With the rise of digital dependency, we see hundreds of new websites and mobile apps out in the market every day. But do you know, before releasing it on a public platform, a lot of testing takes place to check if it’s going to work or not? In the testing phase, a tester tests every component of the digital product to find out any shortcomings. The purpose of the testing is to rectify bugs in the software development stage. Automated testing is slowly and gradually earning fame, but manual testing has been here and playing a critical role in the QA. Delve further to know if the manual software testing is still a viable choice or not!
What Is Manual Testing?
Manual testing, as the name suggests, is the process of testing software for defects with or without help from tools. It is done to find the bugs under software development. Manual testing is a classical method to find bugs in software products.
What Are the Different Types of Manual Testing?
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White-Box Testing
Under the white-box test, the internal structure, codes, and design of the software are tested to check the working of the software. Also known as clear-box testing and structural testing, white box testing revolves around the internal working of a software or application. It can be done at the system, integration, and unit level of software development.
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Black-Box Testing
It is another testing way that focuses on the input and output of the software without going into details of internal code structure, implementation details, and internal paths. It is based on software requirements, specifications applied virtually to every level of software testing, i.e., unit, integration, system, and acceptance.
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Unit Testing
It is done during the initial phase of the software development to check if each unit of software code performs as per expectations. Under this test, individual units or software components are tested. Here a unit can be a single function, method, object, or module.
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System Testing
Under system testing, it tests the software to validate its intended purposes and the platform for which it is developed. It can detect faults in both inter-assemblages and within the entire system.
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Integration Testing
As the name suggests, in this, different software modules are combined logically and then tested in a group. It is carried out after unit testing. The purpose of the test is to find out loopholes or expose defects in the interaction between different modules.
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Acceptance Testing
It is end-user testing to check if the developed software or application meets the client’s expectations or not. It provides a macro-level overview of how the entire software is. It is one of the vital tests for the overall flawless software and helps you keep your reputation clean.
Why Manual Testing?
With the changing trends in the software industry, more software professionals prefer automated testing, but there are still multiple reasons that justify the need for manual testing.
Advantages of Manual Testing
Human Brain for Human Requirements
The human brain is irreplaceable, and no automated testing will replace it so soon. Humans are capable enough to create a valid testing design, foresee defects, and execute the design to get the expected result. It is further not possible to test the user experience and user interface through automated testing. A human eye can spot contextual, visual, usability, and visual bugs, which automation scripts might not be capable enough to bring out into notice.
Automated Tests Contain Errors
Despite all the benefits offered by the automated test, the chances of some underlying errors are still there. The limitation of the automated test, it only tests what it has been written to test. Without human interference, the chances of potential issues remaining untouched get high, which is called error or omission. Under such circumstances, manual testing plays a vital role where even written or non-written scripts get tested.
Variations in Manual Testing
Under normal circumstances, automated testing will not deviate from the defined, tested script. Still, in manual testing, irrespective of the defined scripts, human test cases results vary because of human instincts. This human tendency sometimes helps to discover bugs that were previously unconsidered.
Negative Testing Perspectives
Manual testing is an ideal choice for negative testing. It is a kind of testing where software is tested for unexpected input data and conditions. The purpose of negative testing is to prevent software from crashing because of negative or wrong inputs and to improve the overall software. In the negative test approach, manual testing is the best choice, as human testers can think of wrong inputs and unexpected conditions to check the overall worth of software.
Accessibility Testing
Sometimes people find it inconvenient to access a website in a standard way or difficult to use on devices for several reasons. Accessibility testing is something that can be faultless on human intervenes. Accessibility testing helps to improve accessibility and will benefit many website visitors. Human touch is the best way for accessibility testing.
Not All Domains Prefer Automation
Banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) are some industries that remain the biggest consumers of IT services. Banking applications deal with highly confidential financial data. Thus it becomes necessary to choose manual testing to run smoothly and with no error. It becomes difficult to cover the following thing in banking application with the automation testing:
- The functional aspect of the application;
- Data integrity;
- Banking requirements and workflows;
- Security aspect;
- Concurrency.
Limitations of Manual Software Testing
More Time and Resources
Manual software testing requires more time and resources, as, after all, it is done by humans. Creating all possible cases and then executing them requires more time and effort.
Less Accuracy
Humans do manual testing, which leads to more chances of mistakes and thus less accuracy. Testers may make mistakes, especially in large software, as chances to omit some errors get higher.
GUI Objects Size Difference
Another disadvantage of manual testing is that for humans, it is difficult to find the size difference and color combinations of GUI objects.
Regression Tests
We humans get bored easily with tedious tasks. In the regression tests in which tests are done repeatedly to check if the previously developed and tested software is still performing in the way it should after a change. Repeated tests on the same subject or same components may leave testers furious, and chances to miss the bugs get higher.
Conclusion
Today testing is a vital aspect of software development, every software that has been built needs to go through a rigorous process. Based on the size of the project and the kind of software, you can choose manual or automatic testing. We hope that our article: pros and cons of manual software testing, will help make the right decision about the kind of testing you want to choose for your software development services.
