An effective software Tester is known for an all-round testing of an application. The expectations often are – to test even the smallest of issues in the user-interface. However, the traditional methodologies of testing often focus more on the performance side of things and may overlook the visual elements. The need for improving the output of testing brought forth a new kind of Testing called – Visual Regression Testing or Visual Validation Testing.
Teams qualified and trained to perform this form of testing are exceptionally well-versed with UI aesthetics and they are quick to identify disparities between the original architecture and the final application features.
What is Visual Validation Testing
Software quality assurance activities such as visual regression testing and visual validation testing include quality assurance activity that determines whether the visual aspects of an application’s user interface appear appropriate to the user. A different name for it is Visual Validation Testing. Its goal is to ensure that the correct data and content are shown to users at the application’s front end.
Its goal is to ensure that the correct data and content are shown to users at the application’s front end. Additionally, it verifies the arrangement and appearance of every visual component on the user interface as a whole.
Regression testing ensures that any changes made to the software do not disrupt anything that was previously operating correctly.
The Importance of Visual Validation Testing
User experience and User Interface together contribute to delivering a compelling customer experience. For providing a better user experience, visual testing becomes very important because a more appealing visual design can be perceived as more usable by the user. In addition, it solves a problem by making things easy to search and understand – for the user.
Visual validation testing is highly recommended for
- Mobile Apps
- Mobile Web/Responsive Web
- Marketing websites
- Content management systems
- Consumer systems like airlines, travel, banking, etc.
Considering its significance, businesses should invest a sizable amount of time and resources in visual testing. When combined with existing developer tests, it can assist you in detecting visual issues early in the development lifecycle.
VISUAL TESTING – Methods and Processes
There can be two tools used for testing the performance and functionality of the application as it is expected to work, one is the manual way and the other is via using some automated tools. Effective functionality testing is crucial to ensuring that the application operates without a hitch. That is why incorporating visual testing would considerably enhance the testing as a whole. As a result, this testing is frequently conducted along with functional testing.
In this process, there are two methods of visual testing:
- Manual visual testing: In manual visual validation testing, the tester has to manually check the appearance and layout of the visual elements. This can entail manually comparing the most recent screenshots to the baseline screenshots to find any gaps. Due to the subjective nature of interface design, it is frequently impossible to create an automated test that can capture the accuracy of every situation, despite the fact that manual testing can be time-consuming, expensive, and prone to mistakes. Because of this, we occasionally need to strike a balance between manual and automated testing.
- Automated visual testing: A approach to automatically check if a user interface visually appears as intended is through automated visual testing. Automated visual tests have the following advantages over manual ones: they are faster and more accurate than manual ones because they can eliminate human error and produce pixel-perfect visual tests; they are reusable; and they are transparent because they provide automatic reports that are simple to use and accessible to everyone on the team. They are also cost effective in long run.
Summing Up
Visual validation testing becomes crucial for a software application to function properly across a range of screen sizes, mobile devices, operating systems, screen resolutions, etc. This form of testing is just as important as functional testing when the goal is to to provide a positive and compelling user experience. When coupled, functional and visual testing can offer extensive test coverage and take the application to the next-level of customer delight.
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Written by Infiwave Solutions