A Guide for Product-Refining Automated Web Testing

The research that shows that users prefer apps to websites is misleading. Sure, people mostly interact with applications on their phones to chat, search for info, pay, etc. But what do you think is easier for any person: install an app, register, figure out how it works, or just visit a web page?

Users enjoy websites because they’re simple and familiar. And for businesses, it’s often the first, defining step toward recognition and success. So, it’s no wonder they have to be near perfect to impress the modern customer. Today, we discuss the role of automated web testing in making your online presence prominent and your project triumphant.

What Is Web Automation Testing?

Let’s start with the basics (they are the backbone of everything, after all). Automated web application testing is the use of tools to optimize your QA processes and advance your product’s quality. These tools automate scenarios you rely on to check your app’s behavior.

If we talk about desktop, mobile, and web application testing, the latter stands out among this trio the most. Specifically, web apps combine the worst and best qualities found in each type. They need to:

• Handle heavy traffic yet consume minimal resources.
• Have a clear UI and respond to various screen sizes and orientations.
• Work perfectly across various environments (browsers and OSs).
• Support touch gestures as well as point-and-click interactions.
• Function within non-ideal network conditions.

Plus, web apps have traits fully unique to them, needing:

• Testing across many browser types and versions.
• Protection against web-specific threats, like cross-site scripting.
• Inclusion of SEO practices and fine accessibility checks.

As you can guess just from the above, your web automation testing will be quite eventful. But it will be worth it.

Business Benefits of Automated Testing for Web Applications

Like all QA services, web application testing offers many perks. From unloading your team and reducing development costs to increasing your company’s chances for success, web testing automation is truly full of opportunities.

• Automated tests run much faster than manual checks. They can quickly handle repetitive tasks, complex scenarios, or large test suites.
• They can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines to provide immediate feedback to developers after code changes. With that, you’ll have quicker fixes and smoother workflows.
• Automated web testing eliminates human errors. So you can be sure of consistent and reliable results every time.
• It also allows your crew to focus on higher-value activities, doubling productivity.
• Once created, test scripts can be reused for multiple test cycles, reducing expenses.
• The biggest advantage of automation is parallel execution. You can run hundreds of checks at once, speeding up development.
• Automated web testing software can run countless exhaustive checks, advancing your coverage.
• You can also easily scale your automation efforts once the base is established. So, taking care of a growing app becomes a breeze.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But there’s a twist (we’re sure you expected it). The benefits of automated testing for web applications are only an eye-candy. If you want to derive genuine value from them, you’ll have to put in a lot of effort. Automation doesn’t just appear and make stuff easy. You need an expert team, precise toolkits, and target strategies.

That’s why further, we’ll discuss everything that goes into designing robust web application automated testing.

Challenges in Automated Testing for Web Apps

The first step is preparation. In our case, this means fully understanding what awaits you. We’ll begin with reviewing the difficulties that teams often face when dealing with automation testing for web applications.

Here are common aspects where automated tests can give you troubles:

• Testing dynamic elements, such as AJAX-based content or SPAs, as they may lead to false negatives due to content changes or delays.
• Differences in rendering engines, compatibility issues, and varying device capabilities make it tricky to ensure consistent behavior during cross-browser and -device testing.
• Timing issues, dependencies, or environmental factors can cause your tests to intermittently fail for reasons unrelated to the app.
• Issues like server downtime, incorrect configurations, or insufficient resources can disrupt the execution of automated tests and yield unreliable results.
• Maintaining test data consistency, crucial for automated web testing, especially in environments with frequent updates.
• Keeping up with test maintenance when there are regular changes and fixes.
• Finding technical experts and QA resources capable of developing and sustaining automated tests.

These cases aren’t meant to scare or deter you. It’s simply that our specialists often encounter them when working on various projects. So, you need to plan ahead to avoid or quickly remedy them. And the best solution to all of the above is, of course, partnering with skilled people, which, funnily (not really) enough, is also among the challenges. We’ll cover how to deal with it further.

