
<p>In today&#8217;s software world, testing is an inevitable part of the process, but if you&#8217;re new to it, it can be hard to know where to begin. The following guide will provide you with a basic understanding of some of the most frequently used terms and how they can be applied to your work. It will also have some tips that will help you improve your software testing efforts.</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#_A_8211_Application_Under_Test_AUT"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> 🤖 A &#8211; Application Under Test (AUT)</a></li><li><a href="#_B_Bugs"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> 👾 B – Bugs</a></li><li><a href="#_C_8211_Change_Requests"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> 🙏 C &#8211; Change Requests</a></li><li><a href="#_D_Data"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> 🎲 D – Data</a></li><li><a href="#nbsp_E_8211_Exploration"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> &nbsp;🎮 E &#8211; Exploration</a></li><li><a href="#_F_8211_Fault_Failures"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> 🔴 F &#8211; Fault / Failures</a></li><li><a href="#_G_8211_Great_Resources"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> 📢 G &#8211; Great Resources</a></li><li><a href="#_H_8211_Heuristics"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">8</span> ⁉️ H &#8211; Heuristics</a></li><li><a href="#_I_8211_Ideas"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">9</span> 💡 I &#8211; Ideas</a></li><li><a href="#_J_8211_Judgement"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">10</span> 🪛 J &#8211; Judgement</a></li><li><a href="#_K_8211_Knowledge"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">11</span> 🧬 K &#8211; Knowledge</a></li><li><a href="#_L_8211_Lateral_Thinking"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">12</span> 🎃 L &#8211; Lateral Thinking</a></li><li><a href="#_M_8211_Mental_Models"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">13</span> 💭 M &#8211; Mental Models</a></li><li><a href="#nbsp_N_8211_Note_Taking"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">14</span> &nbsp;🧾 N &#8211; Note Taking</a></li><li><a href="#_O_8211_Oracles"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">15</span> 🏮 O &#8211; Oracles</a></li><li><a href="#_P_8211_Priority"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">16</span> ☝️ P &#8211; Priority</a></li><li><a href="#_Q_8211_Questioning"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">17</span> ❓ Q &#8211; Questioning</a></li><li><a href="#_R_8211_Requirements"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">18</span> 📒 R &#8211; Requirements</a></li><li><a href="#_S_8211_Strategy"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">19</span> ⚙️ S &#8211; Strategy</a></li><li><a href="#_T_8211_Tools"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">20</span> 🔧 T &#8211; Tools</a></li><li><a href="#_U_8211_Users"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">21</span> 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 U &#8211; Users</a></li><li><a href="#_V_8211_Visualization"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">22</span> 🔦 V &#8211; Visualization</a></li><li><a href="#_W_8211_World"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">23</span> 🌍 W &#8211; World</a></li><li><a href="#_X_8211_Xtreme_Cases"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">24</span> ❄️ X &#8211; Xtreme Cases</a></li><li><a href="#_Y_8211_Yourself"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">25</span> 😄 Y &#8211; Yourself</a></li><li><a href="#_Z_8211_Zen"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">26</span> 🙌 Z &#8211; Zen</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-a-application-under-test-aut"><span id="_A_8211_Application_Under_Test_AUT"><strong>🤖</strong><strong> A &#8211; Application Under Test (AUT)</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>An application or software system that you are testing is referred to by this term.</li><li>Some common application types:<ul><li>Console</li><li>Web</li><li>Desktop</li><li>API, etc.</li></ul></li><li>Hardware testers often use the term DUT, which stands for Device Under Test.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-b-bugs"><span id="_B_Bugs"><strong>👾</strong><strong> B – Bugs</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>A bug is anything about a product that threatens the value of a product. – James Bach.</li><li>Other related terms<ul><li><strong>Error:</strong> Something wrong with the product</li><li><strong>Critical Condition:</strong>&nbsp; Data value or environment condition or step to reveal the problem</li><li><strong>Defect: </strong>Bug with Legal Implications &#8211; Used in lawsuits</li><li><strong>Symptom: </strong>Behavior that suggests an underlying problem<br></li></ul></li><li>Reference: <a href="https://leanpub.com/bugadvocacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Bug Advocacy by Rahul Parwal</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-c-change-requests"><span id="_C_8211_Change_Requests"><strong>🙏</strong><strong> C &#8211; Change Requests</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>A change request is something that is not a bug or threat to value.</li><li>Nevertheless, it is a request that the developer strives higher or maximizes what has already been worked on.</li><li>Tip: Phrase a request like a request.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-d-data"><span id="_D_Data"><strong>🎲</strong><strong> D – Data</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Think about Data Coverage rather than Test Cases</li><li>Learn to Visualize and use the power of data!</li><li>Testing is as good as the data that you are using.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-e-exploration"><span id="nbsp_E_8211_Exploration"><strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>🎮</strong><strong> E &#8211; Exploration</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Exploring = Discovering unknown information to find out about any possible risks.</li><li>Exploratory Testing = Simultaneous Test Design + Execution + Learning&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Dr. Cem Kaner</strong> defines exploratory software testing as a style of software testing that optimizes the value of testing work by treating test-related learning, test design, test execution, and test result interpretation as mutually supportive activities that run in parallel throughout the project.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-f-fault-failures"><span id="_F_8211_Fault_Failures"><strong>🔴</strong><strong> F &#8211; Fault / Failures</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>A fault is a mistake in the code</li><li>Failure is misbehavior caused by the fault</li><li>Ex: 404 error due to wrongly configured app.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-g-great-resources"><span id="_G_8211_Great_Resources"><strong>📢</strong><strong> G &#8211; Great Resources</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>If you are a self-learner, there are lots of great (free) resources available to you.</li><li>Some of the most popular compilations are listed below:<ul><li><a href="https://www.huibschoots.nl/wordpress/?page_id=441" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Great Resources – Exploring Software Testing</a></li><li><a href="https://testautomationu.applitools.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Test Automation University</a></li><li><a href="https://docs.ast-bbst.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">AST Testing Docs</a></li><li><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://testsigma.com/blog/</a><br></li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-h-heuristics"><span id="_H_8211_Heuristics"><strong>⁉️ </strong><strong>H &#8211; Heuristics</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>A heuristic is a fallible way to solve a problem &#8211; James Bach &amp; Dr. Cem Kaner</li><li>Ex:&nbsp;<ul><li>Knife: To cut things</li><li>Map: To find places &amp; directions</li><li>Rule of thumb</li></ul></li><li>Reference: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaxdheQfE8s&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Understanding Heuristics in Testing</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-i-ideas"><span id="_I_8211_Ideas"><strong>💡</strong><strong> I &#8211; Ideas</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Testing is all about test ideas</li><li>Heuristics help to think of test ideas.</li><li>Common Sources of Ideas<ul><li>Product</li><li>Business Requirements</li><li>Team</li><li>External Factors</li><li>Project</li><li>Stakeholders</li></ul></li><li>Reference: <a href="https://xmind.app/m/SXm4EU/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">37 Sources of Test Ideas</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-j-judgement"><span id="_J_8211_Judgement"><strong>🪛</strong><strong> J &#8211; Judgement</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Testing is a sampling activity.</li><li>It is common for testers to sample a small number of tests from an infinite space of possible tests.</li><li>Your judgement will help you to identify:<ul><br><li>What to test?</li><li>Why test?</li><li>Risk areas!</li></ul></li><li>A good judgement comes from experience and time.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-k-knowledge"><span id="_K_8211_Knowledge"><strong>🧬</strong><strong> K &#8211; Knowledge</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Knowledge is stored in two forms:<ul><li>Tacit Knowledge: Which includes:<ul><li>Experience</li><li>Thinking</li><li>Competence</li></ul></li><li>Explicit Knowledge: Which includes:<ul><li>Data, Information</li><li>Documents</li><li>Records</li><li>Files</li></ul></li></ul></li><li>Reference: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tacit-Explicit-Knowledge-Harry-Collins/dp/022600421X" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Tacit and Explicit Knowledge: Collins, Harry</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-l-lateral-thinking"><span id="_L_8211_Lateral_Thinking"><strong>🎃</strong><strong> L &#8211; Lateral Thinking</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Testers are often recognized as out of the box thinkers. Example:<ul><br><li>What can go wrong?</li><li>What is certain to go wrong?</li><li>What if someone tries something extreme?</li></ul></li><li>With lateral thinking, a problem can be viewed from a creative perspective.</li><li>Additionally, it facilitates creative problem-solving.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-m-mental-models"><span id="_M_8211_Mental_Models"><strong><br></strong><strong>💭</strong><strong> M &#8211; Mental Models</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>This is a mental picture of how something works.</li><li>Ex:<ul><li>Flow Charts</li><li>Architectural Diagrams</li><li>Maps, etc.</li></ul></li><li>It is common for professional testers to use mental models consciously.</li><li>Reference: <a href="https://youtu.be/vFsM-slJoeY" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Heuristics &amp; Why you should care about them?</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-n-note-taking"><span id="nbsp_N_8211_Note_Taking"><strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>🧾 </strong><strong>N &#8211; Note Taking</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>The importance of taking notes during tests cannot be overstated.</li><li>What does a typical test notes document contain:<ul><br><li>Risks</li><li>Ideas</li><li>Observations</li><li>Questions</li><li>Links to resources, etc.</li></ul></li><li>Popular Formats:<ul><br><li>Doc Files</li><li>Mindmaps</li><li>Excels</li><li>Readme files, etc.</li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-o-oracles"><span id="_O_8211_Oracles"><strong>🏮</strong><strong> O &#8211; Oracles</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>An oracle is a heuristic principle or mechanism by which you recognize a &#8220;potential&#8221; problem.</li><li>Some commonly used consistency oracles:<ul><br><li>Consistent with claims</li><li>Consistent with History</li><li>Consistent with Purpose</li><li>Consistent with our image</li><li>Consistency within product</li><li>Consistent with user&#8217;s expectations</li><li>Consistency with comparable product</li><li>Consistent with standards or regulations</li></ul></li><li>Used to guide:<ul><br><li>Test Design</li><li>Bug Evaluation</li><li>Test Reporting</li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-p-priority"><span id="_P_8211_Priority"><strong>☝️</strong><strong> P &#8211; Priority</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Priority is the urgency to fix a problem.</li><li>By default, prioritizing is a business decision.</li><li>In general, testers don&#8217;t set the priority.</li><li>However, stakeholders may benefit from valuable information provided by the testers as they set the priorities.</li><li>Read more about <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/difference-between-priority-and-severity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">priority and severity</a>.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-q-questioning"><span id="_Q_8211_Questioning"><strong>❓</strong><strong> Q &#8211; Questioning</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>It is one of the most underrated tools of a tester</li><li>Using questions to gather information helps guide testing.</li><li>Questioning Toolkits:<ul><li><a href="https://www.developsense.com/blog/2010/11/context-free-questions-for-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Context-Free Questions for Testing</a></li><li><a href="https://testingtitbits.com/context-free-questions-for-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Context-Free Questions for Automation</a></li><li><a href="http://www.fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Question Bank</a></li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-r-requirements"><span id="_R_8211_Requirements"><strong>📒</strong><strong> R &#8211; Requirements</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Usually the starting point of a project. This document defines your product&#8217;s various components.</li><li>In most cases, requirements aren&#8217;t explicitly stated, and they&#8217;re often tacit.</li><li>Question stakeholders to know their requirements (or “desire”ments).</li><li>Reference: <a href="https://leanpub.com/b/requirements" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Exploring Requirements</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-s-strategy"><span id="_S_8211_Strategy"><strong>⚙️</strong><strong> S &#8211; Strategy</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li><strong>Test Strategy:</strong> Given a testing mission, how will you achieve it?</li><li>It defines answers to questions like:<ul><br><li>Who&#8217;s going to run the tests?</li><li>What potential problems are they looking for?</li><li>What aspects are they testing?</li><li>What tools will be used?</li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-t-tools"><span id="_T_8211_Tools"><strong>🔧</strong><strong> T &#8211; Tools</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Tools are an integral part of every testing task we perform as testers</li><li>Tools are an assistant to one&#8217;s testing effort.</li><li>Reference: <a href="https://leanpub.com/productivitytoolkit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Ultimate Productivity Toolkit</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-u-users"><span id="_U_8211_Users"><strong>🧑</strong><strong>‍</strong><strong>🤝</strong><strong>‍</strong><strong>🧑</strong><strong> U &#8211; Users</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>They are the consumers of your applications</li><li>It is important to study different users in order to generate relevant test ideas.</li><li>Here is an example of common user personas for a shopping application:<ul><br><li>SHOP-A-HOLICS: They make multiple purchases.</li><li>CART-ABANDONER: They probably add things to the cart. Applies discount but does not make a purchase.</li><li>THE PRODUCT RETURNER: They tend to return products a lot.</li><li>THE DISCOUNT CHASER: Applied for a discount but is hunting for more. <em>Do we allow multiple discounts?</em></li><li>THE PSEUDO-SMART: Tries to reduce cart content after discount is applied. <em>Are we giving the discount coupon when the cart value changes?</em></li><li>THE WANNA BE SMART: Tries an SQL injection in place of a discount voucher input value. <em>Are we safeguarding against these possible threats?</em></li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-v-visualization"><span id="_V_8211_Visualization"><strong>🔦</strong><strong> V &#8211; Visualization</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>There is visual intelligence in all of us.</li><li>It&#8217;s unfortunate that only a few harness it.</li><li>Common visualization ways:<ul><br><li>Doodling</li><li>Diagramming</li><li>Whiteboarding</li><li>Mindmapping</li><li>Sketch noting, etc.</li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-w-world"><span id="_W_8211_World"><strong>🌍</strong><strong> W &#8211; World</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Our expectations are that the product will be consistent with what we know or can observe in the real world&nbsp;</li><li>Something that is inconsistent with how the world works is an alert of potential trouble</li><li>Example: Map showcasing roads with blue color and water with orange color.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-x-xtreme-cases"><span id="_X_8211_Xtreme_Cases"><strong>❄️</strong><strong> X &#8211; Xtreme Cases</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Normally, development occurs within defined boundaries.</li><li>Testers often try out &#8220;<em>Xtreme</em>&#8221; cases to see &#8220;<em>What If?</em>&#8221; someone does this.&nbsp;</li><li>The extreme cases are a good way to check for:<ul><br><li>System Boundaries</li><li>Performance Bottlenecks</li><li>Security Risks</li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-y-yourself"><span id="_Y_8211_Yourself"><strong>😄</strong><strong> Y &#8211; Yourself</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Each tester is unique; each tester is different</li><li>“You” are the most significant differentiator to the testing you do.</li><li>Listen to yourself 🙂</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-z-zen"><span id="_Z_8211_Zen"><strong>🙌</strong><strong> Z &#8211; Zen</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Zen is a state of calm attentiveness, where intuition guides one&#8217;s actions.</li><li>You often receive intuitive signals from your tacit brain.</li><li>Use your intuition to analyze and act.</li></ul>



