On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 8:57 PM, Nik Lazell <nik.laz...@realadventure.co.uk>wrote:
> Hi all, > > > > Does anyone have any experience of using Selenium for testing > (http://seleniumhq.org/)? I have been asked to research it's potential > for UX testing. I have used it briefly as a developer, but it seems to > be more suited to testing the functionality of a site rather than from a > usability point of view. > > > > In fact, can any automated tools really test usability? > > > > Nik, I would maintain that an understanding of automated test suites/harnesses was a very fine thing - if only such that they may be discussed with their proponents in UX circles, test managers, UAT participants, and managers. Are they directly useful to a UxD? I can think of a few instances: 1. where the EAs/SAs have screwed up and system response times are a total disaster, automated test tools can be a real graph-filler - i.e. incontrovertible evidence that the "usability" issue cannot be solved by the UxD. Try telling a senior manager that a slow system is not your issue as a UxD - at best, they will be skeptical. 2. where bulk use causes issues - for example, where simulating peak system load kills the system stone cold motherless dead (see cause in case 1). 3. where large numbers of boundary cases (and other weird data) can usefully be included in the test process. This is my way of saying, I guess, that poor coding and architecting can cause system errors that adversely affect the user experience - and that this is something that we can help to fix by engaging with the professional system testing members of the project team. As a postscript, I have worked with developers that love Selenium - it seems to serve for load testing as well as some of the heavy-duty commercial test systems (which I have not had much to do with since WinRunner days). I found it easy to use - that said, I have not used it since 2006. Best regards, Andrew -- --- Andrew Boyd http://uxbookclub.org -- connect, read, discuss http://govux.org -- the government user experience forum ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
