5 Reasons to Use Selenium for Web Test Automation

Selenium is the most popular tool when it comes to test automation today. QA teams believe the reason behind the astounding popularity of Selenium is the many features the tool has to offer. Interestingly enough, Selenium is not just widely used by the QA professionals, but also the developers. The high popularity of Selenium and its multiple benefits, has made several new age automation testing tools, adopt a Selenium framework, for web test automation as well as for mobile apps. QARA Enterprise is one such platform that is an advanced test management tool and also offers a desktop as well as web version. Katalon Studio is another platform that supports multiple browsers and platforms and can be used for web and mobile apps.

Before choosing Selenium, every QA professional should know what to expect from this favourite test management tool. This article enlists the top 5 benefits that make professionals choose Selenium.

1] Supports Multiple Languages and Frameworks

The biggest advantage that Selenium offers is that it does not require the user to master Selenium only languages. The platform supports multiple languages which includes Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, C#, and Perl. So, the user has the freedom to write the code in any one of these languages, and Selenium easily converts it into a code it understands. This can be immensely beneficial, because the user is not required to learn an all new programming language in order to use the tool successfully. In addition to this, Selenium also provides a dedicated framework for each one of these languages, which makes writing test cases simple and easy.

2] Supports Multiple Browsers

Another big advantage offered by Selenium is that it supports testing across multiple browsers and this makes the process of web test automation faster. What the community of the platform has achieved is a single test script for all browsers, which means the need to write scripts multiple times is eliminated. The browsers supported currently are Google Chrome, Firefox, IE, Opera, Edge and Safari, along with their versions. This can save time and efforts of the QA professionals to a large extent.

3] Supports Multiple Operating Systems

When a QA team chooses a web test automation tool, the support for multiple browsers is one of the most sought-after features. Selenium is a platform that supports multiple browsers, as well as their versions, which can be a big advantage for web test automation. Windows, Mac OS, Unix and Linux are all supported by Selenium, which increases the scope of testing and at the same time, increases the efficiency of the process.

4] Offers the Advantage of Parallel Execution

When QA professionals are working to meet a tight deadline, there is the need to test more in less time. This is when parallel or grid execution can be a savior. The grid execution feature of Selenium allows multiple executions in parallel, which drastically reduces the total time required. There is the provision to execute across hundreds of browsers at any given time.

5] Offers a Flexible Interface

A flexible interface is another advantage that Selenium offers. With features like refactoring and regrouping available, Selenium redefines flexibility to make test management easier and streamlined. The interface of Selenium is designed to reduce duplication, incorporate quick changes, improving maintainability and more. The flexibility allows QA teams to gain an edge with Selenium.

Conclusion:

Selenium offers many features that are of great help to QA professionals for web test automation. In addition to the ones listed above, there are many other good reasons why QA teams should choose Selenium.