
Your strategy should be to prioritize testing. Try to check critical functionalities on major browsers and major platforms first and then proceed to the rest.
6. Use of Virtual Environments and Emulators
Checking various combinations of browsers is a tiring and time-consuming job.
While testing various combinations of browsers and platforms it is advisable to set up virtual machines with their own operating system and a different set of browsers.
Few browsers like chrome also offer you the freedom to access different extensions to help you emulate other browsers.
Emulator and Virtual machines are definitely time saving and efficient strategies for cross browser testing.
7. Use of Automation Testing
In cross-browser testing, not only the change in your code requires retesting but changes in the browsers and operating system also requires you to retest your code.
In such scenario carrying out manual testing every time could be very hectic and time-consuming for you.
In cross-browser testing, we always suggest you carry out automation testing to save on time and for better efficiency.
8. Best Time for Cross Browser Testing
It is always better to start testing in the early phase of development. Keep testing unit by unit.
And you should then repeat unit testing once the development phase is over.
Testing in the later phases can be very tiring and is prone to more faulty results
Cross Browser Testing using Selenium Web-driver
Selenium is one of the most widely used testing tools. It is commonly used for cross browser testing. It can be used to perform cross browser testing over various browsers. Here is how you can use Selenium for cross browser testing:
To perform cross browser testing on applications using Selenium, we use TestNG parameter feature. It is passed from TestNG.xml file, and based the parameter Selenium initiate the browser.

Read also : What is Compatibility Testing? Types, Process And Advantages

Step 1- Write testcase
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40		 import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver;
import org.testng.annotations.Parameters;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class TestCase1 {

@Test

// Here this parameters we will take from testng.xml
@Parameters(“Browser”)
public  void test1(String browser) {

if(browser.equalsIgnoreCase(“FF”)){

WebDriver driver=new FirefoxDriver();

driver.manage().window().maximize();

driver.get(“http://www.facebook.com”);

driver.quit();

}
else if(browser.equalsIgnoreCase(“IE”)){

System.setProperty(“webdriver.ie.driver”, “./server/IEDriverServer.exe”);

WebDriver driver=new InternetExplorerDriver();

driver.manage().window().maximize();

driver.get(“http://www.facebook.com”);

driver.quit();
}
}

}

Step 2- Build testng.xml and specify

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30		 <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM “http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd”>
Here parallel is an attribute which specify the mode of execution and thread-count specify how many browser should open
<suite name=”Suite” parallel=”tests” thread-count=”2″>

<test name=”Test”>

<parameter name=”Browser” value=”FF” />

<classes>

<class name=”SampleTestcases.TestCase1″/>

</classes>

</test>

<test name=”Test1″>

<parameter name=”Browser” value=”IE” />

<classes>

<class name=”SampleTestcases.TestCase1″/>

</classes>

</test>

</suite>

Step 3- Execute the .xml file
To make testng.xml, right click on the test case and then go to TestNG and then to convert to TestNG>. It will create a testng.xml. Make changes to it as per the above xml file and finish. You will now have testng.xml file in your project.
Step 4 – Verify the output.
Note- Only testng.xml can be used for executing Cross Browser Testing using Selenium.
Conclusion
Cross-browser testing is yet another type of software testing that enhances the quality of your software. It ensures that users get a good experience irrespective of the browser they use. One thing that has to be kept in mind is that there is a different between cross-platform testing and cross-browser testing.

One should now confuse between the two, cross-platform testing is used to test software compatibility on different platforms like Windows, MAC, Linux, etc. where as cross browser testing as discussed earlier is used to test software compatibility on different browsers like Chrome, Firefox, IE, etc. Though, we sometimes need to combine the two, to test the software application response on the combinations of various browsers and platforms.

GUI Testing: A Brief Note for Software Testers

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What is GUI Testing?

GUI Testing is a type of testing in which an applications’ Graphical User Interface (GUI) is tested to make sure it is in line with the expectations. GUI testing involves checking the objects on the UI (User Interface), which are the objects that we can see on the screen.

Anything the user sees in the system or application is a GUI. Let us consider that if you visit a website, then the homepage is the GUI (graphical user interface) of the site.

The source code will not be visible as the user can see only the UI interface. Mainly the focus of GUI testing is on the design pattern, images, alignment, spellings and the overall look and feel of the UI

What is the need for GUI Testing?

Now as you’ve understoodthe basic concept of GUI testing so the next question that you’ll have in your mind will be

  • Why do we need GUI testing?
  • How to create test cases for GUI testing?
  • How to do GUI testing?

To get the answer, you need to think as a user, not as a tester. It is the User Interface of theSoftware/Application that is a deciding factor to know whether a user is going to use the Application further or not.

The looks and designs of the Application/Software are what atypical user will first look at.

Secondly, he checks how easy it will be for him to understand and navigate through the UI. If the Software/Application is more complex and not appealing or if the user is not comfortable with the Interface design, then he is not going to use that Application again.

That’s the reason, GUI testing is a matter for concern and should be taken very seriously. Also, proper testing should be carried out in order to make sure that GUI is free from any issues.

