DEV Community: Glenn Henderson

Alpha vs Beta Testing

Glenn Henderson — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 13:38:58 +0000

"Alpha and beta testing are two of the most important testing techniques of software testing life cycle and are conducted at almost the end of the testing cycle. The quality, functionality, accessibility, usability and scalability of the software application or product can be thoroughly assessed and enhanced through the implementation of these two key testing types. The final product that is being released in the marketplace has to go through alpha and beta testing in order to ensure that a product is user-friendly and can be easily used by the customers. In this article, you will get a brief idea about alpha and beta testing."

1. What is Alpha testing?

It is a testing method that is performed to find and fix bugs before the software is going to be released. This test is conducted before the beta test. The aim of this testing method is to identify bugs that were not found in the previous tests and fix them at the earliest. Testers and developers are given the responsibility to test the product in this testing phase.
Alpha testing process:

Following are the steps involved in the alpha testing process:

• Design review: The design of the functional and specification requirement is reviewed

• Develop test case and test plan: Based on the requirement review outcomes, test development takes place. The test case and test plan are developed

• Test case execution: the test cases and test plan are executed

• Identifying defects: Logging the identified bugs that have been found in the application

• Fixing bugs: When all the bugs are logged and identified, then the process of fixing those bugs takes place

• Retesting: When all the relevant testing related issues are fixed and solved, then retesting is done.

The two phases of alpha testing:

In the first phase, in-house developers and testers will test the product by focusing on finding bugs as quickly as possible. In this phase, documents, missing features and bugs are found.

The second phase is where the software is passed on to the QA team for the purpose of conducting additional testing. The application of black box and white box techniques is involved in this phase.
This testing method is often conducted for Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software, more like a sort of internal acceptance testing.

2. What is beta testing?

It is a type of user acceptance testing that is performed just before the software product is being released. Real users are involved in this testing method as they are given the responsibility to test the product in a real-time environment and provide their valuable feedback. The functionality, usability and accessibility of a software product are checked.
Points to be considered before performing a beta test:

Following are some of the important points that need to be taken into consideration before a beta test is performed:

• The product component is ready to undergo the testing phase

• The end-user documentation must contain all the important aspects of testing such as installation, uninstallation, setup, usage etc.

• The product functionality should be reviewed by the product management team in order to ascertain whether it is in a good condition so that it can be effectively used by the end-users for the purpose of testing

• Before publishing the product, identification of a proper methodology to collect feedback, bugs, etc., needs to take place.

Beta version of the software:

There are two types of beta versions which are as follows:

• Closed beta version: It is also known as private beta, wherein a group of selected people are invited to test the software product and thus evaluate the specifications and features.

• Open beta version: It is also known as public beta, where the product can be tested by the public in general. Any end-user can try and assess the beta version of the product and provide their feedback and reviews. The quality of the final release can be improved through this version and also undetected issues and errors can be found in this version.

Conclusion: If you are looking for strategic consultation for alpha or beta testing or both, then do get connected with a top-notch software testing services company that will provide you a methodical framework that is in line with your project requirements.

Best User Testing Tips 2020-21

Glenn Henderson — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 12:11:48 +0000

"User testing is an important testing technique and it might seem time-consuming and expensive at first but incorporating user testing in your software development process can make a huge difference. It helps in taking feedback from real users during the design phase itself which in turn reduces the chances and costs involved with changing the major product functionalities at the end of product development. The end-result of user testing is a high-quality product that interacts with users as expected."

What is User Testing?

User testing also known as usability testing is a testing technique performed during the design stage of the product. The main aim of this test is to evaluate the product, its feature, or prototype with end-users.

User testing when done thoroughly takes the form of a one-to-one interview with the end-user and is conducted by a qualified and skilled UX researcher. The feedback received from the end-user helps in making the product more reliable and successful.

What are the best User Testing Tips for 2020-2021?

Test early

By testing early it becomes more easy and convenient to implement the changes as per the feedback received from the end-user. Don’t wait for the whole product to be developed first, as it will only increase the cost of changing the features of the product at the end of product development stage. Start your test on mock-ups or semi-functional prototypes.

Clearly state the objectives of the test

Clearly define and state the objective of the test. Unclear goals act as a hurdle in achieving the desired result. Before starting the test make sure that you ask questions to yourself like ‘what do I want to achieve from this test’? Prepare questionnaires or survey based on this objective.

