What is Selenium? This free, user-friendly tool tests websites and mobile apps through automated mechanisms or artificially generated users. It helps test whether websites work nicely on browsers like Chrome or Firefox, or devices like Android phones. This blog describes Selenium’s contribution to faster and better testing, primarily through Selenium WebDriver.
It is used with tools like LambdaTest to work on thousands of browsers and devices. Let’s see how it helps with more efficient web and mobile testing.
Understanding the Basics of Selenium and Selenium WebDriver?
Selenium is a free tool that does things automatically on websites, like clicking or typing, in the same way a person would. Selenium WebDriver, Selenium IDE, and Selenium Grid also assist with automation testing. What is Selenium Web Driver? The main element controls browsers using easy code in Python or Java. Selenium IDE records tests so you can play them back, which is excellent for beginners. Selenium Grid runs tests on lots of computers at once, saving time. These parts make Selenium work with browsers like Chrome or Firefox.
Since it’s free, anyone can use it, and people worldwide keep it updated, so it stays helpful. It works with many tools, making it perfect for all testing projects. You can pick your favorite coding language to use with it. Selenium is a top choice for teams who want to test websites easily.
How does Selenium work for Mobile Apps?
Selenium provides a much simpler approach to testing a website and does not require someone to click on links, add to cart, and fill out forms. With Selenium WebDriver, you write simple code that checks whether the website works as expected or if the buttons perform the intended tasks. This would be much faster through automation than doing it manually. Doing manual testing takes a lot of time and sometimes produces errors. Since Selenium tests on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, web pages are always viewed the same way for every user.
It also works with tools like TestNG to keep tests organized and show results. To test everything well, Selenium can handle tricky website parts, like pop-ups or menus. This helps teams ensure their websites are good and work without problems. By using Selenium, you save hours of work and make websites ready for users. It’s great for teams that update websites and need to test fast. This way, they catch problems early and keep users happy.
What Makes Selenium a Better and Faster Way to Test Websites?
Selenium allows you to perform testing quickly by automating slow and tedious tasks. You can run a whole set of tests through Selenium WebDriver and find some bugs that would take minutes to run, instead of hours or weeks.
This is especially great for teams that deploy their application often and want fast results on their tests as a means of instrumentation. Furthermore, you can eliminate the errors that humans may create, so you can expect the same results each time you run a test.
Selenium can integrate and run with tools such as Jenkins, which allows your tests to run automatically after someone changes the code. This ensures the project develops quickly while finding problems from the outset. You can also do multiple tests with one script, such as verifying how an application behaves with various pieces of information.
This makes your tests more effective and saves time. Selenium gives you nice reports on what has gone wrong, so you can squish issues quickly to improve your application. These are valuable for teams that want to develop great applications without spending too much time testing.
What Makes Selenium Compatible With Different Browsers and Systems?
Selenium ensures users can navigate through websites seamlessly with the most common browsers. When integrated with Selenium WebDriver, you can see if the website parts are running properly on Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc. Well, what does this mean? This means it can identify items that may be broken on one browser. For instance, the button does not work on the Firefox version of the website, but in Chrome it does. Selenium Grid makes the testing process more convenient and faster because it allows us to test with multiple browsers running simultaneously. It becomes useful when enough people are working together on the same project.
With Selenium, your website can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux computers. This is important because websites are regularly viewed by many users on other devices simultaneously. Automating these different tests makes checking easy without manually going through them on each platform.
Automating with Selenium allows teams to validate that other parts of their websites are being displayed and working similarly for users, regardless of their device, ultimately keeping users engaged and happy.
How Does Selenium Get Along with Different Tools?
Selenium is a unique tool, and its flexibility allows it to work with many other tools, making for better testing and improving the team’s testing experience. All of this is done with Selenium WebDriver with the addition of TestNG or JUnit to keep tests organized, while also being able to review the results in reports.
