UI Testing: A Beginner’s Guide With Checklist and Examples

This model includes all possible interactions with the application’s GUI, such as navigation paths, input fields, and expected outputs. The goal is to use this model to generate test cases automatically, which can then be executed to verify that the application behaves as expected. The need for GUI testing is to make sure that the software application is user-friendly and meets the design expectations. We perform GUI testing to check that the software is easy to use and all the visual elements (like buttons, menus, icons etc.,) are consistent. To the extent possible, keep test cases modular so that they can be performed in any order. This more closely mimics the actual user experience, because users don’t always go through an application in the order that developers expect.

Think of UI as anything that an end-user will interact with when using a piece of software. Every action the user performs on the software is done on its user interface. Some of the challenges we face while performing GUI Testing to ensure a functional and user-friendly interface are as follows. By focusing on these areas during GUI testing, we can help create a polished, user-friendly application that meets users’ expectations and enhances their overall experience. Test scenarios, if used, guide the development of test cases and test scripts.

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It’s a cloud-based platform that simplifies cross-browser testing, easing the pain of testing across a variety of browsers, operating systems, and devices. Real-time testing allows you to interact with your website or web application on different browsers, operating systems, and screen resolutions hosted over the cloud. The first step is to fully understand what the software application is supposed to do. By having a clear picture of the application’s purpose, you can form a strong foundation for your GUI Testing process.

In GUI Testing, all these components — visual, functional, and performance — are evaluated meticulously. It also ensures the application not only works as intended but also offers an enjoyable and accessible experience to all users across all platforms. Without it, we risk launching a product that could fall short of user expectations or be inaccessible to a portion of the user base. The UI is the layer of an app that you can see and interact with, which allows a larger number of people—including non-technical stakeholders—to have a say on how it looks and works.

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Read our comprehensive guide to learn what GUI testing is, how to create an effective GUI test plan, and how to build GUI test cases. By having a clear picture of the application’s purpose, you can form a strong foundation for your GUI Testing process. Moreover, it’s not just about whether things work but also how they work. To break it down, imagine you’re using your favorite mobile app. Every tap you make, every field you fill in, every swipe you take – that’s all part of the GUI.

In manual testing, a tester manually navigates through the application, inspecting the visual elements, and interacting with the software just as a user would. They look out for any visual anomalies, usability issues, or functionality bugs that could mar the user experience. The tester creates tests based on experience and other factors, such as previous results. In exploratory testing, testers have a wide range of flexibility and opportunity. For instance, exploratory testing of web UI testing can reveal hidden test cases as different machines may handle the UI differently.

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That’s why manual testing still has a role to play in the modern software organization. The key is finding the right balance between the manual and the automated approaches. The main advantage of this approach is that it doesn’t require coding skills, which lowers the barrier for its use. The most cited con of record-and-replay tests is their fragility. However, manual testing still has a role to play in a modern testing strategy.

• The ultimate aim is to unearth defects, inconsistencies, or usability issues that could potentially compromise the application’s performance or user satisfaction.
• Designs like MVP and MVC typically try to abstract as much logic out of the actual GUI as possible.
• But in the context of the UI testing challenges you’ve just seen, it should be obvious that favoring codeless tools helps you dramatically reduce the costs of creating test cases.
• This might involve fixing bugs, tweaking the interface, or improving performance.
• In addition, a single page contains hundreds of elements required to create a complete website.

User interface testing procedure will vary based on the size of your team and the project. We outline the typical procedure for carrying out efficient UI testing below. You can either stick to the process gui software testing exactly or modify it to fit your particular team structure and company demands. You can use a test scenario to specify how a web application or website behaves or interacts in real-world situations.

Best Practices for Writing GUI Test Cases

In the case of a cloud-based shopping application, don’t write one large test case for buying an item. Instead, create separate test cases for events such as searching for items, adding items to a cart, deleting items from a cart, and updating the quantity of items in the cart. Scripted testing requires a lot of up-front planning, which can cause time pressure, especially in agile development environments. More importantly, studies have suggested that the rigid structure of test scripts may cause testers to miss defects that would be uncovered by exploratory testing.

Given this information, a testing team can create a test charter for exploratory testing, test scenarios, test cases, and test scripts for scripted testing. Although this GUI testing method does not use detailed test scripts, it still uses pre-planning. For example, in session-based exploratory testing, testers create a document called a test charter to set goals for the planned tests and set a time frame for a period of focused exploratory testing.

It serves as a robust framework for testing web applications across various browsers and platforms. Selenium’s primary function is to automate interactions with a web application’s user interface, mimicking the actions of a user as they navigate through the application. It can click buttons, fill out forms, submit data, and verify that the application responds correctly. Testers freely navigate through the UI, clicking buttons, entering data, and exploring different user flows, all while actively searching for issues, inconsistencies, or unexpected behaviors.

For example, if a button does not respond when clicked, or if the text is hard to read because of the wrong color or size, users might not be able to use the application effectively. Therefore, GUI testing is crucial to ensure that the application is easy to navigate, visually appealing, and functions well under different conditions. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) allows users to interact with computers using graphical icons and visual elements like buttons, menus, and icons. Instead of typing commands (using interface like Command Line Interface (CLI)), users can click on images and text on the screen to perform tasks. Before writing test cases, it is important to have a test plan that identifies the resources available for testing and that prioritizes areas of the application to be tested.

Fighting and Beating the Main User Interface Testing Challenges

Test plans can be text documents, or you can use a test management tool to develop the test plan and to support analysis and reporting. There are many such tools available, including free server- and cloud-based tools. In the absence of a formal management tool, it is not uncommon to use a spreadsheet to track the progress of testing.