Do not ask close-ended questions

Make sure that you ask minimum possible close-ended questions (YES/NO) as they have a limited scope of explanation. Try to ask as many open-ended questions as you can as they will allow clear explanation and you can get to discover opinions that you never thought of. Open-ended questions will make you get a clearer picture of the user’s perspective.

Don’t be biased

Make sure that you give full authority to the people who are going to test your product. Do not interfere or overpower your thoughts or opinions on them. Listen carefully and patiently to their feedbacks. Never ask biased questions that bound the users to answer in one particular way. Always remember that you are conducting this test to know their opinions.

Test with real users

This is the most tricky and difficult part. Finding the right set of people who will actually use your product and are unbiased too is very difficult. Make sure that you conduct this test with real users, other than your family, friends, or relatives. The users should be unknown so that you can receive unbiased and genuine response/feedback.

Go slow and steady

Don’t be in a hurry to ask everything about the product in one session. Make sure that you focus on major things first. Don’t be in a hurry to solve everything at once. Give time to the user to understand the product and then answer your questions. Fix the major issues work, retest, and check how it works, take feedback and iterate accordingly.

Conclusion

Today the quality of a software product is decided by its usability. If your websites, apps are not delivering a seamless experience to customers then it is more likely that you will face many challenges. To overcome these challenges, user testing is conducted. It helps in getting real-time feedback from the real user which helps in making a more reliable and high-quality product.

Tips to Perform Smoke Testing

Glenn Henderson — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 14:36:36 +0000

What is smoke testing?

Smoke testing is also known as ‘Build Verification Testing’. It is a type of software testing method that validates that the deployed software build is stable or not and checks that the most important features work as expected. If the smoke test fails then it is very likely the build is immediately rejected by the QA team and is not sent further for release. As QA teams are involved in this process, the test is done in a QA environment, to ensure that the product is stable and fully functional.

Smoke test has got its name from a hardware testing type where a smoke test is performed on pipelines to check whether it catches fire when it is turned on for the first time.

What are some of the tips to perform smoke testing?

Test early

It is better to start the test as early as possible. You can start smoke test during the requirement gathering stage by defining the critical points you want in the application. Later you can expand the test by adding new test cases. In this way, you will be verifying critical points of application at every stage.

Clearly define the scope of the test

Smoke test is performed to check the most important and basic feature of the product. Therefore while defining the scope of the test you should keep only the most critical functionalities of application in test scope. For eg, If you are planning to develop an e-commerce application, the main functionality that test scope should concern is the login logout feature, add to cart functionality.

Smoke test should be executed quickly

Since the smoke test is conducted to check the main critical functionalities and confirm whether it is worth to continue testing further or not, it is advisable to complete a smoke test within one hour. Although there is no such definate time limit for smoke test.

Automate smoke test wherever possible

As you will move further with product build and smoke test you will arrive at a constant smoke test set. Consider automating the smoke test wherever possible to save time and effort.

Maintain a test repository

It is very important to maintain a repository for smoke tests as you will be conducting smoke tests cyclically. To reduce the effort of creating the smoke test cases from scratch every time you run the test, it is essential to create a repository and use an already existing set. Whenever the changes are made to software it is essential to review and update smoke test cases.

Use appropriate tools

Whether you perform smoke test manually or automate the test, it is very essential to determine the best tool for smoke test that suits your requirements and expectations and delivers expected results. A well-choosen tool is very important for the success of smoke test.

Conclusion:

To beat the competition, today companies need quality products in the form of high-performing web and mobile apps. Software testing is essential to achieve quality products. There are various types of software testing, namely unit testing, system testing, integration testing, security testing, smoke testing, interface testing, and many more. Smoke testing plays an important role among these testing methods as it is conducted on each new build to verify whether the build is broken or can be moved further for testing.

Performance Testing Vs Load Testing Vs Stress Testing

Glenn Henderson — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 14:13:57 +0000

Performance is one of the key factors for a business to be successful. And, to make this assured, teams always make sure to do performance testing, load testing, and stress testing. Though load testing and stress testing fall under the performance testing, all three practices are given huge importance to ensure a business is successful by meeting the requirements of both end-users and stakeholders.

Thus, teams should have a clear understanding of these testing methods, so that it becomes easier for the teams in preferring the right test practice in different load situations.

What is Performance Testing?

Performance testing is a subset of Performance Engineering and a superset of load testing and stress testing. It is performed in order to validate how the system components function when they are under a workload.

In this method, the scalability, responsiveness, ability, and resource usage of the application are validated. Performance testing doesn’t help in identifying defects or bugs, but it helps in identifying and resolving the performance bottlenecks in the application.

