Testing the website for bugs and issues is essential for any software. Testing can be performed manually, automatically, or through a hybrid of both methods. Manual testing, however, is not always feasible and affordable in every scenario. It is more cost-effective to automate testing in most cases. Automated website testing involves creating scripts to test different functionalities of a website rather than testing it one by one manually. This article covers how you can solve web testing problems.

Why Manual Testing is not always feasible?

Manual testing can be time-consuming, tedious, and expensive. Moreover, it is not feasible for critical software where the result of test execution impacts thousands of users. Some other factors that make manual testing less feasible are listed below.

• The large volume of data – If you are testing a database-driven website, you will have to process a large amount of data. Manual testing on a large database will be very tedious and time-consuming.

• High regression rate – If you have to test web application functionality that has been changed in the past, your regression rate will be very high. This means you will have to test the same functionality again and again manually.

• Coverage issues – Manual testing is not scalable and is not suited for complex software with many features. You will have to test each feature manually, and it is almost impossible to achieve 100% coverage in manual testing.

Automated Website Testing

Automated website testing is the process of creating scripts to test different functionalities of a website rather than testing them one by one manually. Automated website testing can be done through three different approaches as mentioned below.

• Manual testing and recording – In this method, testers manually test the functionality and then record their actions. This recorded data can be used to generate scripts for automated testing.

• Natural language-based Web UI testing – This approach uses the natural language to create tests. This method is useful when your software is based on GUI elements.

• Programmatic or scripted testing – In this method, you use a programming language to create tests. This method is suitable for testing websites that are not GUI-based.

Automated Website Testing Frameworks

There are various automation frameworks that can be used for website testing. Some of the most commonly used automation frameworks for website testing are listed below.

• Selenium – Selenium is open-source software for automated website testing. It is used for functional and regression testing of websites, applications, and mobile apps. Selenium can be used for automated website testing through three different approaches – manual testing and recording, natural language-based Web UI testing, and programmatic testing.

• Watir – Watir stands for Web Application Testing in Ruby. It is a Ruby-based framework used for automated website testing. It can be used for automated website testing through three different approaches – manual testing and recording, natural language-based Web UI testing, and programmatic testing.

• Browser Automation – Browser automation is a type of programmatic testing used to test GUI elements of a website. It can be used for automated website testing through three different approaches – manual testing and recording, natural language-based Web UI testing, and programmatic testing.

Benefits of automated Web testing

– Cost-effectiveness – Automated website testing can be an economically viable solution in many situations. For example, if you have to test a website with a large amount of data, manual testing will be time-consuming and costly.

– Scalability – Manual testing is not scalable. Automated website testing is a scalable solution that can be used for testing software with different functionalities and data sets.

– Coverage – Manual testing is not scalable because it is not possible for testers to test the software thoroughly. Automated website testing can achieve 100% code coverage.

– Repeatability – Automated website testing can be used for regression testing where you have to test the same functionality again and again.

– Risk reduction – Automated website testing can reduce the risk of introducing bugs and issues into the software.

Problems in Automated Website Testing

– Complexity – Automated website testing is complex and requires programming knowledge. You will have to choose the right automation framework and write test scripts accordingly.

• Test maintenance – Test maintenance is a common issue in automated website testing. You will have to update the tests as and when there are changes in the software.

• User acceptance – Automated website testing can be accepted by users only if the test report is generated in a readable format.

• Discoverability – If a test fails, it should provide enough information about the root cause. Otherwise, it will be difficult to diagnose the issue.

• Risk of false positives – Automated website testing might report a false positive error.

• – Test coverage – Test coverage achieved through automated website testing might not be 100%.

• Dependency on programming knowledge – You will have to know the programming language to design and implement automated website testing.

• Readability in the report – The report generated by automated website testing should be readable.

Conclusion

Website testing is a complex process, and it is better to automate it than to do it manually. This will help you save time and money. There are various automation tools you can use for this purpose, such as Selenium, Watir, etc. However, it is important to understand the benefits and issues of automated website testing before you start using it.