There are five different types of software tests at uTest. Let me quickly explain them below.
Functional testing
In functional tests your task will be to make sure the software works as the developers want it to work.
When you press “Save” and the software doesn’t save the user will have a very frustrating experience. On a website, when you navigate to “About Us” you surely don’t want to be redirect to the homepage.
Functional testing is done to ensure the software functions as planned.
Usability testing
Usability tests determine if a software is easy to use.
One thousand different options and small text will be a nightmare for every user. A software aimed at a non-technical audience should not provide descriptions with dozens of technical terms. Colors can also reduce usability, a blue font on a blue background will make text nearly unreadable.
If you want to save your progress in the software, but you can’t find the save button, the developer should consider putting the button in another position.
Usability tests determine if the software is easily usable by its target audience.
Load and performance testing
Have you used a software that took ages too load or crashed all the time?
In such cases, the developers should have paid for load and performance testing before releasing their software.
The testers will try to make the software crash by increasing factors related to loading time and performance. This is mostly done with special software and scripts.
The final report will help developers to fix issues that reduce the performance of the software.
Security testing
It’s the nightmare of every big brand out there. The company website gets hacked, user data gets stolen and this occurrence is on the news, worldwide.
If a software costing hundreds of dollar gets cracked and is spread all over the internet available as a free download, the business could experience massive losses.
Security testers are trying to hack or crack a software. When they are successful, they tell the company how they did it, so the company can close the loophole before a bad guy finds it.
Localization testing
In the globalized world we live in most software is not limited to one country only. Instead, many companies need their software to work in different regions of the world.
There are possible issues here related to translation and culture. Some features of the software may only be available in specific countries while the software is being sold internationally.
Localization testers look for translation, formatting, accessibility errors and other country/culture specific issues.
