GUI Testing - "Most Common Bug Patterns" - Part -1

Being a long timer Web developer and thereafter Web Tester i think it has been long due that i start recollecting my experience and share it here for the entire community to leverage / synergize and take a note of for future. I have just finished collating a few so thought of penning at these early hours of Sunday morning (BTW its 05:18 AM) and haen't taken the nap yet whole night. Well i believe Make hay when sun Shines...so weekends are for me and me alone.

Ok enuf...back to business...The moment we think portal / website, the first few things come to mind are the - Promptness,Lesser the number of mouse clicks better the site,Ease of navigation, less text and not to crumpled Home page.

Well to further my thought process here are some of the bug patterns in standard GUI Implementations:

- In case of combo box, we should check the functionality of arrow keys. Most of the time, we checked up / down keys, we should check right / left keys also.
- Bit map should be provided for all the tool buttons.
- CTRL+ shortcut for the various options doesn’t work consistently.
- If two / three dialog boxes are opened at the same time, then the dialog boxes shouldn’t overlap one another. They should cascade.
- CTRL+tab key should result in to flipping among the open windows.
- Arrow keys should also be mapped with spin control buttons.
- Whenever there is some activity going on, some way of notification to the user should be there. It may be Hourglass mouse pointer, display on status bar, an animated GIF, or use of a progress bar. The point is that the user should be aware that something is going on in background.
- Menus should follow the standard conventions, e.g. “About” submenu should be under Help menu and so on.
- Tool tips should be displayed for all the tool buttons.
- Floating toolbars should not be another task bar window, but should be positioned inside the GUI window.
- Any additional user created toolbars or menus should not distort the GUI.
- Change in Font should reflect at all intended places. Also, the views should not get distorted.
- Tiling and Cascading should be tested thoroughly along with Minimize and maximize options. Windows should not get lost at any point of time.
- Check box should get checked/unchecked with SPACE bar, when in focus.
- Option buttons should get set/reset with SPACE bar, when in focus.
- Whenever a “Select ALL” facility is given, a “Clear All” should be provided and vice versa.
- All the Control buttons and Menu bars that launch another dialog should have three trailing DOTs (…) in the name. E.g. Browse…


Whoo hoo...this has come out good. I will put more pressure on my "medula oblongata" and try to make this a series. to complete most of the critical GUI components.

Should we not say this...GUI Testing Bug Patterns - Part 1.

Have a good one...

~ Manav Ahuja