When performance testing should be performed?

⦁ It should be performed to validate the performance of the website, or application or networks, servers, databases, etc.

⦁ For agile teams, performing testing should be a continuous testing process

⦁ For the teams following the traditional waterfall model, performance testing should be performed each time when a version is released

What is Load Testing?

Load testing is one of the performance testing types. It is performed by constantly increasing load until the app reaches its threshold limit. With this load testing method, testers can easily identify bugs related to memory leakage, buffer overflow, etc. And, this is performed to identify the highest limit of application components such as network, hardware, database, etc.

When load testing should be performed?

⦁ This load testing method is performed for validating how many users the application supports

⦁ Load testing helps in validating how the load behaves for sustaining in the application

⦁ Load testing is preferred to be a continuous process and due to this, it is often integrated with continuous integration tools such as Taurus, Jenkins, etc.

What is Stress Testing?

Stress testing is also a subset of performance testing that is used for testing the robustness and stability of a software application. The objective of this testing helps in validating how the application works under a heavy workload.

When stress testing should be performed?

⦁ Stress testing should be performed regularly to understand the endurance capabilities of the system

⦁ Stress testing is very important and it should be performed with priority especially when there are major events ahead such as Black Friday, Special Discount Sales, etc.

⦁ Stress testing is very essential to be prepared for unexpected traffic

Conclusion:

Performance testing is one of the very important non-functional testing methods that help in validating the speed, scalability, and responsiveness of the application during any workload. Load testing and Stress testing are subsets of performance testing; and these play a very crucial role in enhancing businesses.

The above-mentioned information is helpful in understanding the definitions and when performance testing, load testing, and stress testing should be performed.

Best practices for Testers to succeed in the age of Digital Transformation?

Glenn Henderson — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:30:22 +0000

Digitalization is the new trending word for many big and small businesses. This journey of digital transformation is changing the entire business strategy and making them move around the latest technologies and innovations.

Also, the transformation has changed the way of customer interaction and enterprises are in the need for redefining the business strategies for proper and continuous engagement between customers. This rapid change is even affecting the traditional testing strategies and thus, testers are in need of certain best practices for delivering quality assured applications.

Best practices for testers to succeed in the age of digital transformation

Increase Agility in the business:

The digital revolution is bringing up several new technologies into the frame. And, to compete with these changes, the teams are required to be more active and quick to learn. To be successful in this digital transformed system, it has become important for the teams to be more modern and agile. This will help them to survive in the modern era and also to accelerate business.

Increase the importance of QA:

With new technologies all around, new testing challenges are effectively raising for QA teams as well. The development cycles are becoming shorter and the pressure is increasing on the QA teams as it has become crucial to ensure that the applications are working fine on various devices and platforms. Thus, QA teams have to maintain a balance in optimizing test requirements and to increase the speed of testing.

Increase the effectiveness of testing with Automation: Automation has been playing a crucial role from much longer time in the software testing lifecycle (STLC). And, for modern enterprises, the importance and need have grown exponentially.

Automation has become a key to enhance the effectiveness of testing. It is no more an only part of executing test cases, it should be practiced from requirements analysis to reporting. Also, automation testing should be deployed at the earliest in order to optimize and accelerate testing.

Maintain an Automation Strategy: Always plan and determine your automation goals and then implement an automation strategy that helps in achieving the required results.

Identify the tasks and steps at the earliest: In order to have a successful automation process, it is essential to identify the tasks and steps at the initial stages. This will serve as a guide and help the teams throughout the process.

Have Skilled Resources for testing: To process automation testing, along with the best test practices, it is essential to have skilled resources that are capable to perform automation with a clear understanding of the business requirements.

Conclusion:

With enterprises moving to different development strategies, the workflow of test engineers is drastically changing. One of the major differences is with the move to virtual platforms. By moving to different environments, the business strategies are effectively getting changed and this is resulting in new difficulties to the IT teams, mainly to the testing teams. Thus, to ensure this change to virtual platforms is working fine by meeting the requirements of both business and customer needs, it is essential for the teams to practice certain best practices as stated above. Leverage digital testing services from next-gen QA testing service provider to deliver applications that function well and succeed in the present age of digital transformation.

About the Author:

I am a technical content writer, interested in writing articles on the latest IT related topics. In this article, I have tried to share my thoughts on the best practices that help the testers to succeed in the age of digital transformation.

Tips for Selecting Test Cases for Regression Testing

Glenn Henderson — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 12:35:14 +0000

Code changes or improvements or updates are common practices performed for web, desktop, and mobile applications. Every time the application undergoes changes, the better it becomes and also requires the regression testing.