Examples of UI Test Cases

UI Testing mostly involves the checking the various elements on the screen for their look and feel, the test cases should be written in such a way that they validate the following points for each of the UI objects.

  • Size, position, width, and height of the objects with reference to other objects on the screen
  • Error messages displayed on the screen, the color and font of the error message. Errors are normally in Red color.
  • Readable and inconsistent across the application unless specified by the client.
  • Checking the same screen in different resolution with the help of zooming in and zooming out like 640 x 480, 600×800, etc. Also if there is a requirement you may want to check it in a mobile browser as well.
  • Font colors, hyperlink colors, error/warning message colors, etc.
  • Quality of the images on the screen, if applicable.
  • Spellings, grammar, and punctuations.
  • Scrollbars according to the size of the page if any.
  • Checking disabled fields if any.
  • Checking the size of the images.

The overall idea is to make the screens appealing to the user and having a good alignment and font. Many a times you may need to think out of box and stray away from the test cases and do exploratory testing with respect to the UI

GUI Testing Approaches:

1. Manual Based Testing:

This is the most widely used method for GUI testing. In this method the tester, checks the application manually by looking at the screen, navigating through the application and by using his own judgement as well.

While checking the application he will not only validated the test cases but also make suggestions to improve the UI to make it better.

This can be quite a time consuming and the quality of the testing done would depend on the knowledge and capabilities of the tester.

2. Automation Based Testing:

Though for the most part, the GUI testing needs to be done manually, there are some portions which can be automated as well.

The test cases which involve navigations, data entry or any other manual action apart from just seeing can be automated. There are a number of tools like TestComplete, Squish, AutoIT, Silk Test etc.

which can be used for this purpose. These tools are used to replicate the user actions by recording it and then playing it back each time the testing is needed. These tools involve some amount of technical scripting knowledge as well.

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Challenges in GUI Testing

As simple as it may sound, there are some challenges also:

  • The list of GUI test cases can be very exhaustive and time-consuming
  • It requires a lot of manual effort and the quality of the testing would depend on the skills of the tester.
  • Number of automation tools available is very limited
  • GUI is usually unstable during the initial development phases, so GUI testing is postponed to the end of the testing cycle, which sometimes creates a time crunch
  • GUI issues are given less priority when compared to functional issues

Conclusion:

The success of a software product hugely depends on how easy the GUI is to use and how it interacts with the end user. That’s basically is the reason why GUI testing is very important and should be carried out in a proper way. It is also very important that while testing the GUI we should always think from the perspective of the user.

Browser Compatibility Testing of Web Apps: Top 5 Browsers

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Browser Compatibility Testing can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t know where to begin with.
It will require a lot of concentration, effort and time to successfully test it. After the development and designing of an application is done then the testing phase will test whether it is up to mark with all the essential features or not.
Test-your-WebApps-for-better-stability
However, ensuring quality can be a time–taking a task and will not end up well if you don’t know where to begin with. Well, now you have it all.
For a relatively new tester, testing can be the most annoying task if they don’t know what to do. For the head-start to such innovators, we have come up with some of the amazing browsers to make your website application experience much better.
Here we have shed light on the basis, difference and benefits of top browsers along with issues that might come along the way in Browser Compatibility Testing
1. Google Chrome

One of the most leading and user-friendly browser used by the audience is Google Chrome. Hence, it only made sense if we test an application on it as well.
On top of that, due to its popularity, even the developers engage themselves with Chrome as a tool. However, with the latest update of Chrome, it might take some time to get a hang of cached resources. Hence, it might be a problem for font, icons, static files or images.
Apart from this, the main issues that a tester might come across are embedded images. It is possible that it might appear on the side up on right part in several browsers, it will be present at the sideways in Chrome.
The best thing is to run the photos on the server side that can help with the actual orientation. Also, if the image is not rotated then it can be done easily.
2. Microsoft Internet Explorer

Apart from this Edge is also used to test off in this environment. If you are confused then let us tell you, they are the two different browsers that are used to test a website.
When it comes to Microsoft Edge, it is a fourth modern browser that is used with auto-update feature. Then comes Internet Explorer 11. It is the final version of IE that is supported by Microsoft.

Know More: Browser Compatibility Testing! Everything you needs to know.

The best thing is that it is the browser that is used almost at first by any tester. The commenting is usually done in HTML format but it can use CSS and JavaScript as well. However, it seems like extra work or unnecessary thing but to work as a modern browser, it becomes essential. Whether it is edge or Internet Explorer, both can work amazingly well for automated web testing.
It can be frustrating to see no rendering in Edge or IE for testers. Something, content comes out more jumbled, the image is not visible, or even have an empty page as an outcome.
Hence, it becomes challenging when the situation gets out of hand. But there are few precautions that can be taken up such as CSS appearance. It can be extremely helpful in such cases for the customization process.
3. Apple Safari