What to Include in Automated Web Application Testing

The one thing you should remember about automation is not to apply it willy-nilly. It won’t bring the benefits we’ve discussed just because it’s present. Automated software testing services thrive with precision. This means that you should include them where they’re actually useful.

We won’t try to tell you where exactly to use automated web testing. That decision should be based on your team’s skills and workload as well as project specifics. But we can tell you where automation is most valuable. So, you should definitely consider involving it in the following testing types.

Functional Testing

Your app’s functionality is the core of it. And you certainly need everything running perfectly. Since you have a defined pool of operations that will always be a part of your product, you should automate functional testing to keep them sharp. You can test your app’s functionality non-stop with every build, fix, or update, ensuring stability.

UI Testing

The web app’s UI is the first impression users will have of your project. If it’s confusing, broken, or plain unappealing, people will be exceptionally fast to leave. Web UI automation testing allows you to continually monitor your website or application’s visuals and functionality.

And when it comes to automated web GUI testing, there’s the marvelous benefit of swiftly verifying the correct behavior of buttons, links, input fields, etc. These elements are ever-present and numerous. So, you’ll save a lot of time and team sanity by automating them.

Regression Testing

Automated web regression testing is typically the number one pick for teams. These tests are run frequently and for every aspect of the software. The faster you automate regression, the less work you’ll have. Plus, you’ll be confident in your releases.

Performance Testing

Making sure your product can handle varying traffic is equivalent to good UX. And since it involves simulating various user activities, automated web load testing will be your greatest helper. It enables realistic simulations at scale, provides precise metrics, and allows for better performance monitoring.

Security Testing

Cyber threats have been the top risk for companies for over five years. While it is a separate practice within software QA services due to its intricacies and complexity, some aspects of it definitely should be automated. You can use web automation security testing tools to locate fundamental vulnerabilities within your app. Continuous scanning is also a good solution for discovering novel threats.

Accessibility Testing

Since websites and web apps are widespread and used by the majority of people, inclusivity is a priority for them. Apart from regulations enforced by many countries, your business would be losing clients and profit if your product didn’t cater to different needs. Automated web accessibility testing lets you constantly monitor general issues and maintain basic compliance without worry.

End-to-End Testing

E2E tests involve complex workflows across integrated systems. And as you can imagine, they’re very resource- and time-consuming to run. Luckily, you can apply end-to-end web automation testing to stable scenarios to systematically validate critical user journeys. It’ll also significantly reduce human effort.

While you can automate a lot, you shouldn’t automate everything. For example, even with web UI testing automation, which was on the list above, certain things are better left to manual QA. We’ll discuss this conundrum later, don’t worry. For now, remember that too much automation is potentially worse than too little.

How to Do Automation Testing for Web Applications

Now that we’re on the same page about what goes into automated web testing, let’s smush it all together. We have all the elements to create a coherent roadmap for your automation. Keep in mind that the below guide is universal. That means it’s not specific to your project. The process you set up should adhere to best practices and generally valuable aspects. But the best results will come only when you customize it to your unique situation.

Define Test Objectives

Start by figuring out the purpose of your testing. What do you want to achieve? Identify key features, workflows, or parts of the system that are most important to test. Also, set clear and measurable goals, as they will give direction to your processes. For example, you could focus on checking for cross-browser compatibility or how forms handle input.

Set Up Test Environments

To get accurate results, tests need to run in environments that mimic real-world conditions. Set up browsers, OSs, and network conditions that reflect your users’ setups. If possible, use cloud platforms to cover many devices and browsers. But don’t forget to test on real devices for critical aspects. It’ll help you get precise, user-centric outcomes.

Select Appropriate Testing Tools

Look for web automation testing tools that fit your app’s technology, team’s skills, and can scale as your needs shift. Consider compatibility with your CI/CD pipeline, too. Don’t rush to rely on software that’s popular or full of good reviews. A tool’s status doesn’t guarantee a perfect fit to your requirements.

Write & Execute Test Scripts

Create scripts based on your goals. Focus on making them modular, easy to understand, and reusable. Cover critical scenarios while avoiding overlap. Run these scripts across different browsers and devices to make sure your application works consistently for all users.

