Reasons to Reuse Test Cases & What is a Standard Test in Web Testing?

This is the fourth article in the series of our articles about test cases. In this article, we will throw light on Reasons to Reuse Test Cases & What is a Standard Test in Web Testing?

Reasons to Reuse Test Cases

Following are a few reasons to reuse test cases:

1. Most functional areas of a website are login, registration, add to cart, wish list, checkout, shipping options, payment options, product page content, recently viewed, relevant products, promo code facilities, etc.

2. Most of the projects are just enhancements or changes to the existing functionality.

3. Content management systems that define the slots for image uploads with static and dynamic ways are also common for all websites.

4. Retail websites have CSR (Customer Service) system too.

5. The concept of cookies, timeout, and security are common too.

6. Web-based projects are frequently prone to requirement changes.

7. The types of testing needed are common, like browser compatibility testing, performance testing, and security testing.

There is plenty that is common and similar. Reusability is the way to go. At times the changes themselves may or may not take more or less time. Sometimes one may feel it is better to start from scratch than to modify so much.

This can be easily handled by creating a set of standard test cases for each of the common functionality.

What is a Standard Test in Web Testing?

1. Create test cases that are complete in all respects like steps, test data, variables, etc. This will ensure that the divergent data or variable can simply be changed when a similar test case is required.

2. The entrance and exit criteria should be well-defined.

3. The modifiable steps or the statement in the steps should be highlighted in a different color for quick find and replace.

4. The language used for the standard test case creation should be general.

5. All the features and areas of each website should be covered in the test cases.

6. The name of the test cases should be the name of the functionality or the feature that the test case is covering. This will make the finding of the test case from the test case repository much easier.

7. If there is any basic or standard sample or screenshot of the feature, then it should be attached with the relevant steps.

By using the above guidelines, you can create a set of standard test cases and use them with slight or required modifications for different websites.

These standard test cases can be automated too, but once again, focusing on reusability is always a plus. Also, if automation is based on a GUI, reusing the test scripts across multiple URLs or sites is something I never found effective.

Using a standard set of manual test cases for different websites with minor modifications is the best way to carry a website testing. All we need is to create and maintain the test cases with proper standards and use.

Hope you would have gained a good idea about Reasons to Reuse Test Cases & What is a Standard Test in Web Testing?. Check out our series of articles to know more about test cases and share your views in the comments!