There is no doubt that Apple is taking over the market at a large scale. The Apple products – devices and computers – are used immensely by the customers.
Hence, it becomes essential to get website application tested on Apple or iOS browser as well. The Apple browser for computer works differently as compared to the phone.
The main difference comes with the use of the mouse for the desktop while iPad and iPhone required finger touch.
However, since iPad and iPhone work on a smaller version of CPU, hence, it is optimized in such a way that load can be reduced.
For a newbie, it is essential to understand that desktop and mobile Safari browser is different from each other.
The security is a topmost concern when it comes to Safari along with JavaScript toggle and phishing protection.
Safari works best with iOS and MacOSX platforms. However, there is no doubt that it can be challenging test an application when you don’t have a device.
But if you know small tricks then it can be one of the easiest task to deal with. Apart from this, the browser has the tendency to work with several versions of Safari that make it even easier to get the work of web application tested easy.
It is even possible to check on its consistency to ensure that behavior of an application is to the point.
4. Mozilla Firefox

A decade has passed by since Mozilla became popular among developers or testers. In earlier times, the best debugging tools that are used was Firebug.
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With time, there is nothing that is changed in the terms of technology. If anything, there is only increment in the reliability of browsers as per deep catalog extensions.
In addition to this, the customization on user interface level became extremely essential.
Chrome might have managed to surpass the rendering speed or developer’s tools. But still, Mozilla has few features that made an audience go crazy for it.
With the update, the performance issue is tackled. The new specification is working amazingly well with Mozilla Firefox.
On top of that, it has managed to take the world by the fire with its easy flagrant bug avoiding. The inconsistency in the layout is another thing that makes tested implement CSS.
The layout break is usually due to the WebKit derived engine that results in dimension changes and text line heights.
There is a possibility that it is not your fault that there is an error in the browser. Some error is due to the browser that can be tackles up with browser update.
However, if some of the faults are at your end that you need to maintain a proper strategy to ensure that you reach the root cause of that problem. Sometimes, even Troubleshooting can be extremely helpful to do proper testing.
If there is an error for a certain browse then make sure to do changes for that browser only. There is no use to change the code for the entire browser since the others are not a problem here.
Apart from this, it is the general approach that you can follow up in terms of feature works and codes which can help in eliminating the faults.
5. Opera Mini
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Opera is used by 100 Million users at the moment!
However, there are sites that are not tested for Opera since it is considered as a thin client instead of the browser.
It usually works with the subset of web pages in the form of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. Hence, it is used for the low powered devices in order to work off with complex pages.
However, it can be extremely beneficial when it comes to compatibility, then it becomes essential to test an application over it.
The live interaction level of testing can be helpful in such cases for web application and website. This can work well for a latest and oldest version in the beta and dev versions.
Why you need different browsers?
Have a Look at the Video Representation By GC Reddy about Cross Browser Testing.
All the web browsers are different than each other in terms of features and applications. Some are popular while others with similar properties might not even be in the market for a longer period of time.
They are so different for each other that your website will be visible in different ways. Hence, it is essential to test every site on the different browser.
Some of the testers, use cross browsing testing tools. The main aim is to offer smooth experience to users irrespective of their browsers.
The content that is displayed on the browsers must be up-to-the-point to ensure that your efforts and time has not gone down the drain. On top of that, no matter how much it looks good, it doesn’t mean that it is functional as well.
Why use different browsers?
Everyone has their own personal choice when it comes to browsers. If you are limiting the testing process to only one or two browsers it can be the biggest risk for you.
There is no point of investing such a higher price in the program that might not even be in your favor.
Many people might opt for chrome but a large number of the population depend on Mozilla as well. Hence, if you are aiming to reach the largest market, then, you need to get your web app tested on almost every browser that you might know.
selenium
This can be a time-consuming and daunting task but at the end of the day with an increase in lead generation and revenue, it will be worth it.

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

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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 Responsive Design Testing? Rules, Challenges and Tips

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Website responsiveness acts as an important factor for the search engine ranking and influences Google search results largely. And above all, the majority of people nowadays access the internet through their smartphones. So website responsive design testing is essential as a validation method for any website to ensure that their website works fine when viewed through a mobile phone.
What is responsive web design (RWD) or simply responsive design?
Responsive web design is a technique or approach by which the web pages render themselves adaptively to suit the size and resolution of the device on which they are being accessed. This gives the users an easy reading experience along with simpler navigations.
With the huge number of websites and domain names getting added to the internet, it is very important from the user experience perspective for the website to be responsive. Else you can be sure of losing your audience. Imagine the plight of having to scroll your page in all direction to find a single button to click
responsive web design

Challenges in Responsive Design Testing

The experience of internet users on mobile devices varies from that on desktops. Therefore, testing a responsive web design is very important.
The main challenge when testing a responsive website is to ensure that the respective website works the same on different platforms.
However, this testing is not really practical for all mobile devices available in the market.
Testing a responsive design starts with resizing of the browser’s window in order to fit view port of a tablet, desktop or mobile phone.
The approach is enough for a quick visual check of the website in various view ports. It helps the testers to detect major issues while shrinking or enlarging the browser window.

Responsive Design Testing tools

Have a look at the Top 10 tools used to test responsive design.

  1. Responsinator

This is one of the most widely used tools for responsive testing. The highlight of the tool is that it is one of the easiest and simplest tool to work with. And to it the fact that it is a free web browser-based tool. To check the responsive nature of your website all you need to do is enter the URL along with then select the different size and shapes of screen available. The moment you hit the submit button, the tool will display how the website will render in device with the shape and size of your choice.

