GUI testing : What it is and why it is important?

We all know that only a few users understand the underlying features of a software. All they are concerned about is what a software does, how will it help them to get a regular job done and whether it is pleasant to use it or not. They barely care about how it performs a certain action. And we can’t blame them for this mentality. After all, an application’s user interface is the only thing they really see or interact with. So a little problem with this little part of your entire application can effectively damage the usability for a regular user. Any intelligent coding or database is completely useless if a user can not reach them due to a small fault in the UI. So you can see why UI testing is so important.

Most of the UI problems are really easy to fix if discovered at the early stages of the development but after that they can be really expensive and embarrassing too. UI testing is always not that easy, it requires some work before. A successful UI testing is carried out based upon some pre-defined written specifications. And for that you need a variety of test cases. Here is a brief overview of what you should include, Let’s see!

Required Field!

If there is a requirement of some mandatory fields, designer must highlight them with a red asterisk on the screen. A warning message should also be there if left blank.

Field width!

If your GUI screen has lots of text boxes for users to input some data and if there is any restriction on the data they can input then it should be mentioned in the clear fonts. For example if there is scope of only 100 characters in a text box then it should be mentioned there.

Onscreen Instructions!

If a screen is not self explanatory to a casual user, it is necessary to have some instructions on the screen itself. But remember these instructions should be in laymen term and are clear enough that it won’t confuse your end users.

Progress Bar!

Sometimes your screen takes much time than usual to load and this load time usually irritates users. So it’s always suggested to add a progress bar to make them understand that page is loading

Grammar and spelling!

Ensure that there is no place for grammar and other typo errors.

So these are the most common GUI test cases that can be carried out with almost every application or software. The list can be really big depending upon the software so just hold it here only and discuss them later.

Hi, I am a huge lover of technology, especially when it relates with marketing.