Regression testing is the testing process that helps to verify if the code changes in the software have not resulted in any impact on the existing features and functionalities of the product. This process effectively helps in ensuring a proper workflow of the software system. Thus, to ensure this testing process is more efficient, teams have to select the right regression test cases by following certain guidelines.

Enterprises often plan to advance the application in order to improve the app quality and enhance user satisfaction. When a new update or change is made to the application, there is a major need for the testing teams to perform regression testing.

Yes, regression testing is one of the functional testing types that helps in verifying if the changes made to the code have not impacted on the already existing functionalities of the application.

Regression testing is a very essential testing process to ensure the app is working fine even after changes made. If this testing process is neglected, then this can terminate the complete workflow of the system and affect the goodwill of the organization. Thus, it is vital for the QA teams to perform regression testing by following certain crucial tips in selecting the test cases for regression testing.

What is Regression Testing?

Regression testing is one of the software testing processes that helps to validate if any changes or modifications made to the software have not affected the already existing features and functionalities of the application.

This testing process has crucial importance in the software development lifecycle (SDLC) as it helps in ensuring that the core functionalities of the application are unaffected when there is addition of new features.

What are the 5 major Tips for Selecting Test cases for Regression Testing?

Choose Test cases with Frequent Bugs and Defects:

While planning to perform regression testing, test engineers have to choose the test cases where are there are more frequent defects or bugs. Even a small change in the code can affect the software and result in multiple issues, thus make sure to select the test cases that are having frequent bugs.

Select the Test cases with recent changes:

Regression testing comes into action only when there is a change made. Hence, always choose the test cases with modifications made in the code or application functionality. Also, while choosing, ensure to select the test cases even with small changes because even the minute can affect the complete system functionality.

Choose the test cases based on the impact of the bugs:

When the impact of fixing the bugs is low, then testers can select the high priority test cases for the impacted functionalities. But, if the criticality for the bug fixes is very high, then it is essential for the teams to choose all the test cases including high, medium, and low.

Select the test cases validating the core functionalities:

Before planning for test cases, the most important step is identifying the core functionalities of the application. The core functionality test cases must include all the functionalities as stated in the requirement document. Also, make use of the traceability matrix so that it helps in assuring all the main requirements are tested.

Consider all integration test cases:

Though integration testing is a different testing process from regression testing, it is important to include integration test cases in the regression test suite. This will help in eliminating the integration issues in the interfaces, i.e. data transferring issues from one module to another module.

Conclusion:

Regression testing is a crucial testing process in SDLC, especially for agile approaches. Almost every enterprise around the globe is now shifting towards agile development methodology and this is ultimately driving more importance to regression testing. Considering regression testing in agile helps the development teams in validating every new functionality and assures the software is continuously tested after every modification.

Thus, to make this regression testing process more efficient, it is vital to consider certain tips as mentioned above. Leverage regression testing services from next-gen QA testing services provider to ensure the changes made in the code are not affecting the system.

About the Author:

I am a technical content writer, interested in writing articles on the latest IT-related topics. In this article, I have tried to share my views on regression testing and the 5 tips for choosing the test cases for the regression test suite.

Top 10 Codeless Testing Tools 2020 You'd Better Know

Glenn Henderson — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 12:09:25 +0000

1. Katalon studio

It is the most widely used open-source test automation tool that can be used to test both web and mobile applications. This tool can be used together with Appium and Selenium.

It primarily helps to quickly generate automated tests cross-platform and seamlessly integrates into CI/CD pipeline. Some of its features include an integrated development environment, a base level object repository, object spy and a typical browser plugin, etc.

2. TestCraft

TestCraft was introduced as an end-to-end automation testing platform for regression and continuous testing. Like other codeless testing tools with the Record and Playback feature, the tool also provides a test script with inputs coded beforehand that needs to be customized later.

3. Perfecto

Perfecto is a leading testing platform for web and mobile applications. It is used for hassle-free device testing of mobile apps, and delivers comprehensive mobile test coverage. With respect to web testing, it ensures test execution that is 50% faster and supports a unified web and mobile web testing.

4. TestComplete

It is an automated UI testing tool that helps to create, maintain, and execute functional test cases across the web, desktop, and mobile applications. Also, it offers several test automation capabilities such as scripted testing, keyword testing, data-driven testing, and easily integrates with bug tracking software.