  1. LambdaTest

This is a cross-browser mobile testing tool which enables the users to test up to 22,000 different browsers, mobile, and OS combinations. This tool especially supports the responsive design testing with a separate tab under Visual UI dedicated to responsive testing. It is a free cross-browser testing application which comes with some premium features as well, which is priced. This is tool is widely used across the IT industry with some major names like Capegemini, Deolite, Virtusa, edureka and many more.

  1. Screenfly

This is another tool which is very commonly used for testing the responsive design of a website. Another very simple tool, all you need to do to get started it to type the URL and click the GO button.
You will be directed to the screen where you will be able to choose your device. Screenfly currently gives you several options in television, tablet, mobile and desktop to choose from. It will also give an option to choose a custom size it they already do not have that option.
The only drawback with Screenfly is that it will not take into account the rendering. It accounts only for the fluid layouts and different screen sizes.

  1. Device Tools

Google chrome comes with a set of inbuilt DevTools, Device Tool is one of them. It may not be very accurate but can definitely be used by the developers as the first ballpark estimate of how the web page will look in different devices.
Similar to other tools available, device Tools also gives you the option to select the device size. But the difference here is that the mobile user experience is simulated using code and it will definitely not be able to replicate the mobile architecture. But again it is a handy tool for developers to instantaneously check and authenticate the responsive design.

  1. Google Resizer

Google resizer works on material design patterns. The material design consists of columns, gutter, and margins. Google material design advocates on the usage of column widths, gutters, etc. in a way which such that it can responsively adjust to the screen size by making use of the gutters and margins.
There are a number of UI patterns that come into picture when the responsive resizing happens like transforming, dividing, expanding, revealing, hiding, etc. A resizer will help you better understand each of these and thus help you decide which one would be best suited for your needs.

  1. GhostLab

GhostLab is a paid website testing app. And the best part is that it allows you to perform your tests and actions on a large number of browsers and mobile devices of different screen size and resolution at the same time. The best part of this app is that you need not perform your actions on each browser. Whatever your actions are performed on the first browser get replicated in all other browsers, hence the name GhostLab. The app also allows you to take screenshots, add text to the screenshot and even attach it to your bug tracking tool if needed.

  1. BrowserStack

BrowserStack is a cloud-based web and mobile testing platform. It is one of the most advanced and full-featured testing tool available in the market today. It boasts of more than 2000 devices and desktop browsers solely dedicated for testing purpose. Time and again they keep adding more devices to their kitty based on the popularity of the device and the features offered. BrowserStack works by connecting you to a device or server located somewhere which you can access through the cloud in a webpage. All actions performed by the user on the web page are replicated on the mobile devices and browsers as well. Some of the very high profile clientele for BrowserStack includes Twitter, RBS, Microsoft, Harvard University among others.

  1. CrossBrowser Testing

CrossBrowser Testing is the BrowserStack’s biggest competition. It works almost the same way and presently includes more than 1500 browsers and mobile devices which can be used for testing and development. All the actions are performed in real devices and it is able to replicate the mobile features like swipe, pinch in and pinch out as well. Besides providing real-time experience with real devices, it also supports CI, which is the next big onus across the IT industry.

  1. Responsivedesignchecker

This is a free tool which can be used to test the responsiveness of a website and how well your website renders on different devices and browsers. Currently, it supports tablets, mobile phones and desktop only. The user can choose different sizes and resolutions for these three categories to test their website for responsiveness.

  1. Viewport Resizer

Viewport Resizer is a free tool which can be used to see how the webpage will look in different screen sizes and resolutions. It is a very simple and easy to use tool which is completely free. All one needs to do is, create and save a bookmark let of the website that we are trying to check. Once you click GO you will be able to select the screen size and resolution in which you want to see your website. It is a very basic and simple tool which can be used within minutes to get the desired results.
How To Test a Responsive Design?
A responsive design tester can consider the following variances for Responsive testing-
Emulators: it is a simulation-based on the web. It simulates how a website or application will look like or function in a mobile device.
The emulator does not serve you with the exact testing facilities.
However, they are a very cost-effective and powerful solution to test a website’s compatibility in different screen size.
Google Dev Tools-Device mode: it consists of a feature known as device mode which includes tools that are very helpful for debugging and testing responsive designs.
It tests your responsive design by emulating various screen resolutions and sizes.
Moreover, it uses a network emulator to evaluate your site’s performance without hindering the operations of other tabs.
The tool inspects and visualizes media queries and simulates device input accurately.