<p>Hey! Thanks for sticking around. Hope this article helped you with some common software testing terms, tips, and advice. If you want to check out an open-source testing solution, check out Testsigma.</p>



<p><button class="btn bg-primary cta-btn" style="display: block;
    margin: auto;"><a href="https://github.com/testsigmahq/testsigma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color:#fff">Try Testsigma Open-source</a></button></p>


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<p>This is not just a blog which tells you to add few things to your already existing big list of tasks, in turn it helps you to make the Testing easy and do it in a smart way. I can say, Chrome Extensions are the wealth of software Testers which makes our lives easier and helps us to do smart work. They help us to add more functionality to the browser and helps us to ease the work, and get it done in a very short time.</p>



<p>Google Chrome is one of the most popular and must-have browsers for all testers across the globe. It allows us to increase productivity all in the comfort of our internet. We have plenty of options that make Google Chrome robust, safer, &nbsp; smarter, and more productive with one browser. As Tester, we need our work to be done efficiently and more smartly. Google Chrome gives us options for many extensions, which make it the best.</p>



<p>Here I am curating the <strong>10 must-have chrome extensions for Testers </strong>to make the testing easier and smarter.</p>


<p style="padding-bottom: 10px;">Let us get familiar with the extensions one by one and adopt them in our day-to-day testing activities.</p>


<ol><li>Testsigma Recorder</li><li>Selectorhub</li><li>LambdaTest&nbsp;</li><li>Clear Cache</li><li>Awesome Screenshot: Screen Video Recorder</li><li>Resolution Test</li><li>Lighthouse</li><li>Exploratory Testing Chrome Extension</li><li>Spell Checker for Chrome</li><li>FULL PAGE SCREEN CAPTURE</li></ol>


<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><em>Please note</em>: All of these are free tools, but some of them have paid features we can use accordingly.</p>


