UX, or User Experience, is one of the most important metrics on which the success of any program depends. It doesn't matter how well you have thought out the software or what useful functions your product performs; if it is not convenient to use, it will most likely go unnoticed by users.
Functional Testing Services allow you to identify possible errors and advise making the user interface more convenient and valuable.
What is Functional Testing?
Before releasing any software product to the market, be it a website, a mobile application, or a program, it must be thoroughly tested. The fact is that the creator of any program code may ignore what problems, errors are always possible due to the human factor, so an outside view is always needed.
There are several types of testing; while performance testing checks how the product will behave in a stressful situation, functional testing checks how comfortable it will be for a simple user to use your software.
It is crucial since an ordinary user may not notice minor performance errors. Still, broken buttons or a lousy interface become noticeable at first sight, even to an inexperienced person.
To make sure that the user interface (UI) really works as it should, testers pay attention to such points:
- Is the user interface loading correctly;
- How is an authorization done;
- Are the main functions working correctly;
- Is the payment working;
- Are there any errors?
The first thing a tester pays attention to is the user interface. At the first stage, the specialist checks whether all the buttons work, whether it is easy to move from one page to another, how the links work, and much more. In this case, the programmer is trying to perform the same actions as a regular user and find out how well your program works.
Authorization is a reasonably vital process to start working with a site or program. Often programmers take ready-made solutions and do not double-check them, do not adapt them to the program's features. The tester should try all the available authorization methods (if there are several) and understand how efficiently they work.
After the specialists check for apparent errors, they wonder if the program performs its intended functions. So, for example, if you have a mobile application that can be used instead of a calculator, you need to check how correctly it does mathematical calculations.
If you have developed a commercial site, you need to check whether the payment method is convenient. A person often adds an item to the cart and then abandons the idea of purchasing because they do not like the payment method you offer, or it is too complicated to understand.
It is possible that in working with your product, the user will stumble upon some errors. The tester is trying to model what happens, what the error looks like, and how to make it so that it does not appear.
After the tester has finished identifying possible errors, the specialist creates a report on what problems he found and how they can be fixed.
Main types of functional testing
The specialist must use manual and automatic testing methods to identify the above problems. It will allow you to find both apparent errors visible to the naked eye and more complex software errors. Functional testing has the following main types:
- Sanity testing is the simplest and most "dirty" type, when the programmer behaves like a regular user, identifying apparent problems and not paying attention to programming errors.
- Smoke testing allows you to determine whether all components work as they should. It is usually done before other types of testing to find apparent errors.
- Unit testing allows you to make sure that each component (or "module") of the application code works as expected.
- Regression testing allows you to understand whether using one piece of software breaks another.
- System testing. It tests the software and the entire project as a whole. It helps to understand whether the program meets all functional, technical, and business requirements.
Usually, experts resort to all these types of testing at once so that it is possible to identify all possible errors. However, if the customer is limited in finances, you can choose those types of testing that are most important, given the specifics of the order.
Conclusion
When creating a new project, each developer should make sure that the potential user is comfortable using the product. Functional testing is necessary to ensure that the UI is convenient and valuable. The program performs the essential tasks, and the entire system meets the business objectives.
