Why Should You Test Your Application All the Time?

Nowadays, each software application needs to deliver seamless user experience across multiple devices, platforms and browsers to stay popular and profitable. But the performance and user experience of the software is impacted by a number of external factors including systems, processes and infrastructures. No business can exercise control over these external factors affecting its software’s user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). That is why; it becomes essential for businesses to test their software repeatedly and continuously to maintain its quality and user experience.

5 Reasons Why Software Applications Must Be Tested Continuously

1) Shorter Delivery Cycles

A steady increase is being noted in the number of organizations adopting agile project management methodology. The agile methodology emphasizes on short and incremental software delivery cycles. The methodology further requires programmers and testers to work together and concurrently. Once a particular functionality or module of the software is developed, the testers need to assess its quality and share the test results with various stakeholders in the project. The shorter delivery cycles have made it essential for businesses to perform continuous testing.

2) Early Detections of Defects and Bugs

Many studies have highlighted a business can reduce software testing time and cost drastically through continuous testing. When the defects or bugs in an application are detected early, it becomes easier for programmers to get them fixed. As the code is still fresh in their mind, the programmers can work on the defects without putting extra time and effort. Thus, a business can switch from waterfall testing to continuous testing to reduce the defect turnaround time significantly.

3) Overcome Time and Resource Constraints

Most businesses explore ways to enhance test coverage by overcoming constraints related to resources and time. When the software testing commences after the development phase of the project, the testers have to perform the required tests within a stipulated amount of time without affecting the software’s time to market. But when the testers perform continuous testing, it becomes easier for them to complete all tests without requiring any additional time. Hence, continuous testing helps businesses to deliver a flawless software application despite the constraints related to time and resources.

4) Produce High Quality Code

Many enterprises nowadays review source code of software applications to make it safe and secure. The testing model requires the source code of the software to be assessed and reviewed frequently and thoroughly. While reviewing the source code, the testers can identify the pieces of code that may make the application vulnerable to security attacks. A business can always produce high quality code by performing continuous testing. When software is tested continuously, it becomes easier for testers to each and everything in a build. They can even review the source code of the software repeatedly to ensure that the software is not vulnerable to evolving security threats.

5) Essential for Mobile Apps

Nowadays most businesses develop mobile apps by targeting multiple devices and platforms. So they need to ensure that the app deliver quality user experience across many devices and platforms. Likewise, they need to check the application’s user interface across different models of smartphones, tablets and phablets. With mobile operating systems being updated at regular intervals and new mobile apps emerging on a regular basis, it has become essential for businesses to check the mobile app’s performance and user experience continuously. So the businesses must test the mobile apps continuously to accomplish more downloads and higher returns.

Each enterprise can facilitate continuous software testing in a number of ways. It can always provide testers with test automation tools to perform the tests repeatedly and continuously without putting extra time and effort. Likewise, it can adopt continuous integration (CI) methodology to enable the testers to perform the tests accurately and frequently. 

What is the Need to Test Your Retail Apps Frequently?

It is the age of technology and everything we do is related to technology or dependent on it in some way. The advent of technology has hugely aided the way that people used to buy things. Most people are now hooked on to internet shopping which is conducted online via the numerous mobile shopping apps or retail apps that are present. It allows them to browse and order the things they need sitting at home or at office or on the go and the ordered product gets delivered right at their door step. This helps in saving a lot of time and is convenient for most people who are super busy in their lives or for people who are away from their home and require to deliver the products.

One of the best things about conducting business in an age which is primarily mobile centric is the fact that they have a tool for almost everything that is needed. Be it streamlining certain business opportunities or increasing the productivity of the retail app or creating an easier user interface for your customers to deal with, you get a tool for everything.

However to ensure that your app is up and running it is very important that you need to test your app before launching it so that you can ensure complete satisfaction on the customers’ end. It will also ensure that your app increases the profitability of your business based on the ease and productivity and speed as well as security of using your app. It is not enough to test your app only before you launch it. Retail apps should be tested frequently even after being launched. This is due to the fact that the retail apps are used by a huge number of customers each day which makes it prone to development of bugs which may cause problems in the functionality of the app.

The retail apps are usually multi tier in nature and are connected to payment gateways and banking apps so that the customers can make payment of the products they have bought.  This ensures that your app should have top notch security facilities so that it can avoid any kind of fraud that may cause harm to the customers as well as to your reputation. This is one of the major reasons to keep testing the retail apps frequently so that the security facility of the app is never compromised. It also has to safe keep the personal details filled in by your customers while operating your retail app.