<p style="padding-bottom: 30px;padding-top: 20px"><strong>1. Testsigma Recorder:</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/-vK2EcStUKk4fw6KpYrf8OmJ5fKPT7WjMVFWR1wRVMPZs2B__8RAjJNAjrNttfobDETR2fHIskAZMtYNf0clxY7ZApXJsOHqPg5uuPnpY0UOxSqVxnOlpSg0CxmUXNydRCf4wKYLBcxPKbJnsZ9nvzmC3Z8j-efgnauaHhUOiGXbYaBulXva7PK9M3p7VnOVeGGRwMv4gA_1748949331.png" alt="Graphical user interface, text, application

Description automatically generated" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">Testsigma recorder is used for recording end to end interactions with the web applications and store the actions in plain English sentences and tests are executed directly on the cloud. Testsigma is an Gen AI-powered test automation tool and can be used freely just by signing up. Then, testers can just add the Testsigma Recorder chrome extension and kickstart the <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automation</a> journey.</p>

<p style="padding-top: 10px;">Link :  <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/testsigma%20recorder" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma Recorder</a></p>


<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 30px"><strong>2. SelectorsHub</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/RE7VfHWjV2dRdiJthpmJzJ5BIhT7hAPseFwohMa7MRpWW5W90rYWPoMfwyU8BdA493ZbTWPTK1MEhS0FZ3kfr01fYkVJ8JFgcA-Ro0CVU7FRbpHlj0ThJURqgKU90BGDDdQU3YEu2piX7piuiLolu3uR1zObkdC_umc0GSCYK7HfpohbnoiON8tdPvkQtL-RiqZlS3R3Fg_1748949326.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">SelectorsHub is a chrome extension which helps testers write and verify xpath, CSS Selector , Playwright selectors, Jquery and JS path. It also helps us to generate unique xpath and css selector. It is the most helpful tool for automation testers to get all the locators just with a single click.</p>

<p style="padding-bottom: 10px;">Follow below steps to use SelectorsHub xpath plugin</p>


<ol><li>Add it to chrome extension&nbsp;</li><li>After adding it to browser, restart the browser.&nbsp;</li><li>Open DevTools.</li><li>Click on SelectorsHub tab (refer screenshot).</li></ol>


<p style="padding-top: 10px;">Link: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/selectorshub/ndgimibanhlabgdgjcpbbndiehljcpfh?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SelectorHub</a></p>


<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 30px"><strong>3. LambdaTest&nbsp;</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/xGBR9-X2QCs7JJ62iddLNNsPniVN-7CtpzUypNLEDX7D2Q0-5Vxj_WnDCwFBAVYkL9JWg0Uh0dmj2jyMWb3se6ZhckmN4nSKfYf2JeCrJNcnVgaE8mazLig7PX4KvqerdggJv7_9j_JojCpNL-W3OyrM2xV9nUd8zFiET2s9EnABuT8s4Dxnbb7EMdE4ZEQ-u2wIZlseGA_1748949321.png" alt="Graphical user interface, text, application

Description automatically generated" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">LambdaTest Chrome Extension helps testers to run the cross browser tests on the cloud faster.</p>


<p>We can choose configurations faster and run the tests directly from the browser tab which ever we want.</p>



<p>This extension increases productivity, lesser testing time and is collaboration friendly. It has many more exciting features like geolocation tests, we can even schedule screenshots which makes testing easier by reducing time in testing.</p>


<p style="padding-top: 10px;">Link:  <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/LambdaTest" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LambdaTest</a></p>


<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 30px"><strong>4. Clear Cache</strong>&nbsp;</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/ogsgXppqvjBi5IvVIDZXsDY4IGWslY24o2becSzwzCHjXLtkkqzfNeoePNJgZcAcRNWc_nuCrwedIVNW9KJ2hwDsJotB60lFXUmXiDOLufIDNHoxNU9Zdq5Uh883xmZ-Hkmnj-ykOVvoEzBLKpWJwkh5AfwU7TpxgjOQlj_b7yKN8unQwpQY1-MkkI99lI1KRoq0Aq6CFA_1748949322.png" alt="Graphical user interface, text, application

Description automatically generated" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">While testing , whenever any deployment is done , as a tester we will be facing cache issue where we misunderstand as application is not deployed properly. To resolve this  issue, we can use the Clear Cache chrome extension and clear the cache. We can even customize what and to what extent the data needs to be cleared. Using this extension we can quickly clear the cache.</p>

<p style="padding-top: 10px;">Link: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clear-cache-for-chrome/lcebokhepdpopanpieoopnjiehmoabfp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ClearCache</a></p>


<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 30px"><strong>5. Awesome Screenshot: Screen Video Recorder </strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/nkWl1nDZbqxCrKuTp2-2W9bFVLlrW3SzUpOyDnBcG0NKF3xtxE33HLzu84092p4ii4QkOYPbxyAUEsuPRuyiznJuYQu9fQzwko7E0QiDwVEXNA-JupVx0qvIwMFiCUddqu8lsZfjAov6Ov8AiqL-wHRUvEJaNkKZopmsAcY_xEU4D-A5L2x2lmXydEuSIJbioKJF6a4Zxw_1748949319.png" alt="Graphical user interface, text, application, email

Description automatically generated" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">Awesome screenshot is the most useful and highly rated screen capture and image annotation tool on Chrome. It helps us to capture whole page or only some part of any web page.</p>


<p>We can add annotations, comments and capture the desktop even.</p>


<p style="padding-top: 10px;">Link: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/awesome-screenshot-and-sc/nlipoenfbbikpbjkfpfillcgkoblgpmj" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AwesomeScreenshot</a></p>


<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 30px"><strong>6. Resolution Test</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/rvtzwMYqPHF52JHYxYWnVbR23paEzhn-N3Y3Z9f4RxhEVLPNxSxAbJABhaAvDAz39mPyNNH4Qq8caKCjHENprY6-ejEOnRlsJVUVpXeqCGA2ggtN69P9aag7Y_dOY7IYakPYld6TaDDkPK7CfhtsLtOmFlbwbfmcVkz2cvpkZy0hUPrszkt8DmBx8WKZ7EopR-PnLPnI3Q_1748949323.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">Resolution Test is an extension for Testers to test the web pages in different screen resolutions.</p>


<p>It even helps us to define our own resolutions, own browser sizes and test the applications.</p>



<p>Once it is installed, click on the menu with a list of dropdown containing different screen resolutions and we can just click on each as per our need and test how the look and feel is displayed.</p>


<p style="padding-top: 10px;">Link: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/resolution-test/idhfcdbheobinplaamokffboaccidbal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Resolution Test</a></p>

<p style="padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 30px;"><strong>7. Lighthouse</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/FzMnEey1MPAs9UiXrsTVfdpBX7zWqjJPumMWJ5EI7jYvu0TZN7sLrK9ZT_ecnYzvSPKCldDmbF_qvhjmOjlx3PnlV9xd85VSqI-KCok1jffSzoD9vTXyYZ11GLKwQRLp6zSuKbZJlkOwlppEKMoXx2cXtisArRA7mAQYebDSt2X4qiKJIO4-7rclSsqG9wN6XAs0x1lV3A_1748949328.png" alt="Graphical user interface, text, application, email

Description automatically generated" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool which helps to improve the performance, quality of the web pages.</p>


<p>When testing a web page, Lighthouse runs a set of tests against the web page and generates us the report of the status. By seeing the status, we can improve our application conditions.</p>


<p style="padding-top: 10px;">Link: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lighthouse/blipmdconlkpinefehnmjammfjpmpbjk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lighthouse</a></p>

<p style="padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 30px;"><strong>8. Exploratory Testing Chrome Extension</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/hQnBMTo3gykJGQAXfK86uodW-A-NJh3eqBiLztvWCC3gW4bCHSBVk1C2JX0NlQdsQ7pak-NiKz1Uzih0nSpcQTH9pFXKuVJw_RPTmF5CvgwdesLi2MXXmIEiEEALecFHvwbAIof64kEvS7414r7qEPmEmeXsBxIXB6f_gx6tiFMzB88BBm-IrJmLKoar5pctBKr0tfOBEw_1748949327.png" alt="Graphical user interface, text, application

Description automatically generated" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">Exploratory Testing Chrome Extension helps testers to make web exploratory testing easier and smarter. It helps us to report bugs, ideas, notes. It helps us to take screenshots during the session. It tracks URL automatically and see the session results in the report. It helps us to export session to JSON, CSV and HTML.</p>


