User Interface Testing: A Complete Guide
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What is UI Testing?
User Interface testing, also known as UI testing or GUI testing, tests the application’s visual elements to
validate proper functionality and expected performance. It ensures that UI functions and application
components have no defects, such as icons, radio buttons, text boxes, toolbars, color, fonts, checkboxes,
windows, and menus. The primary aspects of UI testing are functionality, performance, usability,
compliance, and visual design of the software application to make sure the application works
successfully and satisfactorily.
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Why is UI testing important?
UI testing checks how the application handles user actions using input
devices like keyboard and mouse and whether the visual elements are
working and displayed correctly. In addition, it ensures the efficient and
accurate performance of the software application’s UI so that end-users
adopt it quickly and successfully.
A faulty UI does not meet user expectations. It is the only
way to interact with users, and malfunctioning UI may
damage the brand or product adoption. Therefore, it is vital
for organizations developing software applications to
carry out UI testing before releasing it to production.
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1 Regression testing
2 Functional testing
3 Acceptance testing
Types of UI
Tests
Unit Testing
4
Performance Testing
5
GUI Testing
6
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1
Regression Testing
1
Regression testing consists of repeated testing of
the existing features of any tool, application, or
system as it receives new upgrades.
2
Sprint-level regression testing - This type of test
emphasizes on executing the test cases that have
emerged only after the last release.
End-to-end regression testing - This type of test
focuses on covering tests on all core functionalities
present in the product.
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2
Functional Testing
1
Requirements-based functional testing: This
method contains instructions on validating the
software system's functional aspects.
2
Business scenarios-based functional testing: This
method contains instructions on validating the
software system based on business scenarios.
The functional or requirement specifications help
define what QA engineers consider acceptable
while running functional tests.
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3
1
Unit Testing
Unit testing is the cornerstone of software
application development, as it involves the
testing of individual components of a software
application.
2
3
Structural Testing Technique: The structural
testing method is a test that evaluates the
structure of a software application. This test is
often known as white box testing.
Functional Testing Technique: The functional
testing method is a test that aims to verify that
each app feature works as per the requirements of
the software.
Error-based Testing Technique: The error-based
testing technique is an experience-based testing
technique where testers use their experience to
guess the problematic areas of the software
application.
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4
1
Performance Testing
Mobile application performance testing is done
in a simulated environment to determine the
application’s performance and forecast the end
user’s experience after launch.
2
3
Load Testing: This is done to detect the behavior
of the application under peak load and normal load
conditions.
Capacity Tests: This is similar to stress tests and
quantifies the number of users and transactions that
can be supported before the application fails.
Stress Testing: Stress testing is conducted to
check whether the application will withstand the
failures or become vulnerable. If it is the latter, then
to what extent and under what conditions is
something that will be determined.
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1
5
Acceptance Testing
Acceptance testing is used to check how end
users will respond to the final software product.
Usually, this is the last type of testing used before
a software/application is released. Acceptance
testing helps check the app's functionality
concerning business requirements and assess if
it's ready for delivery.
2
3
Alpha Testing: Alpha testing helps validate the
functionality of a new app. The internal staff
carries out alpha tests early on in the development
process. The goal is to identify and eliminate
defects before releasing the software.
Beta Testing: The clients/customers/users run beta
tests. They perform these tests in real environments
before the organization officially releases the
product into the market.
Operational acceptance testing (OAT): It helps
system administrators ensure their systems
continue to work well. They test the backup and
restore features, user management, maintain the
software
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The GUI testing has different approaches:
Manual testing
It creates graphical models describing systems’ behavior. It generates highly efficient test cases
to understand the system performance in detail. The model-based testing follows steps discussed
below:
●
Model building for the system
●
System input determination
●
Verification of the expected output
●
Test execution
●
Checking and validating system output vs. the expected output.
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Benefits of UI Testing
Other than ensuring accurate working of the application’s UI, UI testing offers various benefits, as
discussed below:
Cost reduction
Opportunity cost reduction
Speed
Reproducibility and consistency
Automated testing is inexpensive compared to manual testing
Automated UI testing removes human errors and makes performance
potentially more valuable and creative than manual testing
UI test automation is faster in orders of magnitude than human testers.
Automated UI testing provides consistency and reproducibility compared to
manual human testing.
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Best Practices for UI Testing
Though there is no ideal user interface testing method available, some of the best practices for UI
testing are as follows:
●
TUI testing is valuable, but one should never rely entirely on UI testing. Testers should
always tally the input and output of the UI testing.
●
The tester should investigate particular test cases required in different browsers
instead of applying all possible tests in all target browsers.
●
The naming convention is necessary to make specific tests easier to understand and
track immediately whenever required.
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Checklist for your first test
UI component functionality and its design are multi-faceted. It needs attention to detail, good judgment,
and defined scopes.
●
Positioning, length, size, alignment, and width of all UI elements
●
Data entry in fields for numbers, texts, special and invalid characters
●
Software functionality execution
●
Data type errors
●
Navigation elements
●
Table scrolling
●
Progress bars
●
Error logging
●
Shortcuts and menu items
●
Action buttons
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Conclusion
UI testing is carried out using automated tools and frameworks. UI testing tools are Selenium, QTP,
Ranorex, and Cucumber. Whereas Ui testing framework examples include Serenity, Robot
Framework, Cypress, TestProject.io, Sahi, and so forth. Conclusively, UI testing has become crucial
for today’s software development, and thus one needs to follow specific guidelines while carrying
out UI testing.
Reference URL :headspin.io/blog/ui-testing-a-complete-guide-with-checklists-and-examples
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