As the digital space is evolving at a tremendous speed, the use of digital devices has also witnessed immense growth. Digital devices like laptops and mobile phones have become a significant part of our daily lives with almost 80% of the world population using them. Hence, when an application is developed, either mobile or web, it should offer a great user interface (UI) as it forms the first point of contact with the end-users. If the app fails to create a first great impression, chances of the users not exploring the other parts of the app becomes high. This is one of the reasons why organizations are investing in UI testing to ensure they offer a seamless user experience. UI testing which was earlier conducted by the manual approach has now shifted to UI automation for better outcomes.
UI testing automation increases brand value, reliability, and time-to-market while reducing cost. Moreover, the process of execution is easier, more efficient, and less time-consuming when it is automated. Let’s understand UI automation better and explore its benefits and future scope.
What is UI Automation?
User Interface is considered to be the face of an application that creates the first best impression among the users. If the UI fails to connect with the end-users, it can completely break the brand. Hence, it is important to test the UI thoroughly to offer an exceptional user experience. Manual UI testing is often found to give inconsistent results due to its tedious nature. However, shifting to UI automation has proven to give accurate and consistent results while saving on cost, time, and effort.
UI automation is basically the automated process that is conducted to test if all the parts of an application’s front-end work as expected. UI automation testing provides an elaborate report on the end-user interface performance by checking if the application is running correctly and keeps a track of simple interactions or by simulating real user requests. Here, the test scripts are written to automate the execution of the tests. This technique allows the process to be controlled through software code instead of testing it manually.
Why should you consider UI Automation Testing?
The UI automation testing process is conducted to effectively test the application’s interface for its features and performance. It is often considered an end-to-end approach to testing as it can:
- simulate and test the behavior of the application’s users by acting on the computing system’s interface with simulated user input
- automate all testing operations for the software programs
- incorporate user interface testing into the development process
- can submit test results and generate reports.
Benefits of UI Testing
Benefits of UI testing includes:
- Automated tests are useful for teams running on agile software development workflow as good test coverage rates can be achieved by it
- Well-tested code makes it easier to find and fix bugs faster
- Once the automated tests are set up, they can easily be reused; this makes the whole process cost-effective
- Automated tests run multiple folds faster than manual ones
- Automated tests are more accurate than manual testing.
- Human errors can be easily avoided in automated testing
- They’re cost-effective and time-effective
Why is there a shift to UI Automation?
Developing a product can be challenging and it isn’t always easy to determine the best way to test the developed product. Testing is a crucial part of the entire product deployment cycle as it ensures the quality of the product is top-notch before it reached the end-users. Though there are manual and automated testing processes, it is important to understand both of them before you decide to choose the one that works for you.
Manual UI Testing
In manual UI testing, testers prepare test scripts manually and run individual UI scenarios inside the application. It involves scripting actions or inputs that lead to specific outcomes in order to verify a user’s experience. Since it requires a lot of manual effort, the process gets mundane and tedious giving rise to errors. This is a cumbersome process involving a significant amount of time and effort.
UI Automation Testing
UI automated testing is a valuable tool when it comes to developing software tools or applications. This type of testing relies on pre-programmed scripts that are frequently called tests or test cases. These tests tell the program what to expect under different UI circumstances. Automated software testing provides a repeatable process that allows developers to thoroughly cover every part of their codebase. Automated testing can work with each iteration to determine whether certain elements in an application need attention or revision.
Why UI Automation Testing over Manual Testing?
- Manual testing takes time and cannot keep up with several development cycles, while automation can effortlessly identify errors without human intervention
- Manual testing is time-consuming and expensive, while automation testing involves lesser time and effort
- When conducting repetitive tasks, manual testing is more prone to errors due to its mundane nature. Automation, on the other hand, minimizes the likelihood of such errors
- When executing complicated iterations, manual testing is difficult to rely on. However, automation testing offers accurate and consistent results under all circumstances
UI Automation Testing Tools
UI automation testing is a complex task, which depends highly on the tools and techniques that are used. Though there are plenty of UI test automation tools available in the market, one cannot simply rely on a random tool. Proper research can help one to pick the best tool for automation testing based on their requirement, which will make a difference to the project in the long run.
Here are some key points to consider while comparing automated UI testing tools so you can make the best selection:
- Building and maintaining test scripts is straightforward
- Allows seamless entry of huge amounts of test data during load testing
- Non-technical people may easily execute test suites
- It offers an extensive reporting facility
- All UIs are supported – web, desktop, smartphone etc.
- For versatile test script development, a wide range of languages is supported
- For automated builds or deployment, seamless connection with other tools inside the CI/CD pipeline is expected
- Easy maintenance
- Modifications to pre-existing scripts are simple to implement
- The ability to test complicated user interface elements
- Affordable pricing
Conclusion
Test automation is a way to quickly and efficiently ensure that the user interface of the application is performed throughout the entire testing cycle. Although setting up automated tests might require extra effort at first, it is proven to be easy and effortless in the longer run.
UI testing forms an important aspect of the overall software testing process. A good UI will help retain the existing users and provide scope to attract new users too. An impressive UI will help the organization to build brand credibility, create a loyal customer base, and generate good business revenue. Hence, automating UI testing will help organizations to improve their business like never before.