Good software is not easy to write. This kitchen has its own subtleties. Without owning them, even the most qualified tester runs the risk of making a lot of mistakes. These mistakes have to be fought on a regular basis in order to bring a high-quality product to the market.
In the process of teaching people who are just starting their way in the QA profession, they regularly encounter the fact that many make the same type of mistakes and today, we will talk about them and how to avoid them.
But first of all, I think it’s worth mentioning how to write a bug report. Since this is the most common artifact of the testing process, all testers should be able to file bugs properly. You can even do without test cases, but you can’t do without defects.
Before starting our topic, let’s remember what bugs are. Bugs and defects are detected by the tester when comparing the expected and actual results of the program. A bug can be any error that causes the application to behave incorrectly or unpredictably.
Button \ Link doesn’t Work
This error is one of the most common for an experienced tester in terms of the number of occurrences. There can be a lot of links in various applications and software. But a problem arises when the data to which they refer is changed, deleted, moved to a different address, or for some other reason does not function.
Buttons can be tricky. They either do not work from the very beginning – and this is bad, but the tester immediately notices the problem and it can be fixed. But there is a second option – when the buttons stop working after some user action, this bug does not immediately manifest itself but appears over time.
Required Fields
Sometimes a programmer or developer forgets to set which fields are required by the user. Therefore, sometimes it is possible to register or place an order without specifying essential data for any program owner.
Testing in Only one Language
Many companies are trying to localize their applications to attract audiences from different countries. Of course, it’s not worth waiting for the tester to check the quality of the translation – translators should do this. The tester should check how the application design looks organic in all language versions.
Often there are problems when translating from one language to another. The phase in the final result is longer than in the original language and may not fit in one line/lump or on a button.
This means that it is necessary to correct the design in the second version, where there is a problem, or ask the translators to come up with a more concise analog.
Verification in Only one Data Network
Yes, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, but even in 2021, not all users have access to high-speed Internet. Therefore, it is important to test the operation of the application not only via Wi-Fi or LTE but also via slower networks such as GPRS in order to identify the features of the work. It’s a pity that not all testers remember this.
31st of the Month
The date picker is not always selected using the pop-up calendar. Sometimes the day, month and year are manually entered separately. (Date of birth, for example, when registering or subscribing). Testers forget to check months that do not have a 31st day. (February, April, June, September, November)
Excessive Focus on UI / UX
Very often, developers focus on user interfaces and user experience and forget about the functionality of the application. Appearance and UX are important, but what about usability? Why would someone download your app if not everything is working as expected? What matters is not how the application looks but what benefits it brings. A balanced approach is needed in terms of UI / UX as well as the functionality or usability of the application.
Email Field Validation
This field is probably the stupidest skipping data validation field I’ve come across. Testers stubbornly skip checking the correct and incorrect data in this field one by one. Minimally, it checks whether at least something is entered there and already happily believes that everything is fine. Or, if the @ sign is entered in the field, it means that the email was exactly written there. Why bother then?
CONCLUSION
You cannot even imagine how often novice testers do not notice defects that are in the seemingly prominent place. Why does it happen? The more often a specialist opens the same section in the application, the more confident he becomes that everything in this place is definitely working correctly.
There is another reason: not all testers are good at multitasking. Sometimes, in the process of writing test cases, the tester loses his vigilance and does not notice that not everything in the application works as intended.
In the field of IT, it is important not only for programmers but also for testers to understand the specifics and nature of bugs, as well as to know the ways to eliminate them. Fails can primarily be associated with the features of the functional work of the software.
It is important to note that such diagnostics of error codes (during testing) allows you to detect some weak points in the software under test.
Thanks to the information that each software error revealed after testing can carry, the developer can improve and improve his product before launching it on the market.
