Manual testing is a procedure performed by human testers to verify the performance and functions of software, application or any other type of software product.
Manual testing is different from automated testing because it requires active verification by a human tester. It’s not simply handing over automated tests to a machine and letting it run. Test that verify the user experience, look and feel; test that checks for logical errors or failure in functionality; test that evaluates performance, load time and stability of the software etc.
How much manual testing you should do depends on your risk level and how much time you can invest in testing.
You should always do as much manual testing as possible before releasing software. It reduces the risk of releasing sub-standard software which is prone to bugs, glitches or crashes for users.
What is Software Testing?
Software testing is the process of executing a program or application with the intention of finding and reporting the defects in that particular software.
Testing is done manually or with the help of automation to check for errors, bugs or other defects in the software. It’s also used to evaluate the quality of the software and to determine if it is fit for purpose.
There are many types of testing that can be performed on software and a tester will use a combination of these methods to ensure the software is fully tested.
Manual testing is one of the main types of software testing and involves executing a program by hand and recording the actions that are performed. Testers may also type the actions out word-for-word as they proceed through the application.
Why Should You Use Manual Testing?
Manual testing is a more hands-on approach to finding bugs that are hard to detect with automated testing. As such, it will be particularly useful for testing for any of the following: – User experience:
You need to verify that your software works as expected, including whether features are easy to use and whether the interface is intuitive. – Look and feel: This refers to the general design of your application and how it appears to the user.
This also includes making sure that the graphics, images and content (such as text) are correct. – Logical errors or failure in functionality:
You need to verify that your software is functioning correctly. For example, you can test whether the correct information appears on the screen and whether data is being saved properly.
How to Perform Manual Software Testing?
There are a few things you need to do to get started with manual software testing. – Define your testing strategy: You should first define your testing strategy and decide which type of testing you want to do.
Depending on the project and features of the software, you can choose to test for certain aspects of the software. – Identify the risks:
You should first identify the risks and prioritize them. This will help you decide what to test and what aspects of the software you should focus on. A risk might be something like incorrect formatting in a table or incorrect calculations or data in a spreadsheet. – Create a test plan:
Once you have identified the risks, you should create a test plan. Your test plan should include the features or aspects of the software that you want to test. This will help you to identify the different test cases that you need to run. – Execute the tests: Once you have created your test plan, it’s time to actually begin running the tests. Make sure that you follow the test plan as closely as possible and don’t deviate from it.
Advantages of Manual Testing
There are several advantages of manual software testing. Here are some of them. – Hands-on testing: Manual testing is more hands-on than automated testing because it involves actually interacting with the software.
This allows testers to check things that are difficult to detect during automated testing. – Discover hidden defects: Automated testing is great for finding defects but it’s not as thorough as manual testing.
Manual testing can find defects that automated testing may miss. – Higher coverage: Manual testing can achieve a higher coverage than automated testing.
This means that manual testing can cover more parts of the application than automated testing. – Time-consuming: Manual testing takes a lot longer than automated testing. This means that you can run automated tests much more often than manual tests. However, manual tests can also uncover issues that automated tests miss.
Disadvantages of Manual Testing
Manual testing is a very useful approach to testing software but it does have some disadvantages. Here are some of them. – Increased testing time: Manual testing takes a lot more time than automated testing.
This means that you can only run manual tests less often than automated tests. – Requires more effort: Manual testing is more hands-on than automated testing and requires more effort on the part of the testers. –
Can lead to careless mistakes: Because manual testing is more hands-on, it can lead to careless mistakes. Automated testing is less likely to result in careless mistakes. – Can cause false negatives:
Manual testing is less thorough than automated testing. This means that manual testing may fail to detect defects that automated testing would have caught. False negatives can cause issues for your users.
Key Takeaway
Manual testing is a very useful approach to testing software. It can help you to find defects that are difficult to detect during automated testing. However, manual testing takes much more time than automated testing. Manual testing requires more effort on the part of the testers. Additionally, manual testing can result in careless mistakes and cause false negatives.