<p style="padding-top: 10px">Link: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/exploratory-testing-chrom/khigmghadjljgjpamimgjjmpmlbgmekj" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Exploratory Testing Chrome Extension</a></p>


<p style="padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 30px;"><strong>9. Spell Checker for Chrome</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/FDHabhKECzQriewA_5WGsDSwFxv-k1QyoQtlbv_PBOeeByejVJp4WZAfIEHIRkOoUiPMczlVvwYLTi-i_CPd8Lbf9nAOs_gmvHyYJBoaBJ1EPKZvIDmi2db5_nQ3CjFikmIyWe0SsVUNCCvLkxv82UyM2q1E8lS4PlLkJY925OTatRdQ672T-Jn6hd_pZ49-PbwiBQCcRg_1748949330.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">Spell Checker Chrome Extension makes us to easy to use.  It supports 12 languages altogether for spell check. It helps us to check spellings of words and highlights the misspelled words. It has user defined shortcuts, color and dictionary.</p>


<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 30px"><strong> 10. FULL PAGE SCREEN CAPTURE </strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/tnR9cSF8KWHicos9CU46z9uMsD7qlXfhmAC3-OLYZIbB3zeu46guXIwfADEnuLuzloAHJa7vTCdvlfssdcsNfOKHRfiu6jrGeP_I55heChTHUbz9yY_w3TPgmhzsZ8trtFsPSBJUVplmPr9GW1BljWqwLNWTWz04z1zAtbYquVmtlWgkAa5nwrRCDNLpfeDEqW81ftsmLQ_1748949325.png" alt="Graphical user interface, text, application

Description automatically generated" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>


<p style="padding-top: 30px;">Full Page Screen Capture captures a screenshot of your current page entirely and reliably without requesting any extra permissions.</p>


<p>It helps us easily to take a full page screenshot of your current browser window. In order to take the entire page of the screenshot , we can scroll to each visible part and it assembles all the pieces.&nbsp;</p>



<p>We need to export the result to PNG, JPEG or PDFs using all configurable from the chrome extensions’ options.</p>



<p>The extension is managed by an independent developer.</p>


<p>View the original open source project on GitHub: <br />https://github.com/mrcoles/full-page-screen-capture-chrome-extension.</p>

<p style="padding-top: 10px;">These are the 10 must-have Chrome Extensions for Testers that can facilitate and speed up the testing process. They make our work easier and life simpler.</p>


<p>Hope you liked it and you will be adding some to your regular toolkit and make use of them.</p>



<p>Having these chrome extensions will allow us to perform QA Testing faster and smoother and it yields more reliable results.</p>


10 must-have chrome extensions for Testers

Top 10 must-have chrome extensions for Testers

UX Lessons Learned From My Real-Life Experiences Part - 2

UX Lessons Learned From My Real-Life Experiences Part – 2


<p>In today&#8217;s world, mobile applications are essential for any business to thrive, and almost all developed products offer web and mobile support. This has made mobile application testing an integral part of the QA life cycle, and adding to it. The onus is on the test automation engineers to develop an E2E automation suite for mobile application testing.</p>



<p>In this blog, I will explain how test automation engineers can start using Appium to automate mobile applications developed using Flutter.</p>



<p>&#8220;Appium is a well-known open-source mobile automation framework through which we can automate Android and iOS mobile applications.&#8221;</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><ul><li><a href="#About_Flutternbsp"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.1</span> About Flutter:&nbsp;</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#How_can_we_Automate_Flutter_Apps"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> How can we Automate Flutter Apps?</a><ul><li><a href="#Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> Appium Flutter Driver:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Appium_Set_Up_and_Walkthrough"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Appium Set Up and Walkthrough:</a><ul><li><a href="#Installing_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.1</span> Installing Appium Flutter Driver:</a></li><li><a href="#nbspFlutter_Finder_Library"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.2</span> &nbsp;Flutter Finder Library:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#How_to_Generate_the_Jar_for_Flutter_Finder_Library"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> How to Generate the Jar for Flutter Finder Library:</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_Inspect_Elements_in_the_Flutter_App"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> How to Inspect Elements in the Flutter App?</a><ul><li><a href="#Sample_App"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.1</span> Sample App:</a></li><li><a href="#Pre-Requisites"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.2</span> Pre-Requisites:</a></li><li><a href="#IDE"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.3</span> IDE:</a></li><li><a href="#Mobile_Device"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.4</span> Mobile Device:</a></li><li><a href="#Have_added_the_following_dependencies_in_my_pomxml_file"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.5</span> Have added the following dependencies in my pom.xml file</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Can_we_launch_Flutter_App_in_Appium_Inspector"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Can we launch Flutter App in Appium Inspector?</a></li><li><a href="#Switching_between_Native_App_and_Flutter_App_context"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Switching between Native App and Flutter App context:</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> Conclusion:</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">8</span> Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.1</span> What is Appium Flutter Driver?</a></li><li><a href="#How_can_I_automate_my_Flutter_app_using_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.2</span> How can I automate my Flutter app using Appium Flutter Driver?</a></li><li><a href="#Can_I_run_my_Appium_Flutter_Driver_tests_on_real_devices"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.3</span> Can I run my Appium Flutter Driver tests on real devices?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h3 id="h-about-flutter"><span id="About_Flutternbsp"><strong><em>About Flutter:&nbsp;</em></strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>An open-source UI development framework created by Google</li><li>Using Flutter, it is now possible for developers to develop cross-platform applications for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, Google Fuchsia, and the web from a single codebase.</li><li>Flutter apps are written in Dart programming language and run on Dart virtual machines.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-how-can-we-automate-flutter-apps"><span id="How_can_we_Automate_Flutter_Apps"><strong>How can we Automate Flutter Apps?</strong></span></h2>



<p>Flutter framework, by default, comes up with<a href="https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/flutter_driver/flutter_driver-library.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> <em>flutter_driver</em></a><em>. </em>But<em> </em>using flutter_driver for UI automation has its <em>limitations</em>, and one of the main limitations is that we can write automation tests only in the Dart programming language. This can be quite tedious for test automation engineers without exposure to the Dart programming language.</p>



<h3 id="h-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>Appium Flutter Driver:</strong></span></h3>



<p>The Appium developer community has created a new driver,<a href="https://github.com/appium/appium-flutter-driver" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> appium_flutter_driver</a>.This has enabled test automation engineers to automate flutter-based apps just like how they would automate android and iOS mobile apps.&nbsp;</p>



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<h2 id="h-appium-set-up-and-walkthrough"><span id="Appium_Set_Up_and_Walkthrough"><strong>Appium Set Up and Walkthrough:</strong></span></h2>



<p><em>I assume you have already set up Appium on your machine.&nbsp;</em></p>



<h3 id="h-installing-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="Installing_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>Installing Appium Flutter Driver:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>If you are using Appium 2, use the command &#8220;appium driver install flutter&#8221; to install appium-flutter-driver.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-flutter-finder-library"><span id="nbspFlutter_Finder_Library"><strong>&nbsp;Flutter Finder Library:</strong></span></h3>



<p>The Appium developer community has also developed a flutter finder library through which we can interact with flutter-based elements. Below are the few locator strategies available in the flutter finder library.</p>



<ul><li>bySemanticslabel</li><li>byValuekey</li><li>byType</li><li>ancestor</li><li>byTooltip</li><li>descendant</li><li>pageBack</li><li>getRenderTree</li><li>text</li></ul>



<p>&#8220;You can also go through common finders class documentation to understand more about the locator strategies&#8221;</p>



<h2 id="h-how-to-generate-the-jar-for-flutter-finder-library"><span id="How_to_Generate_the_Jar_for_Flutter_Finder_Library"><strong>How to Generate the Jar for Flutter Finder Library:</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Pull the latest from the repo: <a href="https://github.com/appium-userland/finder-kotlin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">here</a> to your system.</li><li>Go to the respective folder where the repo is placed and from the terminal, run the command: “gradle clean build&#8221;</li><li>Once the build is over, inside the build directory of the project, i.e., “build/libs/appium-flutter-finder-0.0.6.jar&#8221;, you can find the jar.</li><li>You can add this jar to your automation project.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-how-to-inspect-elements-in-the-flutter-app"><span id="How_to_Inspect_Elements_in_the_Flutter_App"><strong>How to Inspect Elements in the Flutter App?</strong></span></h2>



<p>&#8220;Before trying to identify/inspect elements in the flutter app, request you to quickly go through the Introduction to widgets section in the flutter documentation to get an idea of how the UI is basically built out of Widgets.&#8221;</p>