Jenkins can help run Selenium to execute tests automatically after someone commits code to the application, to allow issues to be identified quickly. This will help keep the project flowing forward and enable the team to address problems quickly.
For mobile applications, we mentioned above that Appium works to enable testing on Android and iOS using Selenium. Selenium has an even wider range of tools, and when integrated with those tools, it collaborates with people with little or no technical skills, such as Cucumber. This is great for larger projects when a big group of people will work together.
Selenium enhances speed and strength when collaborating with all these tools so that teams, like instructors, can focus on producing good applications.
How Can You Solve Issues with Selenium?
Selenium is a fantastic tool, but it can have some problems you must fix to make testing work well every time. Tricky website parts, like pop-ups that change, can be hard to test, but Selenium WebDriver has tools like waits to handle them. Updating test code can take time and work when websites or apps change. Writing tests in small, reusable pieces makes it easier to update them when something changes in the app.
Selenium doesn’t make reports by itself, making it hard to see what’s wrong, but tools like TestNG add clear reports. By planning and using innovative ways to write tests, you can avoid these problems and improve Selenium’s work. For example, keeping tests organized and straightforward helps you fix issues faster. This way, you can focus on testing and not worry about problems slowing you down.
How Can We Use Selenium with Test AI?
Selenium collaborates with test AI to make testing smarter, so you can find problems faster with less work. Using Selenium WebDriver with AI tools, tests can handle website parts that change or guess where issues might happen. AI looks at old tests to pick the best ones, so you save time and test more parts of the app. This makes testing easier and helps make apps better without much effort.
AI can write Selenium tests, so you don’t have to do everything manually, letting you save plenty of time. Selenium works with AI tools to make tests that fix themselves when apps change, which is helpful. This combo is the future of testing because it makes things faster and wiser. By using AI with Selenium, teams can ensure their apps are top quality without spending too much time.
Tips for Using Selenium Effectively
To make Selenium work great, follow these simple tips to create tests that are easy to manage and always work well. Using Selenium WebDriver with a page object model keeps your code neat, making it easy for everyone to update and understand.
Naming tests helps your team work together on big projects without getting confused about what each test does. Adding waits ensures tests work with slow or changing website parts, so they don’t fail unexpectedly.
Keeping Selenium and browser tools updated stops problems with new browsers, so your tests run smoothly every time. Testing different things with one script, like using other information, saves time and strengthens tests. These tips help you make tests that work well and are easy to fix if something goes wrong. By following these ideas, your team can create great tests that help build better apps.
How Is Selenium Automation Testing Possible with LambdaTest?
Selenium is a free solution to test websites by automating clicks and keystrokes like a person would. The automation process is improved by using LambdaTest if you need to run your Selenium WebDriver tests on a Cloud that allows for automation across 5,000+ browsers and devices. So, what is Selenium Webdriver? It is an application that automates testing across any website.
Selenium can test Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera browser installations across the major Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. It is also able to test real Android and real iOS phones. It allows you to run tests in parallel testing so you don’t have to wait to run one test at a time, and gives you the choice to use a variety of browsers and settings to test on.
The Hawkeye Insights offer all logs, videos, and screenshots to quickly identify and fix issues and bugs. It’s also flexible; you can use Java, Python, JavaScript, and build on Selenium, Appium, and Cypress frameworks. It offers over 120 integrations, including Jenkins.
You can privately test your websites with a secure tunnel and get 1-click access to testing apps in over 120 countries! Tech support has been available around the clock, with 24/7 support available through their chat or by emailing support@lambdatest.com.
Conclusion
Selenium is an efficient tool that makes testing websites and mobile apps easy, fast, and reliable for everyone. Selenium WebDriver and tools like Appium ensure that apps work on all browsers and phones. It saves time, stops mistakes, and works with test AI for smarter testing. Whether you’re testing websites or apps, Selenium helps a lot. Ready to make testing easier? Try Selenium to improve your apps today. How will you use Selenium to make your projects better?