With the advancement of the technology you also need to include more and more features in your retail apps in order to enrich the shopping experience of your customers. This also initiates the process of frequent testing of your retail app to make sure that the prevailing functions are in sync with the new ones and work perfectly with the new functions that are included in the retail app. Also your retail app will have varied amount of traffic on each day which will obviously peak during the holidays and occasions when people are prone to exchanging gifts. Frequent load testing of the retail app will make sure that your app doesn’t snag under pressure and even if it does, it can bounce back to its normal functionality as soon as possible without causing much distress to your customers.

We hope to have clarified the need to test your retail apps frequently. It will help you to maintain a healthy app and a loyal customer base. 

Why is Selenium a Good Weapon to Have in Your Arsenal?

When it comes to software testing, every testing organization seeks the help of automated testing tools as it helps in saving both time and money. Software testing is an important part of the whole software development procedure and the cost of the process affects the whole cost of the project. This is why more and more organizations are opting for open source tools rather than investing in commercial tools which cost a lot of money, ultimately increasing the cost of the whole project.

There are a huge number of automated testing tools available for the purpose of testing the various aspects of the software; however, Selenium tops the list. Selenium is becoming more and more popular each day with the testers and the organizations who specialize in testing both functionality and GUI of the web based applications. It is also effective as far as unit testing is concerned in case of JavaScript. Another important fact behind the popularity of the selenium software is the fact that it is supported by immense number of open source developers who are regularly working on the further development of the tool on a regular basis.

So why is selenium a good weapon to have in your arsenal? Here are some reasons to satiate your query.

1.      Selenium is capable of working on almost all the available operating systems which makes it far more popular than the other available automated testing tools out there.
2.      Being an open source automated testing tool, selenium s far more cost effective that the commercial counterparts which are available in the market.
3.      Selenium supports various languages like such as Python, Pearl, and Ruby, PHP, .NET (C #) and Java pretty well. However, in order to perform your task with the selenium tool, knowing just one of the many languages is more than enough.
4.      Selenium is built in a way where it doesn’t depend on any particular scripting language for its workability which is a huge advantage when it comes to software testing. This provides you with the liberty of writing the automated testing script in any language you wish to or prefer. 
5.      Selenium is easy to work with as it functions with equal ease on all the leading and popular browsers like Opera, Safari, Chrome, IE 6, 7, 8 or Mozilla Firefox.
6.      Supported by Google, Selenium is regularly developed by a team of professional and dedicated developers who are trying to make it better every day.
7.      When you use selenium for automated software testing and detecting various elements on your web based software, it uses robust processes like CSS, Xpath, DOM and so on.
8.      When it comes to exerting of frameworks that revolve around Object oriented programming such as Keyword Driven, Data driven and Hybrid, there are no automated tools which can match up to selenium.
9.      Selenium is very well integrated with various open source frameworks like TestNG, JUnit, NUnit and so on which are popular in the software industry.
10.        Selenium proves to be a huge help when it comes to testing software which involves multiple machines or multiple browsers in different machines at the same time. Selenium helps in saving both time and money as it allows easy workability on various different machines at the same time thus allows you to complete large projects which have a limited period of time for completion.

What are you still waiting for? Get selenium in your arsenal and get all the advantages of this awesome tool to test your web based applications now!

The Role of Software Testing in Healthcare

As technology is advancing, the future is becoming more and more inclined on its use. The case is no different in the healthcare industry where the professionals are becoming more dependent on the use of technology to save data about the patients as well as the various medical staff that are present for serving these patients. More and more technology is being used in healthcare for the purpose of storing information and integrating various data from various resources to ensure that the patients get top service without much hassle. This makes software testing an important part of healthcare software development in order to ensure that the data are safe and software are efficient to handle such huge and complex process.

It is quite obvious that the healthcare industry requires saving a lot of information such as medical plans, enrolments and annual contracts that are required to be recorded for a long period of time and are regularly updated. This requires the healthcare apps to be pretty complex in nature and containing multiple tiers. These can lead to complexities related to data integration which needs to be resolved before providing the software to the professionals to be used without any problems. Here comes the role of software testing in healthcare.

