This question may have already been asked/answered in various places, and in various forms, but this is my problem. I have been in software testing for a few years now, most of this has been manual functional testing. I am in a position now where I am testing large websites for various types of clients, quite a few are transaction sites. I need to get into automation testing as I am a lone tester among a team of 20 developers (I know this is crazy, but there you go!).
I need to start using automation tools to:
- validate code,
- test performance,
- and security.
I know there are many free tools out there but they don't seem to do what I want them to do or have certain limitations. Is there 1 tool out there that is quick and easy to use, is efficient and gives me simple errors that I can raise with the developers to fix?
If this doesn't exist what tools would be best to use that I can run on an entire website in order to supplement the manual testing that I am also doing along side? Obviously free ones would be better, but as long they don't cost a bomb, paid for tools would also be considered if they are worth the money.
I was trying to make it clear without writing an essay, basically it sounds like there is no such one-size-fits-all tool out there so I now need to find the best tools that give the best value for money for:
- code validation (which would include accessibility),
- performance
- and security.
The limitations I have found with the tools I've tried so far are:
- only being able to validate 1 or a few pages at a time,
- not easy to use,
- and not easy to decipher how important a failure is and therefore whether or not I need to stand firm with the developers on getting something fixed or not.
I want tools that are easy to use, efficient, and that simply tell me what I need to know in order to raise valid and important bugs, not wasting developers time raising issues that are either not able to be fixed or not worth fixing. I want to add value to the team, not be a pain by raising every issue under the sun, its just not practical.
These tools I'm after are to supplement the manual testing I'm already doing, as neither can replace the other in my experience. So I need tools that are a few clicks away that can validate an entire website, not just chunks of it.