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The tests I am doing are on IE8, which is used throughout the company, and doesn't look to be changing any time soon.

After testing both pieces of software with the system, it seemed as though Selenium-RC had better features for the task. E.g. Being able to click on hidden links within sub-menus. While WebDriver seems to be focusing on more modern browsers.

Is it better practise to complete the task with the better fitting software, or use the more modern version that allow the tests to be more future-proof?

Thanks a lot.

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  • In what kind of scenario a user can click hidden links?
    – dzieciou
    Commented Jun 28, 2014 at 7:00
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    Well in real life they wouldn't be able to, it was a work around for me as a few links that need to be bested are within a submenu within a submenu, and I couldn't work out how to access that second submenu in Webdriver. It is probably something which is possible but that I haven't worked out yet. Thanks for the reply!
    – Waq
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 8:55
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    Navigation using deeply nested submenus is known usability problem. So not only webdriver has problem do it: users have problem do it, too :-)
    – Peter M. - stands for Monica
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 12:46

3 Answers 3

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Since Selenium RC is deprecated and you touch on future-proofing, you should choose WebDriver.

  • WebDriver expertise is more valuable to you because it's more transferrable. Yours is a future worth proofing.
  • Over time, WebDriver expertise will only become more common than RC expertise. Subsequent hiring managers in your organization will appreciate this future-proofing.

To answer the actual question:

Is it better practise to complete the task with the better fitting software, or use the more modern version that allow the tests to be more future-proof?

Given that "better fitting" and "future-proof" are equal tradeoffs, it's a better practice to pick the more modern version, under the assumption they benefit your career more. of course YMMV.

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  • Thank you for the response. I am going to try my best to make it work with Webdriver now. And I think you are right, it will definitely add a lot more to my skill set.
    – Waq
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 8:58
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Webdriver is not only more modern. It is future W3C standard.

Being able to click on hidden links seems like a misfeature.

I would use old version only if newer version was seriously lacking important features without which I cannot live.

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  • Thanks for the response, I will start focusing my attention on to trying to make it work with Webdriver now.
    – Waq
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 8:56
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WebDriver is quite more reasonable option anyway.

  • Everything you can automate with Selenium RC, you can do with Selenium WebDriver.

    If you can't perform some action with native methods (like yours "Being able to click on hidden links within sub-menus"), you can achieve the same with executing JavaScript commands from WebDriver.

  • Selenium WebDriver will be W3C standard, so it will be supported by every browser.
    Moreover, it has standardized API that is used by other tools, e.g. Appium or Selendroid. So, for instance, you can execute the same web tests in desktop and mobile browsers; or develop tests for native mobile applications using WebDriver API.

  • WebDriver has better support. Defects are fixed from release to release, new functionality is added. More plugins exist for WebDriver. And WebDriver has much bigger community of users. However, Selenium RC is deprecated - no fixes, no new functions, no support.

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  • Thanks a lot, I tried using action chains to do what I wanted, I will give JavaScript a go now though.
    – Waq
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 8:58

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