Automated Visual Testing: An Essential Component of Modern Testing
We live in a visual age; people frequently communicate via emojis, the grey cubicles associated with corporate offices have been largely replaced by bold colors and collaborative work stations, and social video platforms like TikTok are experiencing significant growth. There are countless other examples of society’s visual obsession, including our expectation that websites and applications always render perfectly regardless of the device, platform or operating system in use.
In this environment, visual bugs aren’t just a nuisance — they represent a major technological failing with bottom-line impact. Whether it’s an image that doesn’t render properly, inconsistent font size, illegible text or another visual issue, these glitches cause customers to lose confidence in the brand and tarnish the quality of the company’s digital experience.
With digital content changing multiple times a day, traditional manual testing cannot possibly cover all the areas in which visual errors could arise. Trying to build visual testing into functional tests is no solution either, as it could easily lead to thousands of new lines of code to test. So, what’s a modern testing team to do?
The good news is that advances in AI and computer vision enable organizations to automate visual testing. With Eggplant, companies can easily test for a range of visual issues without writing any additional code or adding more testing resources. And because our platform tests on a continuous basis, our automated visual testing capabilities can be utilized in development to ascertain how visual elements will render across various systems.
In addition, Eggplant automatically detects the best settings for your text, eliminating the trial-and-error approach associated with determining font size, color and other visual elements. As a result, companies can ensure that any visual change — whether it’s a simple text update or a major release — is optimized to deliver the best possible customer experience.
Studies have shown that users determine whether or not they like a website in just 50 milliseconds, and 38% of people will stop engaging with a digital property if the content or layout are unattractive. These data points underscore that testing for visual issues is just as imperative as performance, load or regression testing. And in the era of digital transformation, AI-driven automation is the only way to truly guard against visual glitches.
Learn more about Eggplant’s approach and how we can help you put your best (visual) foot forward in today’s image-conscious society.