02 February, 2015

Selenium as a Great Tool to Test Application - An Insight

As an efficient software testing tool, Selenium is used widely for automating web browsers. The portable functional testing tool makes it easier for testers to evaluate the performance of websites and web applications across several web browsers and platforms. At the same time, Selenium can also be used for automating boring and time-consuming web-based administration tasks. Since its inception in 2004, the open source functional testing tool has emerged as a leading portable software testing framework to assess a wide variety of websites and internet applications. A business can use Selenium to effectively automate both web application testing and web-based administration tasks.

What Makes Selenium One of the Leading Software Testing Tools?

selenium web services testing
Works with Major Web Browsers and Operating Systems
Despite being an open source functional testing tools, Selenium is designed to work with major operating systems and web browsers. At present, it supports most versions of MS Windows, along with the current stable release of OS X, and several versions of Linux. Likewise, Selenium works with several widely used web browsers including Internet Explorer and Firefox. The testers can further use specific drivers to run the testing tool on Opera, Chrome and Safari. So it becomes easier for business to use a single tool to evaluate the web application’s performance across multiple platforms and browsers.

Supports Several Programming Languages
To write test cases effectively, the testers need to have adequate expertise in a programming language. Each tester further wants to write test cases in his preferred programming language. Selenium supports several programming language through drivers. The Selenium drivers are libraries designed for individual programming languages. Thus, the testing professional can use the Selenium drivers to write test cases in a number of programming languages including Java, PHP, C#, Python and Ruby. So it becomes easier for testing professionals to write test cases without learning any new programming language.

Easy to Install and Configure
The features of Selenium can be compared with commercial software testing tools like HP Quick Test Pro. However, the testing professional can still install and configure Selenium testing environment is a simple and quick way. Once the testing environment is configured, Selenium will simultaneously generate and execute scripts for different web browsers and systems. Further, it provides a variety of components that can be selected according to the implementation of the web page.

Compatible with Other Testing Frameworks
Selenium can be used for web application testing and web-based administration tasks. The testing tool, at the same time, can also be used as a GUI driving library. As a GUI driving library, Selenium can be integrated with other testing frameworks to wrap test cases. Thus, the businesses can use other web application testing tools to enhance the capabilities of Selenium. The integration will further help them in assessing all aspects of a web application without deploying any additional resource.

Option to Integrate with Existing Ecosystem
Often enterprises look for software testing tools that can be easily integrated with their existing ecosystems. Many businesses opt for Selenium as it can be integrated with the existing ecosystem without any hassle. Selenium can be further integrated seamlessly with some of the widely used solutions and suite of tools. For instance, the testers have option to integrate the framework with Hudson, QMetry and similar widely used tools. As Selenium can be integrated with the existing ecosystem, the enterprise is not required to invest in commercial testing tools.

It is also important for enterprises to understand some of the major disadvantages of Selenium. The enterprise needs to deploy skilled testers who have expertise in writing test scripts in a specific programming language. Likewise, the business has to use additional tools or plug-ins to generate test reports as Selenium lacks inbuilt reporting capabilities. However, a business can always consider using the open source functional testing tools to assess a web application’s look, feel and performance across major web browsers and operating systems within a shorter amount of time.

You can hire testers from selenium test automation companies in India who can help you accomplish testing with the selenium tools within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide selenium web services testing. If you would like to hire selenium tester from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

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