General Rules For Responsive Design Testing

  • Never visualize the horizontal bar in the page
  • Text included in the website should be properly visible when scrolling
  • Pages should be readable and clearly visible in all resolutions
  • The important content in the page should be visible in all *breakpoints
  • There should be proper padding around the corners
  • The font color, size, and style should be consistent for all sort of text
  • Shading, gradient, and color should be consistent
  • Frames, images, text, and controls should not run into the corners of the screen
  • Ensure that the controls, images, and texts are aligned properly
  • There should be a suitable clickable area present in the page
  • Selection and hovering highlights and changes color

*Break point demands an adaptation of the layout. It consists of modules that change their rules and positions.
Finally, you need to narrow down your options for device testing to ensure your website works perfectly for the majority of your users.
However, responsive design testing on every device combination does not seem to be a practical option.
Determine the use of your web application. You can take the help of Google Analytics to identify which devices are used by your customers to reach your website.
Furthermore, you should be able to detect the breakpoints and all the elements that will be appearing as you shift from one breakpoint to another.
After this is done, its time you take into consideration the automated tools and emulators and conduct basic checks and functional testing.
Combine the testing with the real device manual testing in the end.

Tips For a Successful Responsive Design Testing
  • While in the process of the test, the tester should be well aware of the nitty-gritty of the test. He/she should know what and how to test on a variety of devices at various breakpoints. Or otherwise, it can become quite disorientate.
  • For the correct and proper testing of a responsive design website, there needs to be perfect coordination between the tester and the developer. The developer must help the tester through creating the necessary conditions as mentioned in the test cases.
  • The main content of the responsive website should be visible from every breakpoints. The transition of the website from the desktop screen to the mobile screen size should not affect the main text and other content.
  • Responsive design testing only detects major issues. However, you should always remember to test the small features like tapping, swipes, and other finger related issues. Doing so will lead you to better and successful testing.
  • Ensure that the content of the responsive website is visible in every size and resolution.
  • Once the browser is resized, make sure that all the clicking areas of the design are suitable for clicking.


Conclusion
Testing a responsive design is very challenging. However, you must choose the most efficient way to tackle them. A successful future of a mobile application depends largely on its responsive design testing. Proper and successful responsive design testing can contribute in a great way to meet up to your expectations of setting your site up.

What is User Acceptance Testing? Why is it so Awesome?

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User Acceptance Testing  (UAT) is essential in SDCLC ( Software development life cycle). The process is considered an effective method to analyze the UX ( user experience) of the app and to check whether the app has met its requirement specification.

Just keep in mind that it is all done from the user’s perspective.
User Acceptance Testing

UAT is the last and the most important one in the lane to ensure that a user is enjoying your product to the max.

The main motive of this whole step is to make sure that a software system is all set to be in front of users in the real world.

This testing phase is also known as Beta and End-user Testing is considered chiefly during the web development process to ensure that the software is set for the final installation for the client site.

The software is tested in the real world by a particular set of users that test all the recording and correcting of any sort of small defects.

It is a chance for a user to do depth search on the application to understand the features and their working. The main task for a user is to look out for miscommunication, overlooked and not communicated points.

The key of UAT is to evaluate if a software system is able to support day-to-day activities and perform well in real scenarios.

Another use is to ensure that the system is necessary and precise for commercial practice.

What is User Testing?

It’s all about determining the app’s behavior with user interaction!

Mobile App User Testing is a great way to get the actual user to interact with your application.

The process will help help you to evaluate the behavior, and functionality of the app is performing as required.

it is a technique to evaluate the product by testing it on representative users by designing a user-oriented interaction environment to record the session and act according to the test results.

selenium
Types of User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

There are mainly five types of User Acceptance Testing such as:

  • Alpha & Beta Testing–Alpha testing is done by the staff members only on an internal Whereas beta testing involves the testing on the field in the customer’s environment with the help of some customers that will use it.
  • Black Box Testing–It is a type of functional testing in which functionalities are analyzed without knowing about internal code structure.
  • Contract Acceptance Testing–In this type of testing, the software is tested against some specifications or criteria which are predefined in a proper contract.
  • Operational Acceptance Testing–The Production Acceptance Testing or Operational Readiness Testing ensure that all the workflow used in the system is intact in a place and working properly.
  • Regulation Acceptance Testing–Compliance Acceptance Testing helps in investigating that the software fulfills all the appropriate guidelines of the legal and governmental processes.

Different Methods for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Generally, there are six methods for a successful mobile app user testing and each method gives you deep insights into intended userbase requirements and expectations from the product.

Let’s discuss these methods and choose any one or all based on our project goal and resources.

Moderated and Unmoderated

A moderator is involved in Moderated Usability Testing who guides the participated users through the testing session telephonically using Skype, zoom calls, face-time, etc.

It enables the testers to analyze users’ thoughts and reactions about the application and ask follow-up questions for elaborated feedback and clarification for better accuracy.

Unlike moderated, unmoderated testing does not require anyone for direct supervision.

The testing participants can freely interact with your app without any external input.

This method is the best to record user experience while they navigate through your app and learn more about their thoughts and feelings.

It can draw quick results but lacks accuracy and follow-up feedback is out of the equation.

Lab-based and Guerrilla Testing

Lab-based testing is one of the most used methods to validate the app design.

It is performed in a controlled environment, to restrict naturalistic bias, on a small size selected population and evaluates the easiness of users to complete the set of tasks on an app while being evaluated.

Once the test is complete, ask about users’ feedback with follow-up questions.

This method may cost you more but provides deep insights you may haven’t noticed.

