User interface (UI) testing is significant for developing high-quality web and mobile applications. Applications must be intuitive and easy to use and so a user-friendly and eye-catching interface is a basic requirement for any successful product. Hence, UI testing is an important part of software development. Generally, many testers focus on the functional aspect of an application while neglecting UI and user experience (UX) details.
In this blog, we will describe UI testing, explore the thin line between UI and UX testing, what to consider during UI/UX testing to identify areas of improvement, along with best practices and our approach to testing that maximises beneficial results.
What is UI testing
UI testing is the process of verifying all visual elements and functionality of a user interface to ensure its correctness, completeness, and consistency, including pixel-perfectness.
When conducting UI testing, you need to consider many factors. These include the layout of the interface, the labels and wording of buttons and menus, the colors and graphics used, and the overall usability of the application under test.
In UI testing you should be aiming to answer ‘yes’ to all of the following questions:
- Does the interface match with the designs?
- Is the interface pixel-perfect, including spacing, margins & paddings?
- Do the interface elements use the same font size, font style, font colour, and other CSS styles?
- Is the UI pleasing to the eyes?
- Is the application compatible with different browsers & resolutions?
What is UX testing?
Usability testing is a method of measuring and certifying the quality, usability, accessibility, desirability, and user-friendliness of a product for end users – in other words, the user experience (UX). UX testing can also eliminate assumptions from the development process.Â
In UX testing you should be aiming to answer ‘yes’ to all of the following questions:
- Does the interface and its overall functionality including navigation make sense for the end user?
- Do users know where to click and what should happen after that click?
- Are icons designed in a way that they are easy to understand?
- Is everything consistent and accurate?
The Thin Line Between UI and UX Testing
These two terms are often confused, and although they are closely related, they are different concepts. Overall both UI and UX testing are very important for ensuring a quality user experience and successful interaction with the application. However, most testers don’t do UX testing and keep their focus on functionality and UI by matching with requirements and Figmas. Let’s compare the difference side-by-side:
| UI Testing | UX Testing |
|---|---|
| It focuses on verifying the correctness of margins, padding, alignments, fonts, colours, etc. | It focuses on testing the overall impression and user interaction with the application. |
| It checks the application's appearance, compliance, and interactions against what developers have delivered. | It evaluates usability, ease of use, efficiency, user satisfaction, and overall experience while using the application. |
| It focuses majorly on the layout of elements, such as buttons, input fields, menus, etc. | It collects user behavior and responses to various application features and usage scenarios. |
| It ensures that the user interface functions without errors and meets the specified design requirements. | It takes feedback from end users by conducting surveys and interviews to meet the application usage requirements. |
What to Check For in UI/UX Testing
You need to pay attention to the key aspects while performing UI/UX testing:
- Design compliance: Does your application’s visuals including icons, color, font size, font family, and typos, truly reflect the approved design?
- Check Navigations: Verify that the navigation buttons redirect users to the correct pages or screens and there are no lags or fluctuations in opening the next screen.
- Check Progress Bars: Are progress indicators clear and informative? Users shouldn’t be left thinking if your application is frozen or working or he should wait on that screen or he can leave the page and check the progress later on.
- Check Input messages: Ensure entering text in fields automatically filters the values in the drop-down list based on the previous input e.g. Select Country as India then State drop-down should only display states belonging to India only.
- Check Compatibility: Check how the interface elements are displayed on different screen resolutions and in different browser windows. In this era, the UI of a web application should be adjusted according to the screen size of the user.Â
- Check Tooltips: Do helpful tooltips appear when you hover over active interface elements if they were provided in the design? Clarity is key, so ensure these little helpers are present and functional.
- Check Keyboard shortcuts: Do keyboard shortcuts work flawlessly across different browsers, platforms, and devices? Cater to diverse user preferences and accessibility needs by ensuring keyboard compatibility e.g. pressing the tab button on the keyboard should take the user to the next field available.
Best Practices
For a good user experience, you need to think like your end users. Check and test the application as if you were the end user and not like the application tester, as you already know how the application works! Pay attention to how easy or difficult it is to use and navigate by assuming that you don’t have any prior knowledge of the application. Is anything confusing or hard to find? If you find any issues, make sure to fix them before your users observe and report them when the application goes live.
Here are our key tips to keep in mind:
- Know your customer base: Think about who will be using your software and what their needs are. This will help you design tests that are relevant to your users and will give you insights into how they are likely to interact with your interface.
- Pay attention to details: When testing the UI, it is important to pay attention to even the smallest details. This includes things like the spacing of elements on the screen, the alignment of text, and the size and position of buttons.
- Pixel perfection: Your UI should be pixel-perfect against the designs you have received from your design team. Check margins, paddings, and alignments carefully.
- Test on different browsers and devices: Always test your application in different browsers and on different devices, e.g. Chrome on Mac, Windows, Safari on Mac or Windows, Edge on Windows, etc. as it can look and behave differently in each one. Ask your Product team to provide the details on which the application will be widely used.
- Use your application like an unknown user: Try to use your application under test as you are using it for the very first time. Make sure that your application is easy to use and takes you to the main functionality in less number of navigations.
UI/UX Testing at SourceFuse
- Visual Observation: Our naked eyes are the best and the top tool that we should utilize to test the UI or UX of any application under test. We encourage our testers to have an equal focus on the user interface while testing the functionality. Human eyes can detect anything that can’t be detected by any other tool in the market.
- Follow Heuristic Framework: At Sourcefuse we follow a heuristic framework that talks about the ‘Ten Commandments’ that ensure our applications follow UI/UX standards.
- Dedicated UI/UX Testing team: At SourceFuse we have a dedicated UI/UX team that just focuses on UI/UX aspects of the application and gets them fixed before the actual User Acceptance Testing (UAT) starts with clients. Our team also gives suggestions to clients if we are following their design but could benefit with an improved UI/UX.Â
- Figma: This is an online UI and prototype development tool with the possibility of real-time collaboration. Probably the most relevant tool at the moment, as a tester, it allows you to check all layout properties: sizes, colors, fonts, and more without the need to install any application or extension, everything is available in the web version, right in the browser.
- Chrome Extensions: There are various UI Checker Chrome extensions available which we at SourceFuse use to quickly identify the UI properties and issues if any. Some useful tools are CSS Viewer and What Font to see applied UI element properties like font style and font family, by hovering on it, Grid Ruler helps to check the alignment of different elements that are available on our UI, by creating vertical and horizontal grids on the page. It also measures the distance between grids/elements on the UI.
- Device Farms: These are excellent cloud platforms for testing websites and mobile applications on different browsers and devices and our tester uses them every day to make sure UI bugs with respect to different resolutions, devices, browsers, or OS versions that are not present with you physically at a given point in time.
The Bottom Line
Remember, UI testing is not just about checking boxes and fields; it’s about building an interface that our users love. By deeply inspecting these key aspects, you can ensure your products leave lasting and positive impressions on your user base. The primary motive for performing UI/UX testing should be to identify issues early on in development by testing the user interface to improve user experience. By ensuring the focus remains on understanding end user needs, the application UI is not only pleasant to view, but also seamless, functional and easy to use.