Analyze Test Results

Once tests are run, dig into the results to find failures, inefficiencies, or performance problems. Use tools with detailed logs and visual dashboards to make it easier to spot issues. Prioritize fixing the most critical bugs first. And make sure your analysis is thorough so nothing slips through the cracks.

Maintain & Update Test Cases

Your tests should evolve alongside your app. Update scripts whenever new features are added or existing ones change. Regularly review your test cases to remove outdated ones and refine others.

Document & Share Insights

Keep track of your testing process, results, and lessons learned. Clear documentation makes it easier for team members to understand what’s been done and what’s left to do. Share your findings through reports or dashboards so everyone stays on the same page and works together to improve quality.

An important aspect of your web application automated testing is keeping the balance between doing the job well and doing the job collaboratively. Companies typically go to two extremes:

1. Making everyone do only their thing.
2. Making everyone do everything.

Cooperation is a valuable tool for encouraging your team to share insights and getting varying perspectives. But it shouldn’t be transformed into a duty exchange. For instance, both developers and automation engineers can write code for automated test scripts. Yet, neither can replace each other.

In our example, collaboration would mean engineers taking care of the scripts with developers’ support. The latter could help with:

• Aligning the frameworks and tools with the existing tech stack.
• Reviewing edge cases, complex workflows, and system dependencies.
• Refactoring scripts, etc.

Briefly, collaboration is mutual support. It’s enhancing each other’s fortes and mitigating imperfections. And it’s the key to a fine-tuned, quality-all-around product.

Building an Effective Automated Web Testing Strategy

To make sure your automated testing for web apps goes exceptionally well, we’ve asked our QA experts to share their insights. They’ve got years of experience with diverse projects. And they’ve accumulated some recommendations that can help out many teams. Let’s take a look inside our QA engineers’ minds.

Use Automation Alongside Manual Checks

Automated testing is perfect for handling repetitive, time-consuming, and data-intensive tasks. But it shouldn’t be applied to everything. Manual evaluations excel at working with aspects requiring human assessment. For example, no automated web testing software can comprehensively investigate usability or visual design. Nor can it offer the benefits of exploratory testing.

So, it’s important to let manual and automated testing do what they do best. For instance, you can automate checking button functionality or layout consistency. Yet, when it comes to evaluating intuitiveness and user-friendliness, human expertise is irreplaceable.

Select Test Cases to Automate Correctly

Some cases can technically be automated. But they will produce messy results or need upkeep that borders on resource wastage. Ensuring that your automation actually works means carefully selecting tests. Generally, we’d recommend automating scenarios that:

• Need to be run frequently across multiple cycles, such as regression or smoke tests.
• Are stable and predictable, i.g., not subject to frequent changes.
• Require multiple input combinations or validation of large datasets, such as form validations or API tests.
• Are resource-intensive or take significant time to execute manually, like performance or cross-browser compatibility checks.
• Are essential to app functionality and pose a high risk if broken, such as login mechanisms, payment gateways, or key workflows.
• Have clear, objective pass/fail criteria and don’t require human judgment, like verifying specific API response codes or DOM element properties.

Remember that web automation testing tools do only what you tell them to. They can’t account for the unpredictable or subjective. So, you should automate cases that are precise and fixed.

Set Up Your Testing Environment Mindfully

Productive work needs a nurturing space. It should support the efforts of your crew and not inhibit your tools’ functions. So, the testing environment definitely shouldn’t be something that’s done in a rush or with mediocre attention.

• Ensure that the testing environment closely mirrors production.
• Set up isolated test environments that are independent of other development or production environments.
• Keep test scripts in version control to ensure they are maintained and updated effectively.
• Automate environment provisioning for consistency across different setups.
• Automate the setup of test data and ensure it is refreshed regularly.
• Simulate external systems and services (e.g., APIs) using mocks or stubs to ensure controlled testing.
• Implement logging and monitoring to track test runs, detect failures, and analyze trends.
• Allocate sufficient resources for the environment to run smoothly under test conditions. Make sure your testing environment can handle the load generated by automated tests.
• Regularly update your test environments to ensure they match the latest production configurations, browser versions, and dependencies.