Whereas Guerrilla Testing enables testers to select a completely random group of people from a public place and get them to test the usability of your app in exchange for gift cards or coupons while also building interest and awareness about your product.

It is cost-effective but you cannot have a follow-up as customers are reluctant to disclose their personal identities like numbers or addresses.

In-person and Remote Testing

In-person app user testing is more effective and provides the testers with a larger context and deep insights into the product’s behavior by observing users’ facial expressions and body language.

It is performed during moderated lab-based testing and can be performed remotely when necessary.

Remote Testing is much less costly and provides researchers an opportunity to perform a test on a larger number of people at once, in different geographical locations, using limited resources.

It is performed during moderated remote testing where users and researchers are connected via recorded video/phone call or webcam, and real-time interaction.

Card sorting

An effective approach to prioritizing app features and functions in the user interface helps determine the effective way to organize an app’s navigation structure.

The user is asked to sort virtual cards representing different items or shapes in the app’s navigation structure that make sense to the users.

Eye Tracking

This method lets the testers observe and evaluate the eye movements of the users via advanced eye-tracking technology to monitor the direction where the user is looking, the features they are interacting with, and for how long. It also allows testers to address the challenges faced by the users without interrupting the user’s natural flow.

Session Recording

It is a method used to record the actions on the screen by the user in a real-time environment. It includes clicking, scrolling, and selecting an element while using an application on their phone. It also allows the testers to observe the type of content attracting the users most for better engagement and understanding of the possible user interaction challenges they may face while using the mobile application.

What is the need for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?

For someone who is in direct contact or has been involved in a thorough app development process, testing an application cannot be unbiased.

To get the unbiased test results, they must be conducted by the user who is not familiar with your application workings.

From a UI/UX perspective, doing a pre-launch app testing can help you understand the ways to improve your app, and hence, usability testing is essential for-

  • Valuable insights into what works better and what may create hindrances after post-launch.
  • Increases user satisfaction and your revenue. Excellent for the bootstrapped apps.
  • Learning about user experience, behavior, and preferences.

Points To Note Before User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

UAT is an essential phase for software development. It can’t be taken until a software system is complete and intact with the fundamental features.

However, there are a few points that must be taken into consideration before placing it for UAT.

  • All the requirements must be intact.
  • The entire application code must be up-to-date.
  • The main three-phase of testing must be done beforehand – Integration testing, Unit testing, and System testing.
  • There must be no discontinuing or medium/high faults in the Integration phase of testing.
  • Before sending for UAT, Improving errors are adequate in the application.
  • There must be no major defect in the regression testing.
  • All the defects that come into play during the time of testing must be corrected and tested again.
  • The traceability environment must be complete for all the testing.
  • UAT setting must be complete.
  • Sign off communication or mail from any of your testing system team that elaborates that the software is all set for UAT.

There are so many changes that can be missed during the testing phase and it will look complete.
app testing
However, there can be many changes that might be missed. Once a user will know because they know what they need and hence all the features will be checked by them thoroughly.

A customer and client can easily discover the problem that might be missed out on by you.

This will help you to conduct an accurate test, deliver the best outcome and maintain your reputation.

On top of that, customers will know that there is something new launched in the market for them to use.

Involvement of users in User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

The peer group that is most essential for the UAT testing must include real end-users that will perform a test on your system.

The stakeholders and role group must be incorporated.

This simply means that an individual of every group that is involved in the development phase must be in the team.

How to do User Acceptance Testing?

After the above explanation, you must be clear about what and why UAT must be included in the software development phase.

Now, you need to understand the ‘how’ of the UAT. Mainly there is a total of four steps that must be considered but it will depend on the number of users that will take advantage of this software.

Is it going to be a single client or for purchase for all the users or is it intended for the off-the-shelf applications.

Also Read : 10 Key Factors for Successful Test Automation

The main criteria that must be followed in the software are the ‘working’ requirement of the assembled application.

You can easily get a hang of it from the stories of users or system requirements. The second step is to create some test cases for UAT.

The UAT test cases are the test step sets, expected results, and execution conditions that must be developed for one or some specific purpose(s).

For instance, to authenticate the agreement with a precise requirement or to look out for a specific program or a feature.

In the next step when everything is in place then the tests are run and all the results must be documented.

Is there any defect? Are they successful? If there are any errors then it is essential to correct them and then perform a re-test on them.

At the final point, if everything turns out right in the testing phase then an orderly sign-off is the next thing to complete.

If you have an individual client then it is easier where the results must be documented. Once the application meets the criteria of the project then it is good to go.

Here are the Steps for User Acceptance Testing

Prepare and Plan

To run a successful usability testing, you must first develop a clear map with defined structures, test objectives, selecting participants, task-list to be completed by a user, create a testing environment, test moderator role, what data to collect, evaluate, and action, document and presentation.

Determine your Testing goals

Determining the exact goal for app testing is critical. Depending on the stage your app is on, the user testing goals may change according to its lifecycle.

The approach and extent of the testing are based on the goals and objectives. Find out which similar app a user is using and determine the users’ expectations from your app.