1. Software testing plays a role in the healthcare industry in order to ensure that the huge multi tier system is up and running at all times and does not succumb under pressure. It also guarantees quick comeback of the systems even if it snags.
2. Healthcare industries often have to face a huge surge of traffic inflow in case of any calamities or mishaps which will automatically increase the load on the software system used by it. Software testing ensures that the software performs equally well even in such cases.
3. Healthcare industries often have to face prolonged period of work without any possible break which is at times accompanied by an increased amount of load. This is extended to the software as well. The role of software testing in healthcare is to make sure that the software performs brilliantly during these prolonged work periods.
4. Software testing makes sure that the system integration in the healthcare industry doesn’t cause any major problems. Healthcare industry often requires system integration for the collaboration of data or in order to maintain a constant flow of data between systems so that the records are well maintained and the system runs smoothly.
5. Impacts of cross system on the applications used in the healthcare industry requires software testing for checking.
6. Software testing plays an important role in the healthcare industry by checking the interdependency of the various software which are frequent in the industry to ensure that they are functioning smoothly and causes no problems.
7. Healthcare industry uses software to store a lot of vital and personal information of the patients which if breached and hacked into can give rise to fatal consequences. Software testing helps in maintaining the security of these various systems used.
8. Software testing helps in maintain an easy user interface of the applications used in healthcare so that they can be handles by people who are not pro at the utilization of same.

These are some of the top most methods by which software testing helps the healthcare industry by helping the developers to create apps that are completely secure in nature and will help the professionals to save all the data and integrate the various files which would take a lot of labor if done in a manual manner. 

Understanding JMeter and Its Usage in Software Testing

Load testing helps enterprises to deploy software applications effectively, and eliminate chances of downtime and failure in future. But testers need to load test the application by emulating a large number of users and under various conditions to obtain its key performance indicators (KPIs). That is why, many professionals use load testing tools to obtain the software’s KPIs by easily emulating a large number of users simultaneously. As an open source load testing tool, JMeter helps testers to assess the performance of a variety of web applications without increasing project overheads. However, its features and functionality also make JMeter a widely used load testing tool.

Why Many Software Testers Prefer JMeter to Other Load Testing Tools?

Pure Java Application

Unlike other load testing tools, JMeter is designed as a pure Java desktop application. So the users can download zip file, and setup the open source tool in a straightforward way. Further, they have option to run the tool on various operating systems that support Java. As most platforms currently support Java, the load testing tool can be setup and run across major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Assess both Static and Dynamic Resources

To evaluate the performance of a website effectively, testers need to assess all its resources. JMeter enables users to test both static and dynamic resources used by the software. They can use the tool to test various static resources including   HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Likewise, it can also be used for testing a variety of dynamic resources PHP, ASP.NET, Java Servlets, Java objects, CGI scripts, FTP servers and databases.

Perform both Load and Stress Tests

The testers can further use JMeter to perform both load tests and stress tests. They can assess the application’s performance under varying loads by simulating the number of users expected to access the website simultaneously. At the same time, JMeter also helps testers to determine the maximum load capacity of the web server. So they can easily identify when the web application will start responding to user request slowly or produce errors.

Supports Most Protocols and Servers

JMeter can also be used to load test and stress test a variety of applications as it supports most of the commonly used protocols and servers. At present, the load testing tools support HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, FTP, SOAP, REST, LDAP, SMPT, POP3 and IMAP. Likewise, it also supports databases through JDBC, NoSQL through MangoDB, and native commands and shell scripts. Thus, the testers can use a single tool to assess the performance of various modern websites and web applications. 

Pluggable Architecture

The architecture of JMeter is built based on plug-ins. Some of its commonly used features are implemented through plug-ins. So it becomes easier for testers to manipulate the testing tool through these plug-ins. Also, they can easily enhance its features and functionality by building custom plug-ins. 

Simple Option to Build Test Cases

Often QA professionals have to put additional time and effort for building effective test plans. But JMeter makes enables users to create test plans by following some simple steps.  For instance, the testers can create test plans for testing SOAP layers simply by mentioning the URLs and SOAP requests. They also have option to extend the basic test plans by incorporating parameters, variables, counters, logs, loops and CSV files. They can further refer to the comprehensive documentation posted on its website to manage and maintain the test scripts efficiently.

Generates Informative Test Reports

The programmers need informative test reports to fix the performance issues quickly. Likewise, clear and elaborate performance testing reports help managers to take a number of crucial decisions. JMeter enables testers to present the requests and response in text, HTML or XML format. Also, they can use the Aggregate Graph component of the tool to present the test results more clearly with graphs and statistics.  Also, they can take advantage of the Display Graph option to present the performance statistics through appealing graphs.

Despite being an open source load testing tool, JMeter is being updated at regular intervals. The most recent version of JMeter enables testers to determine the amount of time required by the software to establish connection with the sever using a new parameter called connect Time. Likewise, JMeter 2.13 allows users to customize both aggregate report and aggregate graph. These new features make JMeter score over other open source and commercial load testing tools available in the market.

