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Selenium Best Practices

1. Using the Right Locators

For testing the desired web elements of a particular application, QAs need to be proficient in using different locator strategies. After all, if the test scripts cannot identify the correct elements, the tests will fail.

Example: For automating inputs to the Username and Password fields of a login page, the primary step is to locate those text fields. If the script cannot find the Username and Password fields, the login process will not work.

Refer to this detailed guidepost on Locators in Selenium to understand different ways to locate web-elements and which locators are best suited for which situations.

2. Implementing Page Object Model

With ever-increasing customer demands, a website’s UI is bound to evolve after incorporating new changes at regular intervals. Needless to say, locators corresponding to specific UI elements change too. This means QAs need to create new test cases for the same page again, which can be tedious.

One can address this by using the Page Object Model design pattern for creating test scripts. In this design pattern, each web page is considered a class file, and every class file carries corresponding web elements. This technique helps eliminate code duplication and also makes test maintenance more convenient. QAs can also reuse the existing code and make minimal changes.

3. Running Selenium Tests on Real Devices

Although there are multiple emulators available on the internet for Selenium testing across platforms, running tests on real devices makes a considerable difference.

Emulators are just software programs that mimic the functionality of a device. They are more suitable for testing code changes in the initial stages of development. Besides, emulators for each device-OS combination may not be available, which makes it even more challenging for QAs to test on desired combinations.

Have you upgraded to Selenium 4 yet? Learn what’s new in Selenium 4.

Accurate results can only be expected when websites are tested in real user conditions. This allows teams to discover maximum bugs and eventually roll out a robust application.

Teams can leverage cloud-based platforms like BrowserStack that offer a Cloud Selenium Grid of 3000+ real browsers and devices.

It empowers teams to run concurrent Selenium tests on desired device-browser combinations online. This makes it convenient for QA engineers to perform comprehensive cross-browser and device testing across platforms. One can also integrate their test pipelines with CI/CD tools like Jenkins, Travis, Circle CI, etc.

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