UI Testing Best Practices: From Implementation to Automation

User Interface (UI) testing, also known as GUI (Graphical User Interface) testing, is the process of evaluating an application’s features that users will interact with when using a computer or another device. It will check that the visible components, such as buttons, text fields, and images, are displayed and function as intended. It will also confirm your application's overall usability.

This article will start by breaking down what UI testing is and why it is beneficial. We will discuss best practices when implementing UI testing into your standard workflow. Finally, we’ll explain how Copado Robotic Testing can support the entire UI testing process.

Why Is UI Testing Important?

UI testing confirms that when a user interacts with the features of your application, it works as intended. This process involves evaluating the presence and functionality of many visual components, such as buttons, menus, links, text fields, toolbars, and more. 

UI testing is essential when incorporated into a standard testing workflow because it supports the user experience. It ensures that when customers interact with your application, they aren’t frustrated by features that don’t respond, are not visible or present, and essentially limit their ability to navigate through and access crucial information. 

Manual vs. Automated Testing

The norm for UI testing has been to manually test different user scenarios on various browsers. However, testing teams can significantly reduce their development cycles, eliminate repetitive manual testing tasks, and produce high-quality software when using automated testing tools.

Automated testing is needed to support continuous testing and delivery. Companies that rely solely on manual testing will find they cannot support shorter development cycles. The need for automated testing is especially true when you need to run multiple similar tests across multiple browsers. Automated testing will allow you to complete sufficient testing on time.

However, it's crucial to remember that most QA teams combine manual and automated testing when performing UI testing. You can achieve the best outcomes by utilizing both testing approaches.

UI Testing Best Practices

We've listed some UI testing best practices to support your project and get you started with UI testing below. 

Develop Your Testing Strategy

Your QA testing needs to include sufficeint time & resources to perform UI testing. It should address all your customer’s interaction points and ensure the functionality of all UI features. Creating a test scope that lists all the features and components of your application that you should test during this process is crucial.

You will likely perform UI testing on different browsers, devices, and operating systems. In addition to developing test cases and scenarios for essential UI functions, your testing strategy should define your test methods, approach, and testing tools.

Naming Test Cases

Your testing efforts can be supported by carefully naming your test cases, making it easier to locate, understand, and run particular tests. To help prevent unfavorable outcomes in the future, you should adhere to a structured naming convention.

Pause, Don’t Sleep

When automating tests for web applications, it may occasionally be necessary to pause the test script so that the app can update itself or when an event, like the completion of a web page, takes place. It can be helpful to pause test execution to a specific point and inspect the UI elements. 

Using sleep instead of pause can make your tests slow and brittle. It’s important to avoid using Thread. Sleep(n) in any of your UI tests.

Evaluate Cross-Browser Testing

When conducting UI testing, it will be necessary to determine whether cross-browser testing is required for your project. Additionally, working with the right automated tool can help streamline this process.

At the heart of Copado Robotic Testing is our team of robots in the cloud that are programmed to understand test suites. You will likely require several robots to run in parallel when you need to test in high volumes. Copado can help your testing team run parallel tests across multiple different browsers.

Implement Your Automated Testing Tool

Although manual testing for coding was more common in the past, it is one of the most time-consuming and laborious processes, resulting in more human error and slower development cycles.

Working with a low-code automated testing tool, like Copado Robotic Testing, can help create test scripts and complete UI testing easier for your testing teams.

Let Copado Be Your Automated Testing Tool

The previously discussed list, composed of essential UI testing best practices, can be used to guide your testing efforts in the right direction. If you’re still relying on traditional testing methods or considering implementing an automated testing tool, Copado's cloud-based test automation solution can handle all the testing scenarios you’ll need for end-to-end coverage — from mobile UI to user acceptance testing.

Copado Robotic Testing can run tests on any cloud, platform, browser, or device, helping your testing teams stop bugs from entering the production environment, where they become much more expensive to fix. Our low-code testing solution can provide the speed, coverage, and usability that today's development teams require to de-risk their pipelines and provide seamless customer experiences. 

If you’d like to learn more about UI testing best practices and how Copado can support your current testing processes, contact us today!