5. Sikuli

Sikuli is a scripting language that can be used to take up automated software testing of graphical user interfaces (GUI) using the screenshot images of the software under test. This tool can be used to check and validate different aspects of applications such as functional testing, security testing and database testing.

6. Mabl

Mabl is considered as one of the simplest SaaS solutions that integrate automated end-to-end testing into the entire software development life cycle due to wide coverage of web browser automation.

This is a unified DevTestOps platform for both Developers and Testers to simply but quickly generate and execute automated functional UI tests at scale. You can write scriptless code by simply fetching data using the user’s recorded actions.

7. Eggplant
It is an AI assisted tool to ensure rapid release of applications. This tool provides developers and testers with software to create, schedule and execute automated testing and debugging tasks on a variety of mobile platforms.

Eggplant meets today’s continuous delivery expectations and provides a scalable platform for test automation. Eggplant can test any technology on any device, OS, or browser or any layer from the UI to APIs to the database.

8. Usetrace

Usetrace is a codeless regression automation testing software that automates cloud-based computers to test applications and websites. These computers automatically repeat the traces of customers' usage using record and playback, drag and drop interface — real-time on most used browsers.

10. Ranorex

Ranorex is one of the most comprehensive GUI test automation frameworks for Desktop (Windows only), Web, and Mobile testing. The tool well supports both newbie and experienced users via its flexible customization capability. Ranorex can be integrated with many technologies such as Silverlight, .NET, Winforms, Java, HTML5, Windows apps, iOS, and Android. However, it does not support macOS, Android web-based, and hybrid testing applications. Also, it only supports C# and VB.NET Shop languages

You can also read 70+ Software Testing Tools List here.

References:
https://dzone.com/articles/2020-and-top-codeless-testing-tools-youd-better-kn
https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/test-automation-guide

Types of Agile Methodologies for Software Development

Glenn Henderson — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 12:29:37 +0000

"The present business era is in need of software that is released faster and successfully meets the needs of both client and customer. In order to achieve this, it becomes a major requirement for the teams to focus on continuous development and continuous testing. Thus, enterprises are required to adopt agile methodologies that promotes iterative and incremental approach. After the intro of this methodology, it has drawn a new development and testing phase for the software industry. Also, with its agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, crystal, etc. the methodology is laying down several benefits for the teams."

The businesses of today are effectively in need of software that is assured with quality and meets the customer requirements. In order to make this achieved, enterprises are in need of certain practices that relate to continuous testing and team collaboration. These not only help to enhance software quality but also improve business growth. And, agile methodology is the concept that helps the teams to succeed.

This methodology has grown successfully at a faster pace and it is helping many teams to reach their business targets, user expectations with its iterative development. The best practices and its wide range of agile methodologies are effectively helping many teams to excel in their software delivery process.

What is Agile Methodology?

Agile is the modern approach to the software development lifecycle that effectively promotes continuous iteration of testing and development. The rise of this agile methodology has successfully helped in overcoming the drawbacks of the traditional waterfall model. Unlike the sequential process, agile proposes for incremental and iterative approach and thus helps the testing and development teams to work together.

This approach has successfully laid out many benefits such as faster development, improved customer engagement, increment in productivity, maintenance of a collaborative environment, enhanced transparency, etc. Agile methodology is eliminating the longer time requirements and ultimately helping to achieve software that is quality assured. Also, with its eminent agile methodologies, this modern approach is undoubtedly providing more scope for the software teams.

What are its various agile methodologies ?

Scrum: Scrum is the most used agile methodology by many teams. This agile development method explicitly focuses on managing tasks in a team-based development environment. Scrum is revolved around three teams – Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Scrum team.

Kanban: This is a visual workflow management method that is mostly used by Lean teams. Similar to Scrum, Kanban even promotes the teams to work together efficiently. It promotes learning, improvement, and continuous collaboration.

Crystal: This method comprises several agile models such as crystal yellow, crystal clear, crystal orange, etc. It effectively focuses on business priority and business criticality of the system under development.

Lean Software Development: This is an iterative agile methodology that includes principles such as elimination of the waste, empowerment of the team, faster delivery, empowerment of the teams, etc.

Extreme Programming (XP): This is a high-quality agile software development that effectively focuses on continuous delivery with speed. These practices efficiently support the team to form a framework that assures to have high-quality enterprise software.

Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM): This DSDM methodology assures in providing a comprehensive foundation for managing, executing, planning, scaling agile test practices with iterative software development projects.