<p>Using Flutter Inspector, one can inspect the widgets and try to identify the elements, but it might not be as easy compared to inspecting elements using Appium Inspector. So here is what you can do: <em>take help from the developers to get all the required locators</em>.</p>



<p><em>Let&#8217;s now try to <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/automated-login/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automate the login</a> flow in a flutter app.&nbsp;</em></p>



<h3 id="h-sample-app"><span id="Sample_App"><strong>Sample App:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>Provider Shopper&nbsp;</li><li>You can also download more sample flutter apps from<a href="https://flutter.github.io/samples/#" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> here</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-pre-requisites"><span id="Pre-Requisites"><strong>Pre-Requisites:</strong></span></h3>



<p>After downloading a sample flutter app, we need to do certain prerequisites so that the flutter app becomes feasible to automate.</p>



<p>Browserstack has elaborately mentioned the prerequisites <a href="https://www.browserstack.com/docs/app-automate/appium/test-hybrid-apps/test-flutter-apps#preprocess-flutter-app-for-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">here</a>. You can go through this to complete the pre-requisite and to build the app. </p>



<h3 id="h-ide"><span id="IDE"><strong>IDE:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>IntelliJ IDEA</li></ul>



<p><strong>Programming Language:</strong></p>



<ul><li><strong>Java: </strong>Open JDK 17.0.3v</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-mobile-device"><span id="Mobile_Device"><strong>Mobile Device:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>Android Emulator</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-have-added-the-following-dependencies-in-my-pom-xml-file"><span id="Have_added_the_following_dependencies_in_my_pomxml_file"><strong>Have added the following dependencies in my pom.xml file</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li><strong><em>Appium java client:</em></strong> 8.1.1</li><li><strong><em>TestNG</em>:</strong> 7.5</li><li><strong><em>Kotlin standard library for JVM</em>:</strong> 1.3.40</li><li><strong><em>Kotlin multiplatform serialization runtime library</em>: 0.14.0</strong></li><li>And do not forget to add the <strong><em>flutter finder jar</em></strong> to your project.</li></ul>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>public class FlutterAndroidShopper { private AndroidDriver driver; private FlutterFinder find; @BeforeTest public void setUp() throws Exception { DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities(); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, “android”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.AUTOMATION_NAME, “Flutter”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.NEW_COMMAND_TIMEOUT, “3000”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, “emulator-5554”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, “”); //mention your app path here driver = new AndroidDriver(new URL(“http://localhost:4723/wd/hub”), caps); find = new FlutterFinder(driver); } @Test public void login(){ find.bySemanticsLabel(“Username”).sendKeys(“username”); find.bySemanticsLabel(“Password”).sendKeys(“Password”); find.text(“ENTER”).click(); Assert.assertEquals(find.text(“Catalog”).getText(),”Catalog”); } @AfterTest public void tearDown(){ if(driver!=null){ driver.quit(); } } }</code></pre>



<p>As you can see from the above code, I have created a new object for FlutterFinder class, and with that, I can interact with the elements in the flutter app.</p>



<p>Similarly, you can also run automation on your iOS device as well.</p>



<p>An important point to be considered here is:</p>



<p>For running the automation in Android and iOS mobile applications, AUTOMATION_NAME should be &#8220;Flutter&#8221;</p>



<h2 id="h-can-we-launch-flutter-app-in-appium-inspector"><span id="Can_we_launch_Flutter_App_in_Appium_Inspector"><strong>Can we launch Flutter App in Appium Inspector?</strong></span></h2>



<p>We cannot launch the flutter app in Appium inspector with the automation name: &#8220;Flutter,&#8221;</p>



<p>But if the app has both native and flutter-based components:</p>



<ul><li>We can launch the app in Appium inspector by mentioning the automation name &#8220;UIAutomator2&#8221; for android and &#8220;XCUITest&#8221; for iOS.</li><li>Only native elements can be found in the inspector; we will not be able to find flutter-based elements.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-switching-between-native-app-and-flutter-app-context"><span id="Switching_between_Native_App_and_Flutter_App_context"><strong>Switching between Native App and Flutter App context:</strong></span></h2>



<p>If the app has both native and flutter-based components, here is what you need to do:</p>



<ul><li>Start the <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/mobile-automation-testing-tools-appium-testsigma-testcomplete-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Appium</a> session with automation_name as &#8220;Flutter&#8221;</li><li>driver.getContextHandles() =&gt; will give “NATIVE_APP” and “FLUTTER”</li><li>You can then set the context accordingly using driver.context(&#8220;NATIVE_APP”) and interact with the respective elements.</li></ul>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>public class FlutterAndroidShopper { private AndroidDriver driver; private FlutterFinder find; @BeforeTest public void setUp() throws Exception { DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities(); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, “android”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.AUTOMATION_NAME, “Flutter”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.NEW_COMMAND_TIMEOUT, “3000”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, “emulator-5554”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, “”); //mention your app path here driver = new AndroidDriver(new URL(“http://localhost:4723/wd/hub”), caps); find = new FlutterFinder(driver); } @Test public void login(){ switchContext(“NATIVE_APP”); RemoteWebElement username = (RemoteWebElement) driver.findElement(By.xpath(“/hierarchy/android.widget.FrameLayout/android.widget.LinearLayout/android.widget.FrameLayout/android.widget.FrameLayout/android.view.View/android.view.View/android.view.View/android.view.View/android.widget.EditText&#91;1]”)); username.click(); username.sendKeys(“Username”); switchContext(“FLUTTER”); find.bySemanticsLabel(“Password”).sendKeys(“Password”); find.text(“ENTER”).click(); Assert.assertEquals(find.text(“Catalog”).getText(),”Catalog”); } public void switchContext(String context) { Set contexts = driver.getContextHandles(); for (String appContext : contexts) { if (appContext.contains(context)) { driver.context(appContext); break; } } } @AfterTest public void tearDown(){ if(driver!=null){ driver.quit(); } } }</code></pre>



<h2 id="h-conclusion"><span id="Conclusion">Conclusion:</span></h2>



<p>Thus, by using the Appium flutter driver and flutter finder library, you can now start writing <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/8-top-test-automation-mistakes-and-tips-for-qa-teams-to-avoid-them/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automation tests</a> using the Appium Java client for flutter apps and also for flutter+native apps.&nbsp; Despite the support and the capabilities offered, the Appium flutter driver is still in the early stages of development and due to this, there might be <a href="https://github.com/appium/appium-flutter-driver/issues" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">issues</a> and limitations in using the same for flutter <a href="https://testsigma.com/mobile-testing-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">app automation</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>So before adopting the appium flutter driver, do thorough research, understand the pros and cons, and then make the call! Happy testing.</p>



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<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions">Frequently Asked Questions</span></h2>



<h3 id="what-is-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="What_is_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>What is Appium Flutter Driver?</strong></span></h3>



<p>Appium Flutter Driver is a testing tool that allows you to automate Flutter apps using Appium. It helps you interact with the UI elements of your Flutter app, such as buttons, text fields, and dropdowns, and perform various actions on them, such as clicking, typing, and selecting. With Appium Flutter Driver, you can write automated tests for your Flutter app and run them on real devices or emulators.</p>



<h3 id="how-can-i-automate-my-flutter-app-using-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="How_can_I_automate_my_Flutter_app_using_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>How can I automate my Flutter app using Appium Flutter Driver?</strong></span></h3>



<p id="how-can-i-automate-my-flutter-app-using-appium-flutter-driver">You need to follow a few steps to automate your Flutter app using Appium Flutter Driver. First, you need to set up your environment by installing the required software, such as Flutter, Android Studio, and Appium. Then, you need to create a Flutter project and add the necessary dependencies for Appium Flutter Driver. After that, you can write your automated tests using your favorite programming language and run them using Appium. To simplify this process, you can use a test automation platform like Testsigma that provides a user-friendly interface for creating and running automated tests.</p>



<h3 id="can-i-run-my-appium-flutter-driver-tests-on-real-devices"><span id="Can_I_run_my_Appium_Flutter_Driver_tests_on_real_devices"><strong>Can I run my Appium Flutter Driver tests on real devices?</strong></span></h3>



<p>Yes, you can run your Appium Flutter Driver tests on real devices and emulators. Appium supports a wide range of devices and platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. To run your tests on real devices, you can just connect your device to your computer and configure the Appium settings accordingly. With Testsigma, you can easily set up your test environment and run your tests on real devices without hassle.</p>