Determine the Testing Method Next, you need to figure out what approach is more effective and accurate, in-person and remote moderated or unmoderated while going to conduct the tests.

Remember each method has its pros and cons so choose wisely.

Recruit the test participants

It is crucial to find the right participants to get an accurate test response from the users.

Don’t just select the random people, look beyond the prospect. Select prior experienced people who have used similar apps to yours.

Organize testing environment

Once the participant’s recruitment is complete, it’s time to prepare a testing environment.

Keep the specific testing module and goals to be achieved in mind and create a list of tasks in a formatted test script.

You are not telling them how to do a test, you’re telling them what you want them to do without intervening with their natural flow while using your app.

make sure the testing environment doesn’t affect the user interface.

Prepare follow-up questions and ask for feedback from the user.

Keep it short and to the point

A developer knows the mechanics behind the app but a user doesn’t.

Follow the testing script and keep your sessions short, about 30 minutes or less, and to the point.

Make a list of the modules to be tested and explain to the user what he is supposed to look into.

Run the Test

After all your hard work, it’s time to finally conduct the test for your app.

This is the easiest step in the process, followed everything that is explained before.

Your participants are already recruited, and you’ve created a testing environment.

Now, just sit relax and let the users explore your product to your desired objectives.

Analyze and Act

Analyze the overall effectiveness of the app testing and gather all the useful information like recordings and feedback to get accurate recommendations to improve the overall app usability.

Conducting the sessions on participants and finding out the pattern will help you for understanding the problem better.

Analyze and resolve the issues, and repeat the usability test as many times as required until the app’s errors are fixed.

Determine what’s missing and plan for future

Ask the participants to point out the specific features they feel should change or are missing in your application. This makes your interface and overall application more intuitive and helps you plan better features and user interfaces in the future.

Conclusion

These are the main points of the User Acceptance Testing that is used in the development cycle.

The projects are reduced to the likelihood of any errors that are elevated.
Test-your-WebApps-for-better-stability
These are to reduce the total work required in the maintenance or development phase. It is another phase that must be managed but it will reduce a lot of costs.

On top of that, you will get a happy and satisfied user that will get you more revenue.

What is Accessibility Testing? Why is it Crucial?

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Accessibility Testing is a subset of usability testing which is aimed at ensuring that people with disabilities can access the resources available to all.
Primarily discussed in the context of website usability testing, the accessibility testing should be designed to test the ease-of-use of the site itself, by persons with disabilities and at the same time, have a rigorous feedback mechanism which can enable changes in design, constant improvements, and enhancement of the user experience.
There is a need for accessibility testing, over and beyond to adhering regulatory norms, to be able to design formats that cater to everyone and is inclusive and non-discriminatory.
In this article, we will discuss in detail about accessibility testing and the scope of its implementation in various future projects.
What’s the definition and requirement of accessibility testing?
Broadly, the testing is designed to aid people with speech, vision, motor, and cognitive difficulties as well as the elderly who may also find themselves at a disadvantage. Assistive technology such as speech recognition, screen reader, screen magnification, and special keyboards go a long way in enabling the use of software products by all.
While it is required that these tools be built into products, just like all other aspects of usability are repeatedly tested to ensure the user has the best experience, it becomes imperative that accessibility testing is made part of the routine testing cycle. It will ensure that these aids are built-in efficiently and continue to provide an enhanced experience, irrespective of the user.
The testing can be categorized into manual and automated; however, it is only when done together that there will be a better understanding of the problem and development of efficient solutions.
While Automated testing assists at a coding level, in identifying repeated issues which need to be fixed and facilitates effective maintenance, manual testing tackles it by prioritizing the user, allowing us to understand challenges from the user perspective and resolving it based on user insight and not merely at a code level.
Testing needs to be done early and as a continuous process because testing right at the end leads to it lacking in rigor and sometimes even omitted. Further, in terms of actual changes that need to be implemented, both from a cost as well as an efficiency perspective, it becomes easier to do it on an ongoing basis.
There is a need for clear testing requirements concerning regulatory norms that need to adhere to. For example, https://www.w3.org/WAI/policies/ provides information on legislation concerning accessibility requirements (country-wise), company policies for accessibility, customer policies which the company may have in place, and finally, marketing accessibility to customers and users.
While these external requirements need to be determined and worked towards, this should only set the floor regarding the overall efficiency of the product.
The goal should always be concerning maximizing accessibility, and the testing team has a responsibility to constantly raise additional accessibility concerns and ensure they are acknowledged as well as answered.
There is also a need to distinguish between these requirements and reports should be able to demarcate as well as indicate the level of adherence.
With this in mind, accessibility testing needs to be inherent to the process across designers, developers, and testers.
To ensure accessibility standards, one should be cognizant of the development environments and environment options across different devices while using specialized tools, automated testing tools, and assistive technology.
Why we need Accessibility Testing?
While one may feel that accessibility testing is not important as it caters to only a very small section of people, but it reality that is not the case. Here are some reasons why accessibility testing is important.

  1. Make it usable for disabled people

It must be noted here that there are close to 20% of people who suffer from one or the other kind of disability. These disabilities can include handicaps, blindness, deaf, and others. Any software that is rolled out to the market can not ignore this section of the people. This makes usability testing important.

