From Code to Color – Understanding User Interface
Developing the next great app or a fully functional website is something every developer strives for. Crafting lines of code that roll off their fingertips as they type – code that will lead to functions no developer has even though of implementing. As incredible as your code maybe, if your user interface is lacking or incoherent, it simply won’t matter. In order for your app or website to function properly, you need it to be appealing to customers.
Pairing your code with an appealing and functioning GUI (Graphical user interface) is a necessity in the modern age of code. Creating a beautiful interface might be easy on paper, but once the test is being run, everything could be off and unusable. To prevent that issue, developers employ a system of GUI automation testing. This allows them to understand what works and what doesn’t before the final product is launched.
The GUI is what the consumer interacts with. Most customers will not be considering the impressive lines of text which they cannot see. The part of your final product that will be judged the heaviest and can make or break a program is the GUI. So how do you go about implementing automated GUI testing?
GUI Testing
With the different styles and sizes of computers or monitors on which your program will be displayed, a multitude of resolution choices will need to be made in the development process. For most front-end programming, simple lines of code can be used to ensure your program will match the size of the screen. Often times coders will create a phone screen-specific edition of their product.
By testing your GUI, you can see what the final product looks like on different types of screen resolution. As the bigger screen laptop, you might encounter too much blank space, or stretched out menu options – either option creates an unpleasing feel to the page. By testing your app or website prior to launch, you can spot these issues and address them before it’s too late.
How to successfully automate your GUI
Listen to the rules and patterns implemented prior to the test. If your web page is over complicated and breaks some basic rules of page layouts, you will be facing issues with the final product. It might seem like a cool idea, but if the design breaks the patterns established, you should consider changing the layout.
Keep organized with your data – the automated GUI test will provide you with plenty of data that can become clustered and disorganized. By keeping a strict table layout of the recorded data, you will have a much easier time interpreting and compiling the information. Also, be sure to have each test remain independent. Too many tests overlapping or one GUI test that covers the whole system could provide you with corrupted data. Be careful with your automated GUI tests, they’re there to save you time, but if done wrong, they could cost you.
