NewAutomationWorld

Exploratory Testing is a powerful concept for effective software testing. It helps in uncovering defects which are not captured normally in scripted testing. Needless to say, it’s vital part of overall testing activities in a project. And it can be made easier using an awesome Google Chrome extension covered in this post. This extension provides enough features for end-to-end web exploratory testing, right from idea capturing to report generation. Below are the highlights of those features. Capture ideas, notes and questions. Report bugs with URL tracking. Take screenshots. Comprehensive and graphical report. Export result in CSV or HTML format. We have been using this extension quite frequently nowadays and found it very helpful. After installing, it sits in your browser’s menu bar as an icon. You can start using it immediately from there. We basically fire up this extension in Google Chrome browser and start our testing session. A session could be an end-to-end scenari

First step for every professional starting with software testing is to learn manual testing. There are various options available for tester to improve in that front. Some good books are one of them. Below are some good manual testing books one can refer as reference for his/her testing activities. We have compiled a list based on various aspects of manual software testing such as UI testing, browser compatibility testing, Mobile testing and behavioral aspects of good manual testing. So without further ado, take a look at the list below. A Step-by-Step Guide to Cross-Browser Testing –  Download link What if. A question every tester must ask –  Download link UI and UX Testing Ready Reckoner –  Download link Mobile Testing Ready Reckoner –  Download link Manual Testing Help –  Download link We hope these books will be helpful to improve your manual testing skills. Share with us if you know more such books.

Generally in software testing life cycle, test plan writing is starting point of all the QA activities in the project. Needless to say it’s one of the most important activities among all. Hence, a detailed knowledge of test plan is essential for a software test professional. In this article, we have explored test plan writing in detailed level. Definition:  As  WikiPedia  puts it, “A test plan is a document detailing a systematic approach to testing a system such as a machine or software. The plan typically contains a detailed understanding of the eventual workflow.” To extend upon it, test plan contains coverage, scope, tools, testing approach, risks, schedules and pretty much everything which may come up during software testing activities in project. The idea is to follow the guidelines in structured manner keeping all requirements in mind. Who prepares it? Test plan writing is an activity typically done by test lead/manager with significant inputs from test enginee

Verification and Validations are terms which induces confusion among software testers. Here in this post, we have tried to simplify the jargon and give you a clear picture of difference between Verification and Validation. We will take an example of car manufacturing process to distinguish between these two terms. Before we delve deep into it, let’s understand that Verification and validation are independent procedures that are used together for checking that a product, service, or system meets requirements and specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose. So, these two procedures go hand-in-hand to ensure system quality. With this fundamental in mind now, let’s take an example of car manufacturing process. Once car is manufactured in assembly, it is tested in lab conditions and road conditions. Lab conditions verifies that car is made as per its design specifications and is working as expected. However, road conditions test will determine how car will be working in r

Just as effective software testing is important, test reporting is equally valuable in overall QA activities. Test report or test summary report is prepared at the end of every QA cycle. This report highlights facts, risks, accomplishments and important events of the QA cycle. In this post, we will explore about effective test report preparation. \\\ Test summary report is the component that informs key project stakeholders of the critical aspects of the project’s status. It also outlines if current test cycle is successful of not. Test report typically contains below components. Project Name:  Name of the project. Release Number:  This should contain release/build number for which the test summary report is being prepared. Typically it is same as the release number received in current cycle’s release note. Tested Items:  This section contains items which are tested as part of test execution cycle. List down all the modules which have been released in current build and whic

Software testers often feels the need to record their test steps. This helps in reproducing their bugs. But what if there is no recording tool readily available at your disposal? If you are using Windows 7 or above, Problem Steps Recorder tool is an answer. Read on to find out more about this. Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) captures the steps performed by the user on an application as a set of screen shots with a text description of where they clicked. The capture can be saved as a file that can be used to reproduce and troubleshoot the problem. This tool is built in for Windows 7 and above operating systems. You can start this tool by going to Start Menu and typing ‘psr’ query. Start recording by clicking ‘Start Record’ option. Now perform the steps to reproduce your problem. The Problem Steps recorder will capture all the steps performed by you and log information such as mouse clicks, text entered, program opening, closing, etc. Click ‘Stop Record’ option once you are done wit

A software tester should always validate web page of application under test. Validation is important as it will ensure that your web pages are interpreted in the same way by various machines, such as search engines, as well as users of the system. This post explains how we can leverage Total Validator tool for web page validation purpose. Total Validator is an (X)HTML validator, an accessibility validator, a spell checker, and a broken links checker all rolled into one tool allowing one-click validation of a website. Basic version of this tool is free to use with following features. HTML validation against the W3C Markup Standards Accessibility validation against the WCAG (1.0 and 2.0) and the US Section 508 standards A broken links checker A spell checker covering English (American and British), French, Italian, Spanish, and German languages. The Pro tool provides additional features such as: Validate an entire website, or more than one site, in one go CSS validation ag

Nobody likes a broken link on a website. It hampers the user experience. And user may leave your site in favor of another if they encounter 404 page. It also affects the website’s search engine ranking because both users and search engines consider broken links as unprofessional. Therefore, it is wise for testers to check broken links in websites they are testing. Xenu’s Link Sleuth  is a free tool which checks for broken links in a website. And in a dead easy way. It scans entire website for broken links. Link verification is done on links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets and Java applets. At the end, it generates a report of the test run. We will see how to use this tool to check for broken links on this website. Perform below steps for it. Download Xenu’s Link Sleuth. Extract it and run a setup. Open the program, enter website URL and click OK button. It will start checking for broken links on site/URL. At the end a report is generat