Metrics to Measure Quality of Software that was tested

Nowadays most enterprises invest in various tools and frameworks to effectuate and speed up their software testing efforts. But each business still needs to measure the quality of software after the testing process is over. As standards of measurement, metrics are commonly used by businesses to assess the quality of the software and effectiveness of the testing process. Thus, the managers can use the metrics to take crucial decisions related to release of the software. The software metrics can be divided into three broad categories, i.e., coverage, progress and quality. A business needs to use metrics belonging to these three categories to assess the quality of the software effectively.

Metrics Used Commonly to Assess the Quality of Software

Test Coverage: It belongs to the category of coverage metrics. The test coverage metric helps manager to assess the quality of the software based on planned test coverage. The manager can calculate the percentage of test cases executed by using the following formula. 

(Total number of test procedures/Total number of test requirements) *100

System Coverage: The system coverage metric also falls under the category of coverage metric. A manager can calculate system coverage metric to analyze the test coverage at the system interface level.

Test Procedure Execution: As part of progress metrics, test procedure metric helps manager to determine the extent of the pending or outstanding testing efforts. The status of test procedure execution can be ascertained using the following formula.

Number of executed test procedures/ Total number of test procedures

Error Discovery Rate: Both error discovery rate and defect density are calculated using a single formula. The progress metric helps managers to take rational decisions related to the application’s release. A manager can calculate the error discovery rate metric by dividing the number of defects identified by total number of test procedures executed.

Defect Aging: It is also important for the manager to determine the turnaround time for a defect. As part of progress metric, defect aging metric helps manager to decide the amount of time required to fix the defects identified during testing process. He can calculate the defect aging metric by deducing the date defect was identified from the date defect was fixed.

Defect Fix Retest: The manager also need to check if the application is retested quickly and effectively after the identified defects are fixed. As a progress metric, defect fix retest metric helps managers to decide the amount of time required to release the new build. The metric is calculated by deducting the date of retesting the software from the release date of the new build.

Quality of Fixes: The managers also need to assess a variety of development issues to assess the quality of the software accurately. They can assess the quality of defects fixed by the programmers by dividing the number of defects reopened by the total number of defects fixed. The metric will help manager to understand the impact of bug fixes on other functionality of the software.

Software Problem Reports: The manager also needs to understand the total number of defects identified during the testing process and their significance. So he needs to break down the number of defects identified by priority. Once the defects are organized based on their priority, it will be easier for him to check if all crucial defects are fixed and the application is retested.

Test Efficiency: As a quality metric, test efficiency helps managers to assess the effectiveness of software testing efforts.  A manager can calculate the test efficiency metric by dividing the total number of required tests by the number of system errors.

Test Effectiveness: While assessing the quality of the software, the manager needs to check the effectiveness of tests conducted by the testers. He must analyze the test reports to find out the number of defects identified during the testing process.  The information will help him to assess the effectiveness of tests quantitatively.

Many managers include the quality metrics in the project from the very beginning to obtain accurate and relevant information about the quality of the software through test reports.   However, the managers must include a variety of metrics in the project to assess the quality of the application and testing efforts effectively.

Ways in Which Software Testing is Helpful for Healthcare Industry

Technology has been advancing in leaps and bounds in the recent eras. All aspects of the human life are now depended on technology in some way or the other. Human life is badly intertwined with the technology and the scenario is no different with the healthcare industry. Healthcare industry uses technology pretty heavily these days in order to maintain information about the patients and related officials and other required details of the industry. This makes testing of the software used in the healthcare industry an absolute must which will ensure that the software is foolproof and will cause no problems when being used.

Healthcare industry is reputed for the use of software which are highly complex in nature and usually contain multiple tiers which are used to integrate variety of information like that of medical plans, enrollments and annual contracts which are to be regularly updated and maintained for long periods of time. All these complexities often lead to data integration complexities which are to be taken care of before releasing them for the use by healthcare professionals so that the data can be safe with them and no data would be lost due to the bugs or glitches.

1. Software testing ensures that the multi-tier system of the software used in the healthcare industry is up and running at all time and springs back to its original form even after snagging under pressure.
2. Via software testing it can be made sure that the various software used by the professionals of the healthcare industry provide equally brilliant results even if there is extra load dumped on them due to any kind of mishap.
3. The software used in the healthcare industry for various purposes, may have to perform tasks continuously for an extended period of time without any possible break. Software testing ensures that these prolonged working periods do not cause any trouble with the performance of the software.
4. The healthcare industry often have to integrate multiple systems together in order to collaborate the data stored in all the systems or in order to maintain a constant flow of data between these systems. The proper integration of these systems are ensured by the implementation of software testing procedures.
5. Software testing helps in checking the cross system impacts on the performance of the applications used in healthcare industry.
6. One of the most important parts of the software used in healthcare industry is the inter dependency of the various apps or software used in the industry, which is checked by the software testing procedures.
7. Just like in the banking industry, the software to be used in healthcare industry are also at a risk of being breached which can give rise to fatal consequences. Software testing ensures that these types of security glitches are avoided.
8. At times the software of the healthcare industry needs to be handled by people who are not very apt with the usage. Software testing ensures that the applications are user friendly.

