As some of our social media followers may already know, we’ve just launched an upgraded version of Valido, the visual validation application built for e-commerce. We’re excited with what we can offer to our users with the new release.
In this article, we highlight two key features: Reusability and Flexibility, that have driven our efforts to revamp the back-end design for Valido.
¿Cuáles son las características de una mejor herramienta de prueba visual?
We have to first understand what a visual testing tool does. It captures the current appearance of a website’s current UI (usually via screenshots) and compares them with the baseline/intended visual appearance.
Hence, visual testing looks at historical differences. It confirms that the web page and its elements still render as expected across various browsers/devices, even after modifications to the code.
(If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our introductory article about visual validation in ecommerce and its benefits)
With that being said, we can note down the basic key features of a visual validation tool, which is to:
- take screenshots
- make the comparison with baseline images
- report the differences
- update the baseline as necessary
But surely there’s more to it than just that?
Well, yes!
This is where we get into next-level features of a fully functional visual validation tool.
Being able to specify how you want to visually test a page, for instance. Being able to verify as much or as little as you desire. Being able to check only a specific element, region, or frame, especially for those cases where your test does not need to verify the entire webpage.
Having various test configuration options, along with dashboard monitoring features, are some of the most essential features of visual testing.
Reusability: Making visual testing easier
One of the main goals of our improved back-end for Valido was to introduce reusability.
The Valido visual validation application now allows the creation of a library of elements and pages that you can assemble to create various tests for a particular brand.
Simply put, Valido makes it easier for its users to create and duplicate tests without having to re-enter all the information. They can reuse similar flows, pages or elements in future test configurations of the same brand, hence the term Reusability.
An example: You would like to test a PDP page that displays the product’s estimated delivery date - a variable UI element. With Valido, you can configure the PDP test to ignore that element, and this ensures that the delivery date will always be ignored for any future visual tests on PDP.
In short: Reusability = Making Visual Testing Easy
Flexibility: Room to grow
We have seen significant traction in mobile commerce and IoT.
With new advancements in internet devices, resolutions, operating systems and browsers, it has become vital for visual testing tools to be able to handle the many different scenarios where ecommerce is offered.
The next important goal of the upgraded back-end for Valido: to cater to both the present and future demands of ecommerce visual testing.
Therefore we have removed restrictions from the previous data model, allowing greater flexibility to scale within the application.
Tell me more about Valido and Visual Testing. I’m interested.
Valido’s back-end engine is the driving force behind our ability to offer a great visual testing experience. But we’re not stopping here.
We're continually making Valido more efficient and with greater configuration options, keeping into consideration new e-commerce trends and the future possibilities of visual testing.
Our goal for our customers: to make visual testing in e-commerce as simple & intuitive as riding a bicycle.
Want to know more? Test drive the app? Reach out to us at our contact page or visit our Valido website.