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UI/UX Testing: Why It’s Important for Your Project
This article was born out of an active discussion that sparked during one of our retrospective meetings. Our team was discussing the issues that our clients often bring up during calls: what is the most important type of testing today? Which testing activities require particular attention from human testers: functionality, security or perhaps UI testing? In other words — which tests can’t be skipped and must be done by an attentive testing specialist?
Many experts focus on more or less similar tests, only adapting the definitions in accordance with the respective target audience. In this article, we won’t name all the testing types once again, but we’ll talk about the most important one — UI/UX testing.
User interface (UI) testing is a type of testing in which testers need to make sure that all buttons, fields, labels, and other items on the screen work as specified. UI testing involves checking screens with controls, such as toolbars, colors, fonts, sizes, buttons, icons, etc., and how they respond to the user input. Simply put, with the help of UI testing software we see how an application, website, or software will interact with the end-user.
What are we exactly looking for with UI tests?
Essentially, User Interface testing checks how the tested product performs based on the following criteria:
Essentially, User Interface testing checks how the tested product performs based on the following criteria:
In order to achieve effective results during UI testing, the tester must answer at least two important questions:
Are all features of the tested software clear and easy to use?
Can a user navigate through the app without experiencing system errors or malfunctions?
There’s also a bonus question:
Usually, User Interface testing is applied to end products, but I suggest making it an integral part of testing throughout the entire product development process.
“Small changes made at any stage of the development can have an disproportionately big impact on the UI.”
So, it is important to configure the user interface in accordance with these changes and provide feedback that is received during the sessions with UI testing tools. This also should be reflected in the test cases written for all future UI tests.
It turns out that even a minor issue such as lack of a button or a typing error can lead to a huge problem in the overall design. It goes without saying that it is much cheaper to fix UI bugs at the development stage. But unfortunately, bugs are sometimes missed, so companies have to deal with fixing them after the product is released, which is, unsurprisingly, very costly.
The development team can spend a lot of time creating a product with powerful features, but if there are any problems with using the interface, that is all the users will remember.
In other words, if there is anything that makes it difficult for a user to work with your app, even the best and most unique functionality won’t save you from negative feedback. So, in order to provide the best user experience possible, never forget about UI testing types.
One of the approaches to UI tests is manual software testing. This implies the presence of a human tester that will perform a set of operations manually to ensure that the app is working correctly and that the graphical screens meet all the requirements.
If you want to ensure the speed and quality of UI testing process, it is recommended to use automation UI UX testing tools that have been specially developed for this purpose:
Also, UI testing can be partially performed with the help of browser extensions, such as Visbug, What font, Web developer, Page Ruler, ColorZilla.
As with any type of test cases, in order to ensure the smooth process of user interface examination, it is always better to have a UI testing checklist (which can be changed and adjusted to meet the product needs). But the basic parameters that are usually checked while performing UI software testing are as follows:
In short, UX testing is a process of testing various aspects of the user experience to determine the best way for a project and its elements to interact with its audience. Why are UX tests so important? Let’s look at a real-world example:
Imagine that you own an online store, which is not that different from many other stores, and yet it offers something special — it has a unique design or some cool additional features, it is AI-enabled, or simply has a unique range of products. But here is where the problem starts: while working on your website, developers have made a mistake and as a result your navigation or buttons don’t work as intended. This means only one thing — your users have no chance to experience the unique features of your store, which obviously results in customer loss and negative feedback for your company. Moreover, your product imperfection may affect your business even after the issues have been resolved. Reputation damage tends to stick around. This is why you need UX testing.
User experience checking points
Here are the things you must pay attention to when performing UX tests:
Here are the things you must pay attention to when performing UX tests:
Often, UX testing is done with the help of automation tools that allow understanding the user behavior better as well as predict his expectations about software products. The most popular ones include:
UX testing can also be performed manually. As the main criteria of the UX tests are “best practice” and “common sense”, this type of testing should be carried out by the specialists who have worked with similar products before. Relevant experience is required so the tester can understand the requirements for the UI elements – what is the right location of those elements, what color should they come in or how should they change when the users interact with them.
The necessity and the frequency of the UX tests performed usually depend on the goals the company is pursuing. For example, if the company adds some new features to its product – UX testing is a must. It is also highly recommended to regularly analyze client feedback with the help of automated tools.
Below is the list of UI UX testing tools our team uses on a regular basis:
Like with UI testing, there are many important parameters you should check while performing UX tests.
Both UI and UX testing are relatively new but rapidly developing types of testing. In fact, to be able to perform these tests extensive experience won’t cut it. You must also keep a close eye on design trends, learn how to use automation tools, and be able to carry out a detailed analysis of information constantly. UI and UX testing is not the cheapest service provided by the testing firm and it is obvious that each business will choose services depending on its goals, capacities, and needs. But it should be kept in mind that no matter what your project is or what features it includes, the main criterion for its evaluation (aka — success) is an attractive and convenient UI that ensures a truly great experience for your users.
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