Conclusion:

Agile methodology is the modern approach to the SDLC that is helping teams to perform continuous testing, continuous delivery for achieving quality software at a faster pace. The above-mentioned are the agile methodologies that have effectively helped in redefining the work of the software industry. Leverage agile testing practices from next-gen testing services providers to enhance the software delivery process.

About the Author:

I am a technical content writer, interested in writing articles on the latest IT related topics. In this article, I have tried to share my views on the different types of agile methodologies.

How to make website accessible with Web Accessibility Testing?

Glenn Henderson — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 14:35:11 +0000

Web Accessibility is one of the most important challenges for software in the present world. An accessible web application can help enterprises to achieve many benefits such as more number of visitors, helps to maintain user-satisfaction, enables the web content accessible for all users with disabilities, etc. However, leverage accessibility testing, it is essential to consider certain best ways such that it helps in making the web application accessible.

Every enterpriser aims for having a web application that is successful and attracts as many as visitors. But, to make this ensured, there are a number of measures to be taken up for making a website accessible. Maintaining an accessible website is not challenging when teams can understand every issue or the bug that can be an obstacle while performing accessibility testing.

By having an overview of the issues or the bugs, it becomes easier for the teams to find ways that can help in achieving accessible web applications. Accessibility testing has huge importance for a user-friendly web application, hence, teams understand their users and follow the best ways to make a web application accessible.

What is Accessibility Testing?

Accessibility Testing is one of the types of software testing. By performing this type of testing, teams can ensure that the web application is accessible for people with disabilities such as deafness, blindness, color blindness, etc.

There are a number of accessibility testing tools such as WAVE, aDesigner, JAWS, AChecker, Web Acc Checker, etc., used by the testing teams for performing web accessibility testing.

5 Ways to Make a Web Application Accessible

Avoid direct navigation and media: Enabling direct playing of media files can cause dissatisfaction among and it can even annoy them in certain instances with huge loading time. Also, by playing media directly can cause difficulty to close when using a screen reader. Hence, the best practice is to avoid automatic navigation as this can create frustration and dissatisfaction among the users.
Make use of ARIA Tag: ARIA or the Accessible Rich Internet Applications is a set of HTML attribute that can help in making web content and web application accessible for disabilities. By using these special accessibility HTML attributes, it becomes easier to add them for any markup. Also, the ARIA attributes help in identifying the active and inactive state of objects.
Ensure Keyboard Navigation: Anything that is on the website is essential to be accessed with the keyboard. Thus, there shouldn’t be any type of mess created with navigation buttons.
Make use of better tables: It is a good practice to add captions with the help of caption tags for tables. This will help in easy understanding with the help of screen readers. Also, by adding the “scope” element, screen readers can rattle off a series of table cells.
Ensure Colour is not the only mode to convey: Depending completely on color for identifying the required fields is not a good method of accessibility testing. This way of using colors without considering any alternative methods to convey information can raise issues for people with color blindness and the ones using a screen reader. Hence, ensure to use alternative methods along with color to convey information.

Conclusion:

Web Accessibility Testing is one of the important practices to ensure that a developed application is quality-ensured and is easily accessible for all users with disabilities. Accessibility testing ensures to provide a good number of benefits for users and enterprises.

But, to achieve these successful goals, before planning for the accessibility testing, the teams are required to find the best ways that can enhance the testing practice. Leverage accessibility testing services from next-gen testing services provider to make your web application accessible by using the latest and best accessibility testing practices.

Agile Methodology : What you Need to Know

Glenn Henderson — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 08:50:55 +0000

Agile Methodology is the modern approach to software development and it is successfully helping many enterprises to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional waterfall model, which is a sequential process. Though the waterfall model is still being used by few small enterprises, agile methodology has become a key for many big enterprises to achieve faster delivery, to maintain team collaboration, and to handle with every change. Also, this way of being agile is helping the enterprises to lead the business markets with enhanced user-satisfaction.

Today’s businesses are effectively in need of rapid developments, faster deliveries, and services for their users. This is the most important need in order to perform better than competitors and succeed in the market. And, this can be achieved when teams adopt Agile Methodology. Agile is the modern and iterative approach of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). Unlike the traditional waterfall model, the agile methodology helps faster delivery of software, maintains team collaboration, and as well as handles every change.

Thus, to compete and meet the ever-changing demands of the users, it is essential for enterprises to understand and adopt the modern Agile Methodology.

What is Agile Methodology?

The agile methodology is the modern approach to software development with the idea of iterative development. With this methodology, enterprises can overcome the difficulties raised with the sequential Waterfall model such as the inability to accommodate the required changes, the dependency on each phase to move for the next stage, etc.