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<p>Acceptance Criteria and Acceptance testing are crucial for a comprehensive software development process. Acceptance criteria are the conditions a software product must meet to make it acceptable to end customer. On the other hand, acceptance testing checks whether a software product meets the acceptance criteria.</p>



<p>Both these processes ensure robust and quality software. In this blog, we’d explore Acceptance Criteria vs Acceptance Testing in detail, along with their types, structures, advantages, and more.</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_are_Acceptance_Criteria"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> What are Acceptance Criteria?</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_an_Acceptance_Test"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> What is an Acceptance Test?</a></li><li><a href="#Acceptance_Criteria_vs_Acceptance_Testing_Know_the_Differences"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Acceptance Criteria vs Acceptance Testing: Know the Differences</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Conclusion</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_the_difference_between_acceptance_criteria_and_test_scripts"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">5.1</span> What is the difference between acceptance criteria and test scripts?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="dcro7"><span id="What_are_Acceptance_Criteria"><strong>What are Acceptance Criteria?</strong></span></h2>



<p>The acceptance criteria are a set of several prerequisites and conditions that must be satisfied for the product to be considered acceptable by clients and end users. They verify the software&#8217;s development and ensure the product operates as intended, without any flaws or bugs.</p>



<p>The acceptance criteria should always be written before development begins. Writing these criteria should clarify &#8220;what&#8221; to expect rather than &#8220;how&#8221; to achieve or implement a specific functionality because the purpose of doing so is to state the aim, not the solution. Here are some things to keep in mind:</p>



<ul><li>The acceptance criteria should be clear and concise.</li><li>The criteria should be achievable and testable.</li><li>The criteria should align with the project&#8217;s objectives.</li></ul>



<h2 id="b4ms6"><span id="What_is_an_Acceptance_Test"><strong>What is an Acceptance Test?</strong></span></h2>



<p>An Acceptance test determines whether the software meets the acceptance criteria for a given requirement. It ensures that a system is working as intended before it is deployed. Acceptance tests are typically carried out by the customer or end-user after <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/unit-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unit testing</a>, <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/integration-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">integration testing</a>, and <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/system-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">system testing</a>.</p>



<p>Acceptance test, in its simplest form, can be thought of as a validation technique that determines every part of the software&#8217;s functional, non-functional and technical requirements and verifies that it accurately satisfies the defined acceptance criteria.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-table aligncenter"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Read all about <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/acceptance-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Acceptance Testing</a></strong></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



<h2 id="6mujj"><span id="Acceptance_Criteria_vs_Acceptance_Testing_Know_the_Differences"><strong>Acceptance Criteria vs Acceptance Testing: Know the Differences</strong></span></h2>



<p>The primary difference between acceptance criteria and acceptance testing is that the former documents the expected behavior of a feature, whereas the latter defines the expected behavior of entire application.</p>



<p>Here are some basic differences:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-table">
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<table style="border: 1px solid black;border-collapse: collapse">
<tbody>
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<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><strong>Acceptance Criteria </strong></td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><strong>Acceptance Testing </strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Acceptance Criteria refer to the conditions software must meet to be accepted by the customer.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Acceptance Testing determines whether the software meets the acceptance criteria.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">These are written prior to development stage.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">These are implemented during product development.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">They define <em>what needs to be done</em>.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">It represents <em>how it should be done</em>.</td>
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<tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Either the client or the development team writes the criteria.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">The user or customer carries out the testing.</td>
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<tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">There is minimum or sometimes no requirement for documentation.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">It demands detailed documentation.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
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</figure>



<h2 id="ce7fp"><span id="Conclusion"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></h2>



<p>Now that we have understood the differences, types, and structures of acceptance criteria and testing, it is evident that they are crucial for a comprehensive software development process. It’s just not possible to ignore one over the other. By following the best practices, you can deliver a quality product that not only meets your users&#8217; expectations but also remains bug-free.</p>



<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions</strong></span></h2>



<h3 id="what-is-the-difference-between-acceptance-criteria-and-test-scripts"><span id="What_is_the_difference_between_acceptance_criteria_and_test_scripts"><strong>What is the difference between acceptance criteria and test scripts?</strong></span></h3>



<p>Acceptance Criteria establish the criteria that a product or feature must fulfill to be deemed complete and satisfactory from a user&#8217;s perspective. They define a product&#8217;s expected behaviors, functionalities, and outcomes but do not delve into the specific steps required to attain these outcomes. On the contrary, Test Scripts offers detailed instructions for testers to follow in a step-by-step manner to determine if the product meets the defined acceptance criteria. These scripts encompass specific actions or sequences to ensure the product functions correctly and satisfies the acceptance criteria. To summarize, acceptance criteria articulate the objectives, whereas test scripts elucidate the process of verifying the fulfillment of those objectives.</p>


Acceptance Criteria Vs Acceptance Tests – Know the Difference With Examples cover

Acceptance Criteria Vs Acceptance Tests – 5 Key Differences


<p>The ever-increasing usage of the internet has changed how we humans interact with technology. Everything is just a few touches away, be it booking a cab, making a payment, ordering groceries, medicines, or other services. For developers who create such complex applications, it’s essential that they test these applications thoroughly. Hence, understanding the key differences between&nbsp;mobile application testing&nbsp;vs web application testing becomes quite crucial.</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Mobile_Application_Testing_vs_Web_Application_Testing_8211_Overview"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Mobile Application Testing vs Web Application Testing &#8211; Overview</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_Mobile_Application_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> What is Mobile Application Testing?</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_Web_Application_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.2</span> What is Web Application Testing?</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Difference_Between_Mobile_Application_Testing_and_Web_Application_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Difference Between Mobile Application Testing and Web Application Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Mobile_Application_Testing_VS_Web_Application_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Mobile Application Testing VS Web Application Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Conclusion</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_are_the_skills_required_for_mobile_application_and_web_application_testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">5.1</span> What are the skills required for mobile application and web application testing?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="mobile-application-testing-vs-web-application-testing-overview"><span id="Mobile_Application_Testing_vs_Web_Application_Testing_8211_Overview"><strong>Mobile Application Testing vs Web Application Testing &#8211; Overview</strong></span></h2>



<h3 id="3ki54"><span id="What_is_Mobile_Application_Testing">What is Mobile Application Testing?</span></h3>



<p>Mobile application testing is the process of validating any mobile application before releasing it to the public. We test its usability and functionality as per the requirements specified by the business. Thus, it helps us understand whether the mobile application meets the technical and functional expectations.</p>



<p>The main goal behind developing any mobile application is to increase its reach and make it accessible globally. Hence, we don’t want the application to have bugs and technical faults when launched. Needless to say, no business would want its customer to come up with complaints and switch to a different competitor.</p>



<p>Hence, we need to <a href="https://testsigma.com/mobile-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test any mobile application</a> on multiple devices, screen resolutions, operation systems such as Android and iOS, network bandwidths, etc. The application should run flawlessly on all the combinations of device configurations.</p>



<p>Check here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/mobile-testing-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Top Mobile Automation Testing Tools</a></p>



<h3 id="jlc9"><span id="What_is_Web_Application_Testing">What is Web Application Testing?</span></h3>



<p>Web application testing is the process of testing the website for potential bugs or any other unwanted issues before we release it to the end users. Most businesses still prefer web applications that can run on browsers on desktop as well as mobile devices. This allows them to provide seamless user interaction on their most-used devices.</p>



<p>Similar to mobile application testing, there are different aspects of web application testing as well. When we test a web application, we must ensure it meets the functional requirements. More than that, it should be able to meet the performance benchmarks, should not be prone to security leaks, and must be compatible with all possible browser configurations.</p>



<p>A testing plan for a website should at least include a test strategy, objectives, and approach. It should also have a set of well-defined test cases and test suites and an environment where the tests need to be executed. Moreover, the testers should be able to automate the repetitive web application test cases to save time and effort.</p>



<p>Check here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-cases-example-for-web-application/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web Applications Test Cases</a></p>



<h2 id="e60hn"><span id="Difference_Between_Mobile_Application_Testing_and_Web_Application_Testing"><strong>Difference Between Mobile Application Testing and Web Application Testing</strong></span></h2>



<p>The difference between mobile application testing vs web application testing boils down to their purpose, intended users, and complexity.</p>



<p>In web application testing, we test our websites for functionality, usability, and quality across different OS, browsers, and versions. On the other hand, in mobile application testing, we verify whether or not the mobile application works as intended across thousands of mobile device configurations.</p>



<p>Therefore, it is essential that both these types of applications perform up to the benchmark and are bug-free. Ultimately, it all comes down to providing a seamless user experience and retaining the end users. Having discussed this, let’s dive deep into the basic differences between mobile application testing vs web application testing.</p>



