5 misconceptions of Selenium for Automation testing

Selenium is undoubtedly the most prominent and reliable framework for Automation testing. But there have been a lot of myths and misconceptions about Selenium and how it works. These misconceptions can be taught at online Selenium training courses. But here are 5 of the notable misconceptions of Selenium for Automation testing.

1.Selenium testing compromises Security as it is an open-source framework.

Data breaches and cyber-attacks have been a major issue that has increased dramatically in recent years. But the truth is that it is expected given the number of learned hackers with security flaws and vulnerabilities in everything from IoT (Internet of Things) to web applications. It is generally believed that no free and open-sourced framework can provide good security but this can not be said about Selenium.

Selenium is sponsored by the reliable Apache Software Foundation providing it with an integrated suite of tools and frameworks which enables teams to perform both automated and manual tests, thereby guaranteeing the security of all the critical systems, data in transit, and every crucial information. 

QA testers also have this misconception that Selenium testing is flaky and tremendously slow. This is false because they have not been able to harness the full power of Selenium. To do this, QA teams should be able to enhance their efficiency to develop software of the best quality. The Selenium tool can be used by QA teams to execute automated tests smartly and professionally without having to worry about any security vulnerabilities. 

So as a QA tester, it is advisable that you get rid of unjustified misconceptions about Selenium. By doing so, you can harness the full potential of an open-sourced and effective framework for automated testing thereby translating to lower costs, better outcomes and ultimately superior software development. This condition is an important factor to ensure comprehensive automated testing. Another notable element for this purpose is testing on diverse platforms and actual devices. 

2.Selenium Testing is expensive 

You generally pay less when you test software during software development procedures, and you pay more later to mitigate the issues found after the software is developed. This might be true but one thing is definitely true – testing in the wrong phase of software development (or not testing at all) can affect the total financial budget especially if part of the product has to be rebuilt after the finishing stage. Therefore, software companies must devise a means to tackle this complication, and the best way to do it is by starting tests from the beginning stages. 

This will not only help to reduce cost but also minimize the time of growth. Consider the fact that minimizing the budget by not doing a QA test will affect and reduce the worth of the final product thereby increasing costs in the latter stages.

3.Software Developers should not care about Selenium Testing

This is one of the most common misconceptions that software testers have about Selenium. They believe that software developers have nothing to do with software tests. But the fact is that developers can actually provide insights on automated tests as they have a rich understanding of the app functionality and the outcome of any modifications they are making. Even though the team involved in automated testing knows a little about coding and programming, they cannot fully understand the development procedures as well as the app design. Most of the time, they carry out automated tests without fully knowing the code. 

In this case, it is vital that both teams have a good partnership as this will ensure the success of the development. Also, software developers can not only access the end-user requirements because of their deep understanding, but they can provide essential details to the software testers with the aim of improving their outcomes and performance. Both software developers and software testers assess the test phase from their point of view, which means they both play an important role in the testing phase.

4.Selenium has abundant limitations because it is a free tool.

People generally believe that a product with better features comes with more costs. In the same vein, many QA engineers and software developers believe that paid tools are better than open-source software like Selenium, but this is false.

Selenium is a free automating testing framework consisting of a large community of contributors who keep their projects up to date. As a software engineer, you will not face any trouble trying to use Selenium to find solutions using forums like Stack Overflow, and Selenium Slack Community, amongst others. Selenium also has the support of the firm community of contributors sharing their projects all over the world.  QA testers can provide any aid and required features from these communities. 

5.Selenium is not compatible with big enterprises.

Even though individual developers and enterprises are trying out the recent automated testing tools, Selenium is still the favorite framework for web automated tests at big enterprises. Many QA engineers believe that Selenium is not suited for big enterprises because it is a free tool, but this is completely false. Selenium is a very powerful solution to big enterprise problems. It can be used for business-critical apps like large-scale e-commerce sites, and government websites, amongst others. It is even integrated into the most demanding automated projects at some of the world’s first e-commerce, cloud computing, and Saas companies like Netflix, Yahoo, Bloomberg, Twitter, eBay, and The New York Times, amongst others. 
These misconceptions are popular amongst QA testers, engineers, and software developers; but you would be familiar with them if you register for a trusted online Selenium certification course.