Agile methodology is the concept that helps in maintaining proper collaboration between the functional teams and the product owner. It is very flexible and helps the teams to change in any phase. Thus, agile methodology is important for the teams for achieving faster deliverables, the capability to change, and deliver quality-assured software for the users.

What is an agile manifesto?

The history of agile was started in 2001 by a group of developers. After considering the reactions with the waterfall model, a group of 17 technologists has considered The Manifesto for Agile Software Development. The technologists have focused on 4 major principles for agile project management and this effectively help for developing the best software.

Here are the 4 major principles agile methodology focuses on as per the Agile Manifesto:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

Other principles include:

• Agile methodology continuously focuses on technical excellence and enhances designs
• Assures to satisfy the needs of customers with early and continuous delivery of the software
• Welcomes all the change requirements even at the last stage of development, etc.

What is agile project management?

Agile Project Management is the process, where teams manage a project by breaking it into several small stages. Now, these stages are constantly evolved with continuous improvement and iteration and constant collaboration with stakeholders in each stage.

What are the various Agile Methodology Frameworks?

There are a number of agile methodology frameworks such as
Kanban, Scrum, Adaptive Project Framework (APF), Extreme Project Management (XPM), Crystal, Feature Driven Development, Lean Software Development, etc.

Among these many agile frameworks, Scrum is the most popular one, where cross-functional teams with minimum team members are led by a Scrum Master. The Scrum Master notably works in a way to clear all the obstacles that are abiding to complete the work.

With a motto of “inspect and adapt”, work is succeeded in short cycles or sprints. And, these teams meet daily for discussing about the tasks.

Conclusion:

To meet the ever-changing demands of users and compete with the competitors, it is essential for enterprises to be agile by adopting the agile methodologies. With agile methodology, teams can effectively deliver faster, achieve quality-results and as well as have the capability to change as the need for requirements.

The above-mentioned information is about agile methodology, which is the modern approach to software development. Leverage agile methodology services from next-gen QA services provider and thus benefit with faster delivery of software.

Manual Testing versus Automated Testing

Glenn Henderson — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 12:22:06 +0000

"Enterprises planning to build efficient websites or applications should know the right balance of automated testing and manual testing. This is an essential requirement as it helps them to develop bug-free applications, quality-assured, have to ability to fulfill the needs of every user, and help in saving the business expenses. Hence, to achieve these complete sets of advantages, it is important for the QA teams to understand what manual testing and automation testing is and when they are essential for the teams."

When planning to perform software testing, the common discussions that arise among the QA teams is about manual and automated testing. Both the testing types are having significant importance and as well as hold different views among the teams.

When comparing these two methods, automation testing can ensure to provide the most benefits than manual testing. However, it doesn’t mean automation testing is the only requirement for testing software. Manual testing and automation testing are effectively needed for achieving a quality-assured software.

But, there are a few differences that should be known by every team member, as being aware of them will help in understanding when to use the right methodology to achieve the complete benefits.

What is Automation Testing?

Automation Testing is the process of running pre-scripted tests automatically. With the help of automation tools, automation testing compares the actual and expected results. This way of comparing the results helps in validating whether the developed application has met the required standards or not. This testing practice has the ability to execute repetitive tasks, and run regression tests to validate if the software is performing well even after changes made.

Benefits with Automation Testing:

The benefits that can be achieved with automation testing are:

• Helps to save time and cost
• Wider test coverage
• Assures to find defects at the early stage
• Effectively helps in reducing the business expenses
• Assures reusability of test coverage
• Helps in providing reliable results

What is Manual Testing?

Manual testing is the type of software testing where QA teams perform testing manually. In this testing approach, the QA teams validate the performance of the application by writing test cases. In comparison to automation testing, manual testing is time taking and it cannot perform all the important testing practices. However, despite these disadvantages, manual testing still has a need while performing software testing. Also, it works effectively on several elements.

Manual Testing work effectively on:

• User Acceptance
• Functionalities
• User Experience (UX)
• Website/App behavior
• User Interface (UI)
• Features

When QA teams need Automation Testing?

• Functional Testing: Functional testing is majorly performed to maintain security, accuracy, compliance, compatibility, etc. By considering automated testing, it helps the teams in identifying the actual performance of an application and assures in succeeding the required functionalities.

• Unit Testing: Unit testing is performed to test the units or the discrete parts of the software application. This testing process is explicitly receiving the most benefit from automated testing.