<p>Check here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/tools/website-testing-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Website Testing Tools</a></p>



<h2 id="e60hn"><span id="Mobile_Application_Testing_VS_Web_Application_Testing"><strong>Mobile Application Testing VS Web Application Testing</strong></span></h2>



<figure class="wp-block-table">
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<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;"><strong>Mobile Application Testing</strong></td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;"><strong>Web Application Testing</strong></td>
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<tr style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Developing and testing responsive mobile applications, especially for devices with small resolutions like mobile phones and tablets, is difficult.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Developing and testing responsive web applications for larger screen resolutions is relatively easier.</td>
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<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Due to the complexity of mobile applications and the involvement of many components, it’s challenging to test mobile applications.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Testing web applications is relatively easier.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">We need to test the mobile applications on a combination of different device configurations like OS (iOS and Android), resolutions, hardware configurations, OEMs, etc.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Web applications must be tested across different browser versions and OS combinations.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Mobile applications that consume a lot of power and drain battery are not well-received by end users. Hence, the testing teams must test the applications on fully-charged and drained mobile devices.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">There is no such constraint for testing web applications as it depends solely on the browser.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">The testing team needs to consider the interaction of the devices with user actions such as gestures, voice, noise, etc. This is due to the number of features that smartphones provide the users to interact with different applications.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Web browsers do not offer many options to interact and even if they do, users preferably use mouse and keyboard control to access web applications. Hence, the scope of testing is less.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Nowadays, mobile applications are also accessible via peripheral devices connected to the mobile such as fitness trackers, smart watches, medical devices like pacemakers, etc. Hence, they need to be tested on these devices as well.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Web applications are mostly accessed on browsers. Other peripheral devices include webcams, controllers, etc. However, they are not used on a large scale.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Some popular tools and frameworks for mobile application testing are – Testsigma, Appium, Xamarin, Espresso, XCUITest, Robotium, etc.</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; border-collapse: collapse;">Commonly used web application testing tools are – Selenium, WebLoad, devtools in browsers, Acunetix, etc.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</figure>



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<h2 id="8i5po"><span id="Conclusion"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></h2>



<p>To sum up, testing is a crucial part of the <a href="https://www.netscaler.com/articles/what-is-an-application-delivery" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">delivery process of any application</a>, be it a mobile or desktop web application. With the availability of a plethora of devices with multiple configurations, testing the robustness of an application on all these platforms is quite a hectic task. Hence, switching over to an automated testing solution will save you a lot of time, effort, and cost.</p>



<p>To ensure a bug-free product, you must test your application in all possible device configurations that the end users commonly use. New-age automated tools like Testsigma and others provide a complete solution with thousands of real devices hosted on cloud.</p>



<p>Hence, you need to choose wisely before you invest in any automated testing tool so that it has all the features and appropriate support that your application needs.</p>



<h2 id="c1dob"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions</strong></span></h2>



<h3 id="60t5p"><span id="What_are_the_skills_required_for_mobile_application_and_web_application_testing">What are the skills required for mobile application and web application testing?</span></h3>



<p>To test any application, the tester must have these basic skills to ensure that the final product meets the business requirements and benchmarks. S/he should have a deep understanding of the features to be developed, should be able to choose the right testing tool, and automate the testing as much as possible. This is possible with the ability to write automation scripts and set up proper test environments.</p>



<customlinks>
<ts-link-item>
<ts-linktext-value>Mobile Application Testing</ts-linktext-value>
<ts-linkurl-value>https://testsigma.com/mobile-testing</ts-linkurl-value>
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<ts-linktext-value>Web Application Testing</ts-linktext-value>
<ts-linkurl-value>https://testsigma.com/guides/web-application-testing/</ts-linkurl-value>
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<ts-linktext-value>Desktop Application Testing vs Web Application Testing</ts-linktext-value>
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Mobile Application Testing vs Web Application Testing image

Mobile Application Testing vs Web Application Testing – Key Differences

Top 6 iOS Automation Testing Tools & Frameworks with Code Examples

<p>As rapid technological advancements drive the digital era, providing customers with the latest and most intuitive applications has become a necessity. To ensure high application quality and reliability, businesses need to leverage testing and staging environments. Where a testing environment ensures each application component does its job, the staging environment ensures the components still perform well when deployed in a live environment. Let’s have an overview of the <strong>staging environment vs test environment</strong>, their best practices, and more.</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_a_Test_Environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> What is a Test Environment?</a><ul><li><a href="#Elements_of_Test_Environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> Elements of Test Environment</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Why_Do_You_Need_a_Testing_Environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Why Do You Need a Testing Environment?</a></li><li><a href="#Best_Practices_for_an_Effective_Test_Environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Best Practices for an Effective Test Environment</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_a_Staging_Environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> What is a Staging Environment?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_Do_You_Need_a_Staging_Environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Why Do You Need a Staging Environment?</a></li><li><a href="#Best_Practices_for_a_Reliable_Staging_Environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Best Practices for a Reliable Staging Environment</a></li><li><a href="#Staging_Environment_vs_Test_Environment_What8217s_the_Difference"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> Staging Environment vs Test Environment: What&#8217;s the Difference?</a></li><li><a href="#Summary"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">8</span> Summary</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">9</span> Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_the_difference_between_staging_and_QA"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">9.1</span> What is the difference between staging and QA?</a></li><li><a href="#What_comes_first_UAT_or_staging"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">9.2</span> What comes first, UAT or staging?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_different_types_of_testing_environments"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">9.3</span> What are the different types of testing environments?</a></li><li><a href="#How_many_environments_are_there_in_QA"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">9.4</span> How many environments are there in QA?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="uoip"><span id="What_is_a_Test_Environment"><strong>What is a Test Environment?</strong></span></h2>



<p>Every application developed needs to be validated to ensure it performs as per the end user’s expectations. <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Test environments</a> are platforms that help design and run multiple test cases on the application as well as the associated hardware and network configurations. This environment consists of all the required resources needed to execute the tests, such as OS, servers, drivers, and so on.</p>



<p>Basically, a test environment is a setup that brings together hardware, software, data, and a combination of configurations to perform testing. These are configured according to the needs of the software being tested to ensure it performs well in all conditions.</p>



<p>Test environments are not one-size-fits-all in nature. It is the component that dictates the environment setup. The main aim of setting up a test environment is to enable QA teams to validate the application and find underlying bugs that are fixed to prevent any negative user experience.</p>



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<h3 id="5899g"><span id="Elements_of_Test_Environment">Elements of Test Environment</span></h3>



<p>Certain factors are required to perform testing in a test environment. These are mentioned below:</p>



<p><strong>Servers and Databases for Testing</strong></p>



<p>Servers are environments where software is deployed for testing. Databases store massive datasets in the form of test results from the executed tests.</p>



<p><strong>Team of Testers</strong></p>



<p>A setup for a testing environment features different types of people who create test cases to find all possible bugs and defects. These are:</p>



<ul><li>Dev team, which develops the software</li><li>Testers who run various tests to validate the software</li><li>System admin, who provides backend support.</li></ul>



<p><strong>Network for Testing</strong></p>



<p>The network acts as a channel to transfer test data. The <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/test-process/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">software testing process</a> generates a significant amount of data in the form of inputs, outputs, simulation data, etc. An ideal testing network features a network, LAN setup, or private network.</p>



<p><strong>Tools for Reporting Bugs</strong></p>



<p>Reporting the bugs is as critical as detecting them. The test environment should use reliable and effective defect-logging tools so that the developers can easily understand what needs to be fixed. Some examples of popular bug-reporting tools are Bugzilla and JIRA.</p>



<p><strong><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-environment-management/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Managing Test Environment</a></strong></p>



<p>Management of the test environment is critical to ensure they can be utilized whenever required. This includes <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-bed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test beds </a>according to the needs of the QA team. Test management also includes setting up a test repository and supporting software and ensuring these are updated through version control. Test environment management also means creating adequate documentation for the setup details, testing history, and outcomes. This helps in making future test cases and may be used as reference points in fixing similar bugs.</p>



<h2 id="86b1a"><span id="Why_Do_You_Need_a_Testing_Environment"><strong>Why Do You Need a Testing Environment?</strong></span></h2>



<p>A well-designed test environment is essential to ensure the investment in creating robust test cases pays off. A test environment enables testers to have comprehensive feedback about the application quality. In other words, a test environment provides teams with the necessary setup to run the test cases.</p>