These are some of the top most ways which software testing ensures that the healthcare industry is benefited from a good software and continues its journey to serve the mankind on a whole. We hope to have made you realize the importance of the various software testing procedure in the success of a healthcare industry software so that you introduce the various processes as early as possible in the software development life cycle in order to provide your customers with a software devoid of all kinds of possible bugs and glitches.

Prioritizing Bugs - How do Testers Decide?

Nowadays, testers have to test all aspects of a software application within a stipulated amount of time. The time constraint makes it essential for the professionals to understand the importance of each bug, and prioritize it for resolution. That is why; testers often find it challenging to prioritize the bugs based on their importance, and required turnaround time.

It is a common practice among QA professionals to prioritize all bugs according to four distinct levels, i.e., critical, high, medium and low. The critical bugs prevent the testers to from continuing testing beyond a particular point. So the maximum turnaround time for such bugs is 24 hours.  The high priority bugs affect the normal functionality of the software at the users end, and must be fixed before its release.

The medium priority bugs affect the performance and user experience of the applications, and can be fixed after its release. The low priority bugs do not have a huge impact on the application’s performance, and can be postponed due to time constraints. However, the testers must keep in mind some common best practices while prioritizing bugs.

Common Best Practices Testers Follow while Prioritizing Bugs for Resolution

Label Security Bugs as Critical

The bugs affecting user data will have a direct impact on the application’s popularity and profitability. There are also chances that the security issues will increase the business’s legal liability. So the testers must prioritize the security risks related to user data, and ensure that such bugs are fixed immediately.

Focus on Frequency of Occurrence

Some defects in the software occur sporadically, whereas others occur more frequently. The bugs occurring more frequently often results in software failure and affect the user experience negatively. The QA professionals can easily identify the bugs that occur frequently based on the bug report and problem tickets. These defects must be fixed in the next build to enhance the application’s performance and user experience.  

Look for Bugs disrupting Business Activities

Certain software applications are designed with features to help businesses accomplish specific objectives like process improvement. So the bugs disrupting the business process or activities must be resolved immediately. The testers must refer to the key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify the bugs that affect specific features or functionality of the application, and hence prevent the business from accomplishing certain tasks or objectives smoothly.    

Identify the Bugs affecting User Experience

Nowadays the popularity and profitability of a software application is directly linked to its user experience. So any bugs affecting the application’s user experience will have a negative impact on revenues. Often bugs found in the software’s user interface (UI) affect the user experience negatively. The QA professionals must refer to the KPIs to identify such bugs, and mark them as high-priority items for resolution.

Prioritize Bugs Impacting the Traffic or Revenue

Often the major key points of a project are impacted by specific bugs. For instance, some bugs can affect the website’s performance, user signup, click-through rates, and similar important metrics negatively. So these bugs will have an adverse impact on the revenue generated by the web application. The testers must get the bugs resolved in the same release to prevent the website from losing more traffic and revenue. 

Isolate the Defects

It is always important for the testers to prioritize the bugs according to the severity of their impacts. They can easily determine the severity of the impact by isolating individual bugs. The bugs affecting the software’s key feature and functionality must be fixed urgently. On the other hand, the bugs affecting the rarely used features can be fixed during the next build. So the testers need to analyze the impact of each bug individually to categorize them properly.

The QA professionals must remember that bug prioritization is a subjective decision. The best practices and guidelines for bug prioritization will differ from one project to another. So they must identify the severity of each defect to prioritize the bugs effectively for resolution.

Internet of Things and Its Impact on Software Testing Industry

As a network of physical objects, Internet of Things (IoT) enables a wide variety of devices to collect and exchange data through sensors, software applications, and network connections. The environment provides each device with a unique identifier, and allows various devices to collect and exchange data over a network through machine-to-machine interaction. The machine-to-machine communication will make the devices both smart and complex. Also, the interaction will have a huge impact on the software testing industry as most devices will use specialized software applications and tools to collect and exchange data with each other.