• Graphical User Interface (GUI) Testing: GUI testing is performed to validate whether the software interfaces are meeting the GUI requirements or not.

• Regression Testing: Regression testing is performed to check whether the software is performing correctly even after modification in the software. This testing practices effectively achieve the most benefits with automated testing tools.

When QA teams need Manual Testing?

• User Interface Testing: With User interface testing, the properties and interface elements are validated. And, by preferring manual testing QA teams are able to match the interface design elements with the final layout elements.

• Ad Hoc testing: This is practiced in order to check the test cases that are executed without preparation. And, by performing manual testing, it is easy for the QA teams to check the system functionality, and find the flaws.

• For Short-term Projects: Though automated testing helps in saving time and limits the testers' responsibilities, due to the time is taken consumption and the need for resources to design and maintain moves the interest of QA teams for manual testing. This type of preference is mainly for small or short-term projects.

• Exploratory testing – In this testing practice, the QA teams rely on their personal experiences and then design the test cases. For this method, teams effectively plan for manual testing as it requires testing the application with personal experiences and this cannot be achieved with automated testing.

Conclusion:

Manual testing and automated testing have significant benefits and disadvantages in software testing. However, the best of these test practices can be achieved when the teams are able to automate and perform manual testing in the right part. Leverage software testing services from QA testing services providers to enhance the testing practices.

About the Author:

I am a technical writer, interested in writing articles on the latest IT topics. In this article, I tried to share my views on automation testing and manual testing.

What is UAT and What are its different types?

Glenn Henderson — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 11:36:53 +0000

"Software testing is having a crucial role in ensuring product quality. It has various phases, and each phase is having huge importance, and especially the last testing phase. The last testing phase is User Acceptance Testing (UAT). This testing helps in identifying the bugs that are left in before phases and effectively validates whether the developed software is meeting the requirements of the clients and users or not. It is having significant importance, and enterprises have to practice it effectively to deliver quality-assured software."

The developed applications can be termed successful when they are able to meet the requirements of users and their clients. But, what if the developed software fails to succeed in these requirements. This may be due to the lack of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) practice and it can lead dissatisfaction among the users and clients. Hence, UAT is very important in software testing.

UAT is effectively practiced after the completion of functional, system, and regression testing. Also, practicing UAT testing not helps in validating the business requirements, it even helps in identifying bugs that are left in the before testing practice, assures to move a fully developed application for production, etc. Hence, UAT is essential for enterprises, and teams need to practice it in the best way with complete knowledge.

What is UAT Testing?

UAT is the lasting testing stage in the software testing process. It is having a huge importance as this helps in validating whether the software is performing with respect to the business requirements and user needs. The validation process is generally carried out either by the business or the end-users, who are having knowledge about the requirements and functionalities the software has to possess.

UAT is commonly known as end-user testing, application testing, and beta testing. Also, it is further divided into different types.

What are the different types of UAT Testing?

Alpha and Beta Testing: Alpha testing is practiced in the early development phase. In this testing practice, the potential user groups practice this testing before releasing the software for their users. This testing practice effectively helps in fixing the bugs and improving the product quality by the end-users.

Beta Testing is practiced in the customer environment, and the feedback obtained from the customers helps to enhance the quality of the software.

Contract Acceptance Testing (CAT): In this UAT testing type, the developed software is testing by considering the specifications and criteria that are discussed earlier during the contract.

Regulation Acceptance Testing (RAT): RAT is also known as Compliance Acceptance Testing and this method is performed to validate whether the developed application is complying with rules and regulations that are mentioned by the government agencies.

Black-box Testing: In this UAT testing type, the teams analyze the functionalities of the application by being unaware of the internal code structure. It is effectively performed in order to validate whether the software is meeting the business needs or not.

Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT): This UAT testing type is also known as Production Acceptance Testing, and this helps in assuring reliability, compatibility, stability, etc., of the developed software.

Business Acceptance Testing (BAT): This UAT testing type helps in validating whether the developed software is meeting the needs and specifications that are set by the business.

Conclusion:

The above-mentioned information is about UAT and the different types of UAT testing. Each UAT testing type is having an important role as they help in validating the business standards, business requirements, identify the bugs left in before stages, etc. Hence, teams are required to practice UAT with the best UAT practices to deliver quality-assured products. Leverage UAT testing services from independent QA testing teams in order to make sure that your developed software is quality-oriented before production.

About the Author:

I am a technical content writer, interested in writing articles on the latest IT related topics. In this article, I tried to share my views on UAT and the different types of UAT testing.

DEV Community: Glenn Henderson

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