A small tool to perform exploratory tests

Exploratory testing methodology keeps growing nowadays.

Those tests allow the free expression of a tester without following a test plan.

To run those tests, there is no need for a specific or complex software.

Here is the presentation of a very simple and efficient Chrome plugin “Exploratory Testing Chrome Extension”

Installation

The plugin is available in the Chrome Store and easy to find with a “Exploratory Testing” search

Then simply click on the extension and on “Add to Chrome”

After the installation the icon

should be displayed at the top right of the browser

Use

After clicking on the button

a menu appears with various options

• Bug
• Note
• Question
• Idea

During your exploratory tests session, just click on one of the menu options to open a field called ‘textarea’ then either click on ‘validate’ or “Maj+Enter” to attach a screenshot either on “Enter” if you just want to record some text.

At the end of the test it is possible to generate an HTML report via the button ‘Report’ containing the details of the test as well as the screenshots or csv export.

Plug-in review

Pros

• Free
• Simply
• Reporting
• Adding screenshots quickly

Cons

• No way to annotate screenshots
• If we begin to add values and change tab (or open another program) the plugin does not keep the data
• No time management
• No rich text support
• Only available with Chrome

In conclusion

Since the tool is easy to use, the user will quickly manage exploratory testing. However because of its limitation to browsers, it doesn’t allow exploratoring testing outside of WEB applications.
Update : 13/08/2016 : An issue blocked the generation of HTML report with special characters. This was resolved. I increase my mark

Marks 8/10