Assessing Major Impacts of Internet of Things on Software Testing

Strong Testing Strategy

The conventional software testing strategies normally focus on specific devices, operating systems and web browsers.  But businesses have to focus on embedded software while making strategy to test IoT applications.  They have to ensure that all aspects of the application are tested thoroughly and in many environments. At the same time, the testing strategy must emphasis on unit testing, continuous integration, clear requirements, complete test coverage, lean test plans, detailed user stories, and informative test reports. The conventional testing strategies have to be completely revamped to deliver a flawless IoT application. 

Emphasis on Cloud-based Applications

The devices will communicate with each other over the internet, and through software applications and sensors. Most devices in future will be designed with sensors. In addition to making it smarter, the sensor will further enable the device to gather, measure, and analyze data. But the sensors are completely different from conventional machines. The enterprises have to build the right infrastructure to leverage the information collected through sensors. Many businesses will soon rely on cloud-based applications to interpret and exchange the data collected by sensors. So IoT will require testers to assess a variety of cloud-based applications to check the effectiveness of sensors and embedded software.    

Focus on Usability, Performance and Security Testing

IoT will make it essential for enterprises to emphasis on usability, performance and security testing of IoT applications. Normally, the next generation applications will sport a minimal design, with smaller controls or buttons. So the testers must perform usability testing to ensure that the users can operate the device in a quick and convenient way. Likewise, the testers have to perform elaborate performance testing to assess the application’s performance under varying internet connections. As the application will gather and exchange data over the internet, the testers need to ensure that it detects, collects and stores data despite disruptive internet connection. At the same time,   the professionals also need to perform security testing to protect the IoT environment from various security threats. The security testing will include emphasis on assessing the strength of passwords and effectiveness of encryption techniques.

Test Automation becomes Essential

The QA professionals have to perform a variety of tests to assess the functionality and performance of an IoT application accurately. They also need to repeat certain tests to assess the application under different conditions or based on various parameters. So enterprises have to automate the manual testing efforts to increase test coverage and complete all required tests within a shorter amount of time. The test automation tools will further help users to evaluate code coverage and interoperability of devices without putting any extra time and effort. Likewise, the emulators and simulators will help the enterprise to test IoT applications across many devices without investing in real devices and hardware.

Need for New Testing Tools and Frameworks

The businesses cannot rely on conventional software testing tools and frameworks to test applications accurately in the IoT environment. They will need test automation tools designed specifically for testing sensors, cloud-based applications, and embedded systems. Likewise, they will also need tools to assess the application’s performance across many devices, platforms and networks. The managers will also be required to pick the right test automation tools to assess custom and complex IoT applications.  Many companies are expected to launch specialized test automation tools by targeting the IoT environment.

On the whole, businesses have to explore innovative ways to test software applications developed for the Internet of Things environment. Also, the testers will need advanced and customized tools to assess effectiveness of the software application to facilitate communication and data exchange between a variety of devices.  

Cross Browser Testing and Its Importance

The success of a particular software rides a lot on the software testing procedures that are implemented on the same. This is due to the fact that software testing enables the detection of bugs or glitches that are the possible causes of dissatisfaction of the customers.

With the advancement of technology, people have been offered with the liberty of choosing from a number of various browsers from which they can access any particular app. This has made cross browser testing a very important part of the software testing life cycle where, the whole software along with its integrated parts, is tested for compatibility in multiple major browsers which can be used by the customers or real time users to access the same in order to ensure equally great performance in all of them.

The best way to perform cross browser testing of any app is to do it manually. Yes! There are many tools available which allows the testers to perform cross browser testing, but there is a chance that these tools will treat all the browsers in the same manner, while testing the app simultaneously in multiple browsers, which is not desirable at times. While you are manually performing the cross browser testing you can take into consideration the various aspects and uniqueness of the various browsers and check the desired outcome of the app or website in them separately. But before you start performing the cross browser testing of your app or website, list down all the qualities of the software that you need to be checking so that you don’t miss any of the points while testing the performance on multiple software that are usually used by the customers to access various apps and websites.

Just as one app or website is different from the other on various fronts, similar is the case with the various browsers which are usually used to operate the various apps or websites. Features like Applets, JavaScript, Flash, AJAX requests and more are what make each browser unique in its own way. These are also the factors which affect the performance and desired outcome of the apps and websites which are being accessed through them. The various browsers can affect the work ability of the whole app or website or the various parts which it is made up of. Cross browser testing ensures that the app or website performs equally well in all these browsers. The advancement of technology has not only allowed us to choose among various browsers but also presented us with the liberty to choose among various devices through which we can operate the said application. This further accentuates the importance of cross browser testing.