The better you set up your environment, the fewer issues you’ll have to deal with. That’s why you should plan ahead for what your automation strategy will need to work properly.

Use Best Practices for Test Case Design

There’s no way to exaggerate the importance of skill for successful web automation testing. Here’s one of the bazillion points that prove it. If there’s one tiny mistake in your test case, it’ll fail. The issue can be as little as a single typo. And it’s not the only thing that can ruin your entire endeavor.

So, you need (we can’t even say “should” here) a QA engineer who is a true specialist in what they do. Plus, they need to know and apply all the best practices when it comes to test case design and writing.

• Design test cases that cover a single, clear objective. Avoid overly complex or broad test scenarios.
• Focus on automating test cases that verify core functionalities or are critical to your app’s functioning.
• Name test cases clearly to reflect their purpose. Document the purpose of the test, expected results, and any preconditions or assumptions.
• For tests that need to verify the same functionality with different inputs, use data-driven testing techniques.
• Store test data in external files and use it to run the same test with multiple input sets.
• Design test cases with readability in mind. Use modular, reusable functions, and avoid code duplication.
• Avoid embedding static test data directly into your test scripts. Instead, use external data sources or environment variables to make your tests flexible and scalable.
• Include assertions that check both expected and unexpected situations, such as error messages or broken links.
• Incorporate explicit waits in your test scripts to ensure elements are available before performing actions on them. Avoid relying solely on fixed delays, which can lead to brittle tests.
• Design tests to run across different browsers, devices, and screen resolutions to ensure cross-browser and cross-device compatibility.
• Organize tests into logical suites based on their functionality or test type (e.g., UI, API, performance tests).
• Prepare your test cases to handle potential failures (e.g., network issues, server unavailability). Include steps for recovery or retries where appropriate to ensure tests don’t fail unnecessarily.

There’s a reason why automation QA engineering is a separate specialty. They need to know a lot, from test case design and data analysis to securing cross-team collaboration. So, take your time when selecting this expert.

Integrate Tests into Your CI/CD Pipeline

Automated web application testing’s productivity doubles when you integrate it into your CI\CD workflow. Everything is done quicker and in a hyper-organized manner. And your results become that much more accurate and actionable.

Here are some tips from our experts to help your CI/CD integration.

• Trigger automated tests to run automatically on each commit or pull request for early issue detection.
• Configure tests to run in parallel across multiple environments or browsers.
• Integrate test results into your CI/CD build reports so that developers can easily see the status of tests alongside other build information.
• Configure the pipeline to only run relevant tests based on the type of changes made (e.g., UI tests for changes to front-end code).
• Ensure that your test suites are small and focused to reduce the impact on build times.
• Include retry logic for flaky tests to reduce unnecessary test failures caused by environmental factors.
• Set up fresh test environments for each build to avoid issues caused by leftover data or configuration changes from previous test runs.
• Configure the pipeline to automatically fail if critical tests fail.
• Track the long-term performance of your tests, identifying patterns like increasing test flakiness or slow tests, and optimize them over time.
• Set up email notifications or integrations with communication tools to alert team members about test failures.

For better control, you should integrate tests in small batches. They’ll be more manageable and allow you to see how everything works out. Don’t rush to plunge all your scripts into your CI\CD pipeline. Start small, see what happens, and keep improving your processes.

Automation Testing Tools for Web Applications

We’ve touched on this before. Now, it’s time to talk about automated web testing software in detail. When looking for an automation tool, your first instinct may be to look at the reviews and recommendations it has. While definitely significant, they’re only part of the characteristics you should pay attention to.

For example, a tool may be world-renowned with strong support from its community and users. But it doesn’t stop it from being useless to you. Selecting your helper software should center on the following:

• How well it covers your specific needs in terms of features, set up, and requirements.
• How easy it is for your team to work with it (are they familiar with it, or will they have to learn it?).
• How the tool integrates with your existing processes.
• How simple will scaling its use be when your project changes.

