Why is Selenium the most commonly used Test automation tool?

Why is Selenium the most commonly used Test automation tool?
6 min read
09 January 2023

Selenium is a well-known open-source software evaluation tool that works with the majority of browsers and OS systems. The fact that testers may automate in any choice programming language is likely its most well-known feature. Wondering which is the best platform to learn Selenium? Let me introduce you to our Selenium Course where you can earn a Selenium certificate after the best training.

Selenium is an automated test tool that is open-source and has grown in importance in the area of software quality assurance. This Selenium testing tool is made up of a variety of tools with unique functionality, such as Selenium RC, Selenium WebDriver,  Selenium IDE, and Selenium Grid.

Selenium is a developer-friendly, lightweight technology frequently used to automate web applications.

Jason Huggins created test automation using the Selenium WebDriver and Java in 2004. This type of testing may be done on any operating system, including Windows, Ubuntu, and OS X.

Components of Selenium

1-Selenium IDE

It was a rather basic playback and recording utility that Mozilla Firefox users could add to their browsers. The testing of prototypes is done on the platform. The test cases produced here may be exported in a variety of programming languages, including C#, Java, and Ruby. While the information is also available here, debugging and editing are the options. It is an excellent resource for learning Selenium WebDriver for beginners.

Any developer may use this tool to automate test scenarios on the app because it is simple to use. It is mostly used for executing or capturing the instruments that a developer of selenium test cases could need. It is not, however, frequently employed since it is unreliable.

2-RC selenium

It was the initial tool in the Selenium series to be made available. It was called JavaScript and operate on the prior platform. RC was the reason Selenium gained such enormous market traction. In actuality, it had enough support for other programming languages, including Python, Java, Ruby, and others. Additionally, it supports the majority of browser manufacturers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer. These technologies make it simple to automate those JavaScript-supporting browsers.

3-Selenium grid

It is the last part that is frequently utilized for dispersed or parallel testing. It enables enterprises to run a script simultaneously on several machines. The platform has a hub that is in charge of managing the operation of many pieces of equipment and numerous nodes. The true interpretation is made as a result.

The platform is flexible and can handle any operating system with ease. In addition, practically all of the main browser providers are supported by the browser in dependence. The test cases may easily be run in parallel, which makes for quick execution and shorter execution times.

4-WebDriver for Selenium

It is well-acknowledged to be a very handy and much-liked Selenium utility. It was created as a result of the problems that businesses were having with RC. The absence of human operation, unlike other Selenium servers, is fantastic. The code and the browser are in constant conversation.

The Selenium WebDriver's compatibility with all major browser manufacturers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer, is its finest feature. Additionally supported by this suite are Python, Ruby, and Java. With its simple-to-remember ATI, one can easily manage the platform and do the tests. Additionally, the platform's foundation development is fairly simple to comprehend.

Selenium and Test Automation

Selenium is without a doubt the most well-known toolkit for web test automation. It is undisputed that this is popular. The fact that Selenium was used by 54% of respondents in a poll on test automation may be unexpected in and of itself. Selenium is still the primary technology behind many Software-as-a-Service solutions that record and rerun totally in the browser as Selenium alternatives. It takes a little more work to distinguish between usefulness and popularity, and that is what we are aiming for today.

Selenium has evolved over the past 21 years from a technology to run a single browser and run tests to a normal policy for software to communicate with a browser as if it were a living thing, an in-browser tool to record and playback tests, a computational grid to run numerous tests at once, and more. Selenium has evolved into a complete line of items that work together to produce something far more potent. Additionally, it is an open-source project with few, if any, restrictions on usage and contribution. Additionally, frameworks have been constructed on top of the fundamental open-source products by both free software and for-profit businesses; today, our focus is on frameworks.

  • This facilitates early bug detection.
  • Pre-recorded and pre-defined activities make testing simple
  • they also save testing time overall compared to manual testing
  • they facilitate testing
  • Comparing test findings to determine the anticipated behavior becomes simple and straightforward. 
  • On several software iterations, testers might reuse the code. 
  • Any device may be used to conduct testing
  • Results from automated tests are more reliable than those from manual testing and are reusable

Selenium was first created for the purpose of automating functional tests for online applications. Selenium can also be utilized for compatibility testing, particularly when combined with a tool like Sauce Labs because it can run thousands of browsers, operating systems, and screen permutations in the cloud. The Appium project expands the ability to test native Android and iOS applications, making it sort of like a second-cousin project to Selenium. As performance/load testing, Sauce Labs also can record and reuse Selenium functional tests.

Functional testing may not catch updates to the user experience that used to "operate" but now display awkwardly or incorrectly. Yes, Selenium can offer visual testing as a method to detect improper renderings.

Wrapping up

Every prominent open-source development environment, programming language, and test framework have plugins for Selenium, which is open source and vendor-neutral. Additionally, Selenium features a number of frameworks that were created as Selenium-native frameworks from the very beginning.

The most widely used automatic internet browser testing tool is Selenium.

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