Performing cross browser testing helps in making sure that the application is working perfectly and as desired in all the browsers and devices available in the market. It is important to focus on the browsers with the maximum popularity rating while performing cross browser testing, however, the lesser known browsers should not be neglected and specially the browsers used by majority of the target customers. It is also to be remembered that the various versions of the same browser also plays an important role in the performance of a certain app or website. The various operating systems that are available also should be taken into consideration while performing cross browser testing.

So, that’s an overview of cross browser testing and its importance in the success of a app or a website. We hope to have satiated all your queries about cross browser testing and provided you with satisfactory answers. 

How has Software testing evolved over the Years?

Since it came to be known, software testing has gained a lot of importance in the software development life cycle as people are now aware of all the benefits that are accompanied with the process. Initially the process was optional and was done only when the whole development was over. Manual processes were more popular than the automation of the same. Huge amount of documentation was done by the software development team which was supposed to help the development team in future endeavors and a good gap always existed between the two teams. They were not given as much importance as deserved.

In the current day the software testing team has come a long way from the initial days. Advancement of the whole process has lead to the automation of many procedures which helps in saving time and money and increases the scope and coverage of each test.

1.     One of the major jobs of the software testing is to play the role of the advocate on behalf of the customers as they are the intermediate between the development team and the customers, thus helping the former to develop better projects.

2.    The software testing and development team now works hand in hand to deliver better products which satisfy the client more rather than them working separately which created a gap leading to delay in the completion of the work. The communication flows to and fro smoothly so as to make sure that both teams are on the same page.

3.     Rather than the previous customs where the software testing team elaborately recorded every finding of theirs with the hope of helping the development team in the future, they now just take down small notes. It turns out that the elaborate documentation of the procedure doesn’t help the development team in the future projects, as much as the software testing team thought it would be of.

4.   With the advancement of the technology and as people are understanding the fact the software testing is one of the major pillars of success of a software, more and more development of software testing is on the way which leads to the automation of many process. The software testing team is now automating the testing process as and when possible in order to save both time and money. This provides the software testing team with the time to invest in things which are more important or which need personal attention. The software testing team has also realized that manually checking each and every part of the developed software is not worth the trouble and diminishes the test coverage.

5.       Be it integration, functional, or load tests, all the likes are written by the developing team still today. The software testing team just provides them with the input so that the former can produce the right product. The software testing team has limited number of individuals and if they get involved in both writing and performing the tests, the deadline of the project can never be met.

6.   Once the codes are written by the development team, they are reviewed along with the software testing team in order to omit the flaws before running them.

7.   One of the major developments in software testing is the fact that tests are being performed after each stage of development rather than at the end of the total development of software.

This is in short a time lapse of the evolution that has occurred in the software testing industry over the past few years and the change is quite remarkable.

What is the Need of Testing Your Applications or Products?

Product or application testing is an important part of launching it in the real world for the general public to use. Although it is not the core section of developing the product, it has its own importance nevertheless. So you ask why you need to test your application or product? Well, we will take the opportunity of this article to let you know just that.

The most important reason for testing your application or product is to make it popular. Yes! You read it right. People do not have time for products which are flawed and will not think twice before discarding it. You must remember that in the age of technology, there will be thousands of products which does nearly the same job as yours does. So if you want people to use your application, you have to provide them with a bug free application which can be used by them as smoothly as silk. But for making the necessary modifications to make it free of bugs, you need to first detect them, which you can do by testing the application or product under various conditions.

The second reason for testing applications is to check the compatibility and durability of the same. The world is filled with various devices which have different operating systems and hardware configurations. You have to check that the app you have developed should be compatible with as many operating systems and hardware configuration as possible so that you can grab the attention of various groups of end users and provide your application to them. You will also have to make sure that your product works pretty well under stressful conditions, which you can do by testing only. If your product caves in under excess pressure and/or takes a huge time to recover back to normal work ability, it is likely to be avoided by people at large. You have to test these criteria by software testing methods and make modifications to make it stronger.

The third reason for testing the application or product is to see how the individual component of the developed product works and how they work when integrated together. How well does the various software modules or codes collaborate with each other. It may be so that they work pretty well individually, but when combined together, they show some problems which can be solved by a little tweaking.

The fourth need for testing the application is to see whether the modifications that you have made, strengthens or weakens the product or application as a whole. Comparison testing comprises of an important part of testing he produced which tests the application against the older version and shows you the weak points or strong points of the new application. This helps you to further strengthen the product by modifying the weakness into strengths. It also helps you to see the advancements you have made since the last versions of the product.