So, while it’s important to make sure you can trust a tool, it’s equally as crucial to figure out whether you can do what you need to with it.

Top Tools for Automated Web Testing

With that said, let’s take a look at a few web automation testing tools. You can see why these options are considered valuable, what features they offer, and figure out what you can look for in your automation helper.

• Selenium is an open-source framework that supports multiple programming languages and browsers. It allows for complex test scripts and is highly extensible.
• Cypress is a JavaScript-based end-to-end testing framework designed for modern web apps. It offers real-time reloads, automatic waiting, and a user-friendly interface.
• Playwright, developed by Microsoft, supports multiple browsers and languages. It offers features like auto-wait, capturing screenshots, and intercepting network requests.
• Katalon Studio is a comprehensive tool that supports web, API, mobile, and desktop testing. It provides a dual scripting interface for both beginners and experts, along with built-in keywords and templates.
• TestCafe is a Node.js tool for end-to-end web testing that doesn’t require browser plugins. It supports ES6+ JavaScript and TypeScript, parallel test execution, and has an easy setup process.
• Ranorex Studio offers GUI test automation for web, mobile, and desktop applications. It features a user-friendly interface, reusable code modules, and integrates with various CI/CD tools.
• Mabl is a cloud-based platform that uses machine learning for automated testing. It provides features like auto-healing scripts, visual regression testing, and seamless CI/CD integration.
• BugBug is a browser-based, no-code test automation tool for web apps. It allows recording, editing, and running tests directly in a browser without installations.

There are dozens of automation testing tools for web applications. And you’re likely to spend quite some time selecting your top player. The important thing is that you conduct proper research, gathering feedback and ideas from your team.

How to Make Automated Web Testing Simpler

Alright. We know that what we’ve discussed so far is a lot. Setting up automated web application testing is demanding in itself. Plus, there’s also skilled team assembly, expertise allocation, securing collaboration, choosing tools… Tons of fun and mentally draining stuff.

It all can be done, however. And we know you’re well capable of not just dealing with it but succeeding. Yet, there’s something you should remember – if you need help with organizing your web testing or want an easier way to orchestrate it, there’s a simple solution.

Find a trustworthy and you-oriented outsourced QA company. You’d need to give up some control and let an external party into your project. And you’d need to figure out how to manage this “extension.” So, technically, you’d be taking on some extra work to delegate some extra work. But if your QA vendor is indeed skilled and result-driven, this trade-off is well worth it.

• You get immediate access to skilled QA professionals with in-depth knowledge of testing tools, methodologies, and best practices.
• Dedicated specialists have the skills to streamline your processes, ensuring quicker defect identification and resolution. And, ultimately, they can significantly improve your product quality.
• QA providers offer flexible resource allocation. In other words, you can request more or less experts, specific tools and technologies, speed up testing to meet new deadlines, and more.
• Alternatively, you can let the third party take care of everything. You can ask them to select tools and frameworks, appoint and manage specialists, and keep the entire process under control.
• Since you don’t have to hire or train an in-house crew, you’re saving significant time and resources.
• Your internal team will also have more time to concentrate on development and innovation while QA experts handle testing.
• An external crew can evaluate your product objectively, identifying issues that might be overlooked by an in-house team.
• Depending on your QA partner, you can save costs on talent hiring and retention as well as cut down on development expenses.

Working with a QA company has no downsides. That is if you put decent effort into selecting it. Outsourcing is an exceptionally popular mode of work. But that also means there are many not-so-good teams that are in the industry just for the cash grab.

Working with external experts is full of perks. And to use them all, you should carefully choose your partner.

To Sum Up

Automation is now a staple for nearly every project. If you’re not using it, you’re missing out and staying behind. Our team knows that despite automated testing being exceptionally common, many still struggle with it. That’s why allowing every crew to benefit from it has become a part of our mission. So, if you need guidance or assistance – QA Madness is always here.