Optimize Quality Coding with Automated Testing

Throughout 2017, Chrome, Firefox and Safari released browser updates at least six times. As browsers update every 45 to 90 days, legacy and newly-released websites need to be tested for compatibility and performance. Rather than composing creative and engaging new content, developers and QA teams can be distracted by the need to manually test for compatibility with each new browser version.

By implementing automated web application testing, developers and QA teams maintain focus on what is important: creation.

It is not enough to design for native apps where app updates are controlled by internal development teams. Responsive web design makes it a necessity for internal teams to adapt to the external updates of iOS and Android browsers as well. Not to mention ensuring those designs work for multiple browser/OS combinations. Manually testing code is time-consuming and a deterrent to creative, outside-the-box solutions.

Implementing automated web application testing allows developers to test new code and to quickly try out creative solutions.

Utilizing a customized and tailored automated web application testing solution can also ensure internal development teams are creating new code that is ready to launch in the shortest possible time. Software quality assurance labs, such as Beta Breakers, can further ease the process of implementing such systems across a wide-range of assets and teams.

For example, when Walmart needed to automate its web application testing, it implemented multiple custom testing platforms to provide innovative user-facing products. In a 2018 case study on eWeek, the retail giant discussed what they did when faced with the need for flexible tools to coordinate among different departments with a multitude of objectives. Using open-source frameworks such as Selenium, they now complete as many as 50,000 automated tests daily.

It is not just about efficiency. Test automation has helped Walmart’s developers create higher quality, more creative code, too. Some Walmart teams completed 2.5 times more tests on a single project than they did over the course of an entire year for multiple projects.

This case study demonstrates how automated web application testing can improve quality and production for a very large and very complex organization. However, it can be just as daunting for a smaller, less complex organization to integrate automated testing that fits its current workflows. An external software quality assurance lab can evaluate current protocols to implement and customize automated web application testing. While development teams focus on coding, automated test scripts ensure fast, high-quality production.