Best Practices to Follow for Web Test Automation

Web applications are different from mobile applications and other software. A web app is like a website but behaves like an app. These apps are designed to run on web browsers and are light and function at a much higher speed and consistency when compared to the standard website. With the changing face of software testing – where there is the need for faster testing – calls for the implementation of automation. While there are quite a few good web test automation tools designed for the purpose – like QARA Enterprise, Katalon Studio and Watir – a good tool alone is not enough to get the best results out of the automated process of testing.

To ensure that the web test automation process yields the best results, it is recommended that QA teams follow the best practices. The best practices cover everything from testing for compatibility across different browsers, performance of applications, user experience, data security, and more. The best practices are designed to help QA teams get reliable and accurate results every time.

1] Giving Priority to Cross Browser Compatibility

Today people access websites and web applications from not one but an array of web browsers and their versions. To ensure that this does not come in the way of providing a superior user experience to every user, it is very important to ensure that the web application runs without any bugs or glitches on every web browser, as well as their multiple versions. Also, responsiveness across browsers is another issue that QA teams must take care of when conducting web test automation. A tool like QARA Enterprise that supports testing across multiple browsers can be used to get started with web application testing.

2] Understanding the Importance for Load Testing

While testing across multiple browsers and platforms is one thing that is very important, one should not also forget the importance of ensuring that the web application gives the best performance even under heavy loads. This calls for load testing which ensures there are no faults in the application code that results in its crashing under heavy loads. Load testing ensures that there are no glitches in the app that will lead to it crashing unexpectedly under very heavy loads.

3] Conducting Usability Testing with the Right Set of Parameters

Once the performance of the application is tested for under different browsers as well as different conditions of load, next comes usability testing, which is all about testing the application from the end users’ perspective. Usability testing is very important to ensure users like to spend more time on the app and perform various actions. There are quite a few different parameters defined for usability testing, such as the UI, intuitive design, navigation, font size and font type and so on, and ideally web test automation should focus on it.

4] Giving High Priority to Security Testing

Security testing is the most important aspect when testing any app and web test automation should focus on testing the app for vulnerabilities that can be exploited for data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive information. Since data breaches can cause huge losses to organizations and the repercussions can be truly scary, the best thing is to focus on thorough security testing, so that no flaws in the web app go unnoticed before the app reaches the users.

That was about the key best practices to take note of when performing web test automation. Taking care of these points can go a long way in ensuring that the web app undergoes a thorough testing process and is ready to be launched to the users, who then use the app and like its smooth performance.