<p>A test environment further helps in providing a dedicated environment to isolate the code and verify the application&#8217;s behavior. This ensures that no other activities that can influence the output of the tests are running on the server.</p>



<p>Moreover, a test environment can replicate the production environment, which is crucial for being confident about the testing outcomes. The testing engineer needs to ensure that the application behaves the same way in the test environment as in the production environment.</p>



<h2 id="88a5j"><span id="Best_Practices_for_an_Effective_Test_Environment"><strong>Best Practices for an Effective Test Environment</strong></span></h2>



<p>Creating a software testing environment is essential for any organization that wants to ensure the quality of its software applications. This helps testers run various tests to identify and fix defects early in development.</p>



<p>Setting up a proper test environment needs experience, resources, and effort. Here are a few best practices for setting up an effective <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">software testing environment</a>:</p>



<ul><li>Define the testing goals. It should be clear what the testers want to achieve with testing.</li><li>Identify what <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/the-different-software-testing-types-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">types of testing</a> would be required. Some of the critical kinds of testing are Unit testing, Integration testing, Acceptance testing, Regression testing.</li><li>Determine the scope of software testing. It should be clear which parts of the software will be tested.</li><li>Create test cases while keeping in mind the requirements and features.</li><li>The test environment should feature a comprehensive software, hardware, and network configuration setup.</li><li>Ensure the testing environment is secure.</li><li>The environment should be scalable to incorporate the increasing volumes of user traffic and app data.</li><li>Ensure the code changes are validated periodically before the updates are pushed to production.</li><li>Ensure the test environment is updated and includes the latest software and hardware configurations.</li></ul>



<h2 id="e4eh5"><span id="What_is_a_Staging_Environment"><strong>What is a Staging Environment?</strong></span></h2>



<p>Staging environments consist of software, hardware, and configuration similar to the production environments. It is through these similarities testers can mimic the real-world production environment.</p>



<p>Staging environments are replicas of the production environments. It imitates the production environment as closely as possible to ensure application quality. The purpose of setting up a staging environment is to validate the application approaching the production stage to ensure the app will perform well post-deployment.</p>



<p>Simply put, it is a stage where Dev and QA teams can perform various tests on the software and identify its best version. It ensures that the users are always provided with the best software experience.</p>



<h2 id="1d6kj"><span id="Why_Do_You_Need_a_Staging_Environment"><strong>Why Do You Need a Staging Environment?</strong></span></h2>



<p>Working with a staging environment allows testers to verify all assumptions made before development and ensure that application deployments are successful. Also, testing new changes takes care of the risk of bugs hampering the end-user experience because the bugs are resolved before going to the live environment.</p>



<p>It is also recommended to deploy the staging environment as part of a release. This ultimately allows the Dev and QA teams to identify any coding, integration, or data bottlenecks.</p>



<p>There are several benefits of using a staging environment:</p>



<ul><li>A staging environment allows the testers to validate the application in a near-production environment.</li><li>A staging environment offers a medium for performing QA checks to ensure the application is of the best possible quality.</li><li>The developers release the new versions of the application in the staging environment to ensure everything is working as intended.</li><li>This environment may be used to share product and services demos with the customers.</li></ul>



<h2 id="c18qa"><span id="Best_Practices_for_a_Reliable_Staging_Environment"><strong>Best Practices for a Reliable Staging Environment</strong></span></h2>



<p><strong>Have a dedicated database server</strong></p>



<p>The database features the entire content of the application. Hence, it is crucial to prevent the staging database override over the live database. It is recommended to use a dedicated database server for staging. Testers can refresh the staging database from scratch if they make any mistakes.</p>



<p><strong>Ensure comprehensive testing</strong></p>



<p>When updates are made to software, it is critical to ensure that they do not break anything. Testing assures that the updates and modifications made in the staging environment do not break the live product. A comprehensive test strategy plan, which includes both automation and manual testing, should be made before making any updates to the staging environment.</p>



<p><strong>Monitor the testing environment</strong></p>



<p>Monitoring bears many benefits in a pre-production environment, the foremost being ensuring that code updates do not hamper the production environment. Testers can know the possibilities of failure when the code is deployed by monitoring the testing environments and cases. It is difficult for testers to follow every possible user path and bug. Here, monitoring enables error tracking and ensures quicker code modifications.</p>



<p><strong>Perform debugging and testing</strong></p>



<p>Effective testing and debugging procedures ensure that high-quality code is produced consistently. These include automated testing, regular logging, and bug tracking.</p>



<p><strong>Clone the exact infrastructure</strong></p>



<p>When creating the staging environment, ensure that the same resources are used. These include:</p>



<ul><li>Cloud provider</li><li>Virtualization tools</li><li>API gateways</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ensure a secure environment</strong></p>



<p>Since a staging environment imitates a production environment, both share the same data. If a staging environment is compromised, it may also put the production environment at risk. To prevent any security incidents, testers should use a different domain for staging with restricted access. Data should be encrypted in transit, and complex credentials should be utilized to access the staging environment.</p>



<p><strong>Create backups</strong></p>



<p>When working with a staging environment, any data loss in the staging environment can lead to data loss in the production environment. Hence, it is critical to have data backups of the staging environment to enable quick data recovery in case something goes wrong. <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-backup/latest/devguide/whatisbackup.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AWS backup is a recommended way</a> to create effective data backups for staging environments.</p>



<p>Above we have discussed all about Test environment and staging environment, best practices and more , now lets look into staging environment vs test environment differences.</p>



<h2 id="1qsa2"><span id="Staging_Environment_vs_Test_Environment_What8217s_the_Difference"><strong>Staging Environment vs Test Environment: What&#8217;s the Difference?</strong></span></h2>



<p>A staging environment and a testing environment differ in the levels of resemblance these provide to testers. In a staging environment, versions are kept up to date to ensure everything resembles the live version except for the recently pushed updates from the Dev environment. This allows testers to deploy the software updates to a live environment while ensuring that nothing breaks in the process.</p>



<p>This may only sometimes be the case with a testing environment. Rather than testing everything end-to-end, testers often work on assumptions of how the software will work and test the changes made to the source code. The testing environment ensures that the code updates are tested faster and without needing to imitate the entire live environment, as in the case of staging environments. Now lets check out the table given below with staging environment vs test environment differences.</p>



<p></p>



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Staging Environment&nbsp;</strong></td><td><strong>Test Environment</strong></td></tr><tr><td>A staging environment mimics the production environment to perform final QA checks on application.</td><td>A test environment validates each component of application under test.</td></tr><tr><td>It replicates all requirements and configurations of the production environment.</td><td>It is dynamic and requires specific configurations to test each component.</td></tr><tr><td>It validates the complete application.&nbsp;</td><td>It tests the Individual components or functions.</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



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<h2 id="dscsk"><span id="Summary"><strong>Summary</strong></span></h2>
<p>Both testing and staging environments play a critical role in ensuring the application performs as expected in real-life scenarios. On the one hand, the testing environment ensures each application component performs its job well. On the other hand, the staging environment ensures the application&#8217;s features work well with everything connected around it.</p>
<h2 id="6fsjh"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions</strong></span></h2>
<h3 id="7s9is"><span id="What_is_the_difference_between_staging_and_QA">What is the difference between staging and QA?</span></h3>
<p>The significant differences between staging and QA are found in the scale of the test as well as the agenda of finding bugs. The staging environment replicates the requirements and configurations of the production environment, whereas the testing environment validates a particular part of the product.</p>
<h3 id="3s9sj"><span id="What_comes_first_UAT_or_staging">What comes first, UAT or staging?</span></h3>
<p>UAT comes first in a software development life cycle, followed by staging.</p>
<h3 id="dn7nj"><span id="What_are_the_different_types_of_testing_environments">What are the different types of testing environments?</span></h3>
<ul>
<li>The Dev environment &#8211; This is where apps are deployed and unit tested by the Dev team.</li>
<li>Test/<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/qa-environment/">QA Environment</a> &#8211; In this environment, the versioned QA builds are deployed, followed by testers executing the tests and reporting test results to the Dev team.</li>
<li>Staging Environment &#8211; It validates the application approaching the production stage to ensure the app will perform well post-deployment.</li>
<li>Production Environment &#8211; This is a live environment where real users use the app.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="9gqqh"><span id="How_many_environments_are_there_in_QA">How many environments are there in QA?</span></h3>
<p>There are four QA environments: the Development environment, Test environment, Staging environment, and Production environment.</p>
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