  1. Legal Requirement

Many countries have a law that makes it mandatory for software and IT products to be compliant with the usability needs of differently-abled people. Accessibility testing is mandatory to pass the legal requirements. Different countries have different laws to handle these like the Americans with Disabilities Act – 1990 (USA), Disability Act of 2005 (Ireland), and more.

  1. Avoid Law Suits

There have been several cases in the past where big companies have been sued by people for not being user-friendly for differently-abled people. These companies were not only asked to pay not only monetary compensation but also forced to make their software compliant at a later stage. These companies include corporate giants like Amazon, Target, and AOL.

  1. Usable for elderly people

Elderly people are another section of society just getting used to new technology and product innovations. Many times they find it difficult to use the software and applications. It is the responsibility of the companies to ensure their apps are usable by senior citizens also. They are a reasonably big portion of the market and should not be ignored for the success of the product.
The Scope of Accessibility Testing
In this context, we should now look at what is the scope of accessibility testing. It has, so far, been discussed and mainly developed in terms of software and more specifically website usability testing, from an end-user perspective. The next logical extrapolation is, of course, to applications and web-based products and across different devices like computers, mobiles, tablets, etc.
Within a web site context itself, the importance of making the user interface accessible cannot be overstated. This then extends to applications on mobiles and tablets, as well.
An accessible interface at any point enables the user to seek other resources to access the same content in a more usable form. In keeping with this, one approach would be to ensure that the personas you build for developing user cases span a wide breadth and necessarily include people with different abilities.
One common mistake would be to assume that disabilities are interchangeable or demographics can be merged.
It is critical to be aware that every disability is different and unique and it is essential to tackle different demographics based on age, gender, etc. within each of them.
The wider the breadth of the user test cases, the more rigorous the accessibility is likely to be.
In keeping with this thinking, there needs to be two groups doing the testing – experts and users.
While the expert testing group handles the technological aspect of the product and uses dedicated testing tools, the user testing group is critical since they can reveal gaps in the usability and also within various types of users such as new users, familiar and expert users.
The feedback from the user testing needs to flow back into the expert testing group for evaluation and more importantly, action, in terms of making it more accessible.
More inclusive and non-discriminatory products and services are the need of the hour. Thus accessibility testing should be made part of any prototype being built or any new design.
While not every webpage and application will be evaluated by experts for accessibility, it is possible for website developers, at every stage, to learn about accessibility, build it into their design as well as development, ensure testing and use the feedback to enhance the next round of development.
There is a need to drive this as an essential process and also share this as a best practice across groups, thereby making accessibility testing as a critical part of usability testing.
The points covered in this article would have enlightened you with the fact about accessibility testing and the increasing demand for it.
Accessibility Testing Checklist
Here are some points that are used to whether the application is a go or no-go from an accessibility point of view.

  1. For every mouse, joystick, or windows operation, there must be a virtual keyboard displayed.
  2. User Manual should be provided with the software or application in a simple and easy to understand language supported with pictures where ever deemed necessary.
  3. The user should be able to move between controls and objects using the tab button. The movement should be sequential or logical with a seamless flow.
  4. The user must be able to navigate through the application using the standard short cut keys, especially for menu items.
  5. The application should support all or most commonly used operating systems.
  6. The choice of images and pictures in the application should be appropriate and easily understandable for the users.
  7. If there are audio and video options, then the users should be able to control them as well.
  8. The user should be able to change the default fonts and audio as per his needs and requirements.
  9. The color schema of the application is suitable and legible for all users.
  10. Ensure the audio and video content is clear and understandable for people with disabilities.

While this list is not exhausted, it is still a starting point for your application accessibility testing. There may be more points to be added specifically to the application under test (AUT)
Top 5 Accessibility Testing Tools
Accessibility is an important criterion for every application. Here we will discuss some of the most widely used tools in the market to help with accessibility testing.

  1. Wave

It is a free tool that can be used to check the web page manually for a lot of aspects of accessibility. This tool can be used to check sensitive and password protected web pages as well. An advantage of this tool is the private and secure accessibility test reports.

  1. TAW

TAW is a popular tool used to determine the accessibility of a web page. This tool assesses the web page as per the W3C accessibility guidelines and displays the issues that need attention. This tool allows you to check single and multiple pages as well on a website.

  1. Accessibility Valet

This tool accesses your web pages against the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). The tool has provisions for detailed accessibility reports along with the scripting tools.

  1. Quick Accessibility Page Tester

When you want a quick and efficient accessibility analysis for your web page, Quick Accessibility Page Tester is what you should use. It will perform a detailed analysis of your page, point out the issues, and gives you some awesome suggestions as well.

  1. Accessibility Developer Tool

This is a Chrome extension that can be used to do an accessibility audit. This is widely used because of the ease of adding the extension to your browser and the frequent updates that are rolled out. After running an audit on your page you will have a fair idea of the accessibility rules violated by your page. This will help fix the issues in the early stages itself
Conclusion
Hope you have understood the cardinal importance of accessibility testing and why it’s one of the catalyst for your app success.