So now you know why it is an absolute must to test your product or application before launching it in the real world for public use. The best way to keep the load off is to begin testing from the early designing phase and not waiting for the completion of the software.

Enhancing Software Testing Efficiency

Software testing is an important part of the software development life cycle which also acts as the pillar of success for the software. This makes the enhancement of the software testing efficacy an important job so that the procedure is always up to date and you can gain more accurate results to make the software better and friendlier for the customers.

1.     Set up an Independent Reporting Structure: Avoid making the testers report to a group of employees who have to complete their job within a particular deadline. This often makes them avoid the testers so that they can finish their job within a particular timeline. Instead it is best if the testers have an independent body to which they can report directly.
2.    Dedicate Testers to Specific Systems: Specific regions of the software respond best to specified software testing procedures. Similarly some testers are good at automated testing which requires programming knowledge whereas others are good at manual testing as they lack the programming knowledge at large. Hence it is best if specific tests are conducted by specific testers who are a pro at their job. This will make the testers do the job with dedication yielding accurate results which can be relied on.
3.      Give them Business Training: Make sure your testers understand the business criteria of your organization in order to test the software accordingly. Provide them with enough knowledge about how your business works and what you need to gain out of the software that is being tested. This will help them to strategise the testing procedure and emerge with a compact testing procedure for yielding best possible software.
4.    Test the Old with the New: When you are testing software during the whole software development life cycle, make sure that you are comparing the test results of the new software with that of the old ones. This helps in detecting the most lingering bugs and also helps in determining the advancement done in terms of the development of software.
5.    Initiate Early Testing of Software: Most of the organizations wait till the software development is nearing the end to begin testing of the software. This only complicates the testing and rectification procedure. Efficacy of testing can be enhanced by introducing the testing process at an early developmental stage helps in detecting the defects while they haven’t yet piled up and can be resolved easily.
6.      Choose Testers who are Adaptable: Various software requires various kinds of tests to detect the bugs. Choosing team members on the software testing team who can adapt to the changing demands of the testing procedure or environment help in increasing the efficacy of the testing efficiency. Also your team members should be open to updating themselves with the developing techniques of tests helps in utilizing the latest methods.
7.     Diminishing the Difference between Real and Testing Environment: Make the software testing environment as the real environment where the customers will be using the software helps in detection of real time problems and bugs which can be rectified and thus enhances the testing efficacy.

These are a few tips which can be reflected on if you want to enhance the testing efficacy of your software in order to build a better product which will help you earn more customer satisfaction.

The need to Hire Software Testing Experts for your Application

Software testing industry is one of the fastest growing parts of the IT sectors. As the organizations are steadily learning about the importance of the software testing procedure as the governing factor of the popularity of the software, they are paying closer attention to the software testers who will be able to test the various aspects of the developed software in order to provide a detailed report to the developers so that they can rectify the probable causes which could end up in customers’ dislike. This will ultimately help the organization create a product which is of superior quality and will be well accepted by the customers.

While most organizations are novice at the software testing game, they are of the opinion that the software developers are capable enough to test the software to detect and rectify the possible flaws and bugs related to the functionality, performance and security of the software. But in reality the scenario is quite different. Software testing is not merely a job. It is a whole new mindset which requires a varying set of skills to accomplish the desired results.

1. A software testing expert is a skilled individual who is capable of detecting which kind of tests are required by particular software and where to check to find probable bugs and hence make the software as flawless as possible.
2. They will be able to utilize their knowledge to check the software under variety of conditions in order to maximize the test coverage and allow a problem free performance in almost any situations possible.
3.  One of the main tasks of the software testing procedure is the documentation of the reports in a detailed manner so as to ease the job of the developers in rectifying the flaws and software testing experts are well trained to do so.
4. The software testing experts act as the representative of your customers and are well versed in what they need or look for in a software and will test your software accordingly to ensure that your customers remain loyal to your product.
5.  The software testing experts are trained to have a flexible mindset which allows them to adapt to testing situations based on the requirements of the software being tested.
6. They have superb knowledge about the various tests that are available and are continuously updating themselves on the same. Also they have a fairly good programming knowledge in order to understand the software well.
7.   Once you have provided them with software, they know which parts of the software are more important compared to the others and hence they prioritize their software testing methods accordingly.
8.  They are well aware of the need of your organizations business aspect and use methods which will deliver most to those needs so that you ultimately gain a humongous profit from the good quality product.

Now that you are aware of the basic qualities of a software testing expert, you will be able to differentiate between the tester and the developer which will help you understand clearly, the reasons as to why you absolutely must hire a software testing expert for your application in order to gain customer satisfaction which will lead to the profit of your organization.