A Complete Guide to Responsive Web Design Testing

In today’s age, the use of mobile devices to access the internet has developed and become quite popular. Almost every internet user wants a mobile version of the website.

However, most websites are not as optimized as they should be for mobile devices. The testers should implement a mobile responsive test on responsive designs. 

Traditional software products perform essentially the same on any device. Microsoft Office, for example, looks the same on each personal computer. Imagine taking Microsoft Word exactly as it appears on your desktop, and seeing it on an iPhone11. Either the menus and buttons will appear tiny, or else you’ll only detect a corner of the screen, and need to use large scrollbars. Either way, the application becomes quite unusable.

This frustrating experience is specifically what every designer goes through when they attempt to design for the web.

The fix for the dilemma is something called “responsive design”, a method to have web pages ask the browser what the resolution is, then gracefully re-design the user experience based on the available screen real estate. Suddenly, it is difficult to know exactly how your software will see in production.

That implies a test strategy (and an automation strategy) that requires to be capable of experimenting and discovering what “looks right”, and what doesn’t, at various resolutions.

What is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web Design targets websites to respond to their device, resolution, and be able to render and adapt perfectly. For example, if the user changes from desktop/ laptop to iPad, then the website should automatically adjust the resolution changes like image size, etc. as per the respective device capabilities.

In brief, Responsive Design is “One website for every screen”.

In Responsive Web Design, a website is intended to give a superior user experience through easy navigation, a clear and simple user interface, etc. Responsive websites adjust easily and operate in all resolutions, browsers, screen sizes, hardware, and Operating Systems.

Advantages of Responsive Design:

1) User Experience: Based on the device from which we access a Responsive Website, it hides the unique elements and helps the users accomplish their goals faster. For example: if we open a Responsive Website from mobile then it hides the unnecessary elements and speeds up the loading of web pages.

2) Sharing or Linking: For a Responsive Website, only one URL is used for various devices. As only a single URL is gathering all the data and information from various devices, it provides a better UX for users.

3) Little or minimum maintenance is needed for a Responsive Website

4) Responsive Website layouts are fluid.

3 Responsive Testing Mistakes to Avoid

Building responsive websites and putting them through rigorous testing will eventually equal satisfied users. Yet Responsive Web Design testing is rife with potential pitfalls. Here are 3 mistakes DevTest teams should avoid when acting on responsive websites.

1. Forgetting Mobile Devices Aren’t All the Same Size

Developers base their Responsive Web Design layouts on breakpoints (the points at which a site is not presenting information correctly on the screen). There’s a design for a phone, one for a tablet, and one for a desktop.

Developers will sometimes use one plan for all smartphones, but that can be costly. Using the same Responsive Web Design plan for, say, iPhone 4 and iPhone 6+ will cause website content to present incorrectly.

When you’re designing your responsive website for a smartphone, always think of the smallest screen size in a size range. If your breakpoints select Layout A between the width of 250 pixels and 450 pixels, ensure to test on the smaller end of the range because images manage to get misaligned on smaller screens.

2. Not Testing on Real Mobile Devices

Mobile devices come with different screen sizes and resolutions. They are up against switching networks, phone call breaks, and heavy user load. All these circumstances will affect how your website appears on the screen.

First and foremost, determine the most important devices for your company to test on. And then, for the goals listed above, test on the actual devices, either manually or through test automation.

While emulators are great for basic manual testing, they do not copy the true web user experience on a real smartphone. They need the hardware modifications that affect the viewport size and hence the visual correctness of the site.

3. Relying Solely on Functional Testing

Functional tests verify that website features work according to the code. But these tests do not confirm that buttons and links are aligned precisely on all browsers and devices.

If you run a Selenium test to click on various links and buttons on a page, the test would say everything works. But in fact, the buttons and links are misaligned. This is hard to validate with Selenium alone.

You need to verify the website appears perfectly on all browsers and devices with visual tests that confirm everything that’s visible to the user.

 How to Make a Responsive Website Testing Plan

Getting Responsive Web Design right needs a comprehensive, organized plan. Here’s what to incorporate in your responsive website testing plan.

1. Ensure the Responsive Web Design Site Looks Right

Assure that visually the Responsive Web Design site seems “right” on all platforms. 

• In any screen size/resolution and viewport
• When switching orientation from landscape to portrait.

2. Test Client-Side Performance

Perform client-side performance testing that ensures load time and responsiveness are well-optimized over all platforms. Sites are very heavy on objects and resources. Loading them on different devices and browsers needs to account for these resources size and load times.

3. Test Navigation

Navigation testing is a key element for site adoption, engagement, and UX. Ensure that all transactions can be easily done and navigated over all screen sizes, platforms, and in the various viewports.

4. Test For User Conditions

Testing for real user circumstances is another key to success. The end-users are consistently transitioning among platforms and screens. Their working situations that include network, alerts, and pop-ups on mobile and other “noises” may affect the Responsive Web Design quality.

Ensure to test for these real-life environmental conditions. Google Chrome developer tools can give network HAR files, performance metrics, and other insights. These will assist you to address these kinds of tests in addition to different load testing solutions.

5. Test Accessibility

Accessibility testing is not just a “nice to have” element. It is a compliance requirement that requires to be well tested and asked for both mobile and desktop web.

There are devices like Wave, as well as built-in browsers tools in Google Chrome browsers that can audit your site and offer suggestions for fixing non-compliance issues related to accessibility.

Also Read: Compatibility Testing: Why Is It Critical For Your Application’s Success?

All In All

Responsive web design plays a huge role in assuring that your users get a seamless user experience despite the device being used. Testing a responsive design is very challenging. However, you must pick the most effective way to tackle them. A successful future of a mobile application depends broadly on its responsive design testing. Proper and successful responsive design testing can contribute in a big way to meet up to your expectations of placing your site up.

At TestUnity, we strive for the highest quality in every project, and our professional QA specialists are ready to ensure it. Contact us if you’re looking for a dedicated team to enhance your product’s quality.

TestUnity

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