Issue #149 : Software Testing Notes
Divide Between Manual and Automated Testing
Hello there! 👋
Welcome to the 149th edition of Software Testing Notes, a weekly newsletter featuring must-read content on Software Testing. I hope this week has been good for you so far.
This week, we will explore:
Laid off as a tester. What now?
Android Snapshot testing with Paparazzi/shot library
Why Are User Acceptance Tests Such a Hassle?
Building an Automation Framework with Cypress: A Step-by-Step Guide with Insights
How to Test JavaScript for Accessibility Compliance
and more…
🙏 Are you looking for a Job in testing?
We have more than 200+ jobs curated for you this week, all around the world. Browse all Opportunities — It's Free!
📚 Testing
Laid off as a tester. What now? by Filip Hric
It has been trying time in the IT industry and QA is not exception. Filip Hric addresses the uncertainty faced by QA professionals due to industry shifts and layoffs, and offers strategies for career resilience.
Expert Testing Advice: 10 Industry Leaders Share Their Top Tips by Nicola Lindgren
Nicola Lindgren reflects on insights from various software testing expert interviews, sharing 10 tips on their transformative experiences, challenges, and practical tips to elevate testing practices.
Dear customer, what you assess me for is extremely ambiguous by Maaret Pyhäjärvi
Maaret Pyhäjärvi shares some insights into the ambiguity in client requests for testing services, need for clearer definitions of experience requirements such as acceptance testing, integration testing, test automation, and UI testing.
The Hazy Divide Between Manual and Automated Testing by Josh Grant
Josh Grant explores the diminishing distinction between manual and automated testing, driven by advancements in tools like AI, low-code platforms, and code generation.
Testing is a team sport by Maaike Brinkhof
Maaike Brinkhof reflects on the collaborative nature of testing and the challenges of navigating teamwork in a remote work environment.
Why Are User Acceptance Tests Such a Hassle? by Supriya Lal
While UAT is typically at the top of the testing pyramid, many organizations find it taking up a disproportionately large amount of time and resources.
Supriya Lal discusses the challenges of User Acceptance Testing (UAT), which often requires extensive manual effort due to complex business processes, third-party integrations, and regulatory compliance.
🔍 Software Testing
⚙️ Automation
Generic functions help me to reduce the amount of Playwright test automation code by Mike Harris
Another great piece by Mike Harris highlighting the benefits of using TypeScript generic functions in a Page Object Model with Playwright to reduce maintenance costs in automated tests.
Building an Automation Framework with Cypress: A Step-by-Step Guide with Insights by Damian Nguyen
Damian Nguyen provides a structured approach to creating Cypress-based scalable frameworks, developer-friendly setup, robust features, and seamless integration with CI/CD pipelines.
Awesome Android CI with Screenshot Testing by Javier Manrique Pellejero
Javier Manrique Pellejero provides a comprehensive guide to setting up the Shot library for screenshot testing in Android projects, along with configurations for GitHub Actions to automate these tests and baseline management.
Android Snapshot testing. Paparazzi. Failing unit tests. Edgecases by Natalia Kulbaka
Snapshot testing is not always as easy as it sounds. Natalia Kulbaka shares challenging experience with integrating Paparazzi snapshot testing into an Android app with practical edge case solutions for Paparazzi testing.
Netflix Engineers Rethink Mock Testing for GraphQL by Bruce Gain
The article highlights the challenges of replicating real-world scenarios and explores the complexities and importance of creating effective mock testing environments, particularly in distributed and containerized systems like Netflix's.
Playwright Visual Testing - Dynamic Data by Dennis Whalen
Dennis Whalen shares strategies for handling dynamic data in visual testing using Playwright by using hiding dynamic elements with the stylePath parameter to avoid test failures caused by differences in screenshots and using the mask parameter to provide placeholders for dynamic content.
Schema Validation in Cypress Using AJV by HariPrasath
The blog post explains how to use Cypress and AJV to perform schema validation for API response. Hari Prasath shows step by step guide from setting up a Cypress project, creating a custom schema validation command using AJV, and implementing test cases to validate API responses against a JSON schema.
🔍 Test Automation
💨 Performance
Why Optimizing Your Lighthouse Score Is Not Enough For A Fast Website by Geoff Graham
Who doesn’t like seeing perfect 100% score in Lighthouse reports? But there’s more to it. Geoff Graham argues that it offers only a partial view of website performance because it relies on simulated data rather than real-world user experiences.
Leak detection using UI tests by Danil Perevalov
Danil Perevalov shares how to incorporate memory leak detection into UI tests with keeping scalability and maintainability for projects with extensive test suites.
🔍 Performance Testing
🌞 Accessibility
How to Test JavaScript for Accessibility Compliance by Florian Schroiff
Florian Schroiff shares few important techniques to address common accessibility challenges such as keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, focus management, and dynamic content updates.
Furthermore, also take a look at this amazing github repo about Accessibility testing guide.
🔍 Accessibility Testing
🛠️ Resources & Tools
Guidepup — A screen reader driver for test automation that enables testing for VoiceOver on MacOS and NVDA on Windows with a single API.
hanbi — A small and simple library for stubbing and spying on methods and functions in JavaScript tests.
base62 — Encode and decode strings, bytes, and integers to Base62, which is ideal for URL shortening, creating readable codes, and compact data representation.
📝 List of Software Testers
Do you create content around Software Testing ? Submit yours blog details here and I will add it to the list.
🎁 Bonus Content
📌 OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
⭐ LAST WEEK'S MOST READ
Using Cursor and Claude to Create Automated Tests with Playwright by Joe Giglio
Common Challenges in Software Testing and How to Overcome Them – Part 1 by Bhagya P.
Under Pressure: Navigating Burnout and Mental Health in Software Testing by Brijesh DEB
😂 And Finally,
📨 Send Me Your Articles, Tutorials, Tools!
Wrote something? Send links via Direct Message on Twitter @thetestingkit (details here). If you have any suggestions for improvement or corrections, feel free to reply to this email.
Thanks to everyone for subscribing and reading!
Happy Testing!
Pritesh(@priteshusdadiya)