Issue 99: New Threads app fails accessibility test
🕒 5 MIN READ | Published on: August 16, 2023This is the Software Testing Notes, a newsletter that goes out every Wednesday. I republish it here for sharing and referencing, but if you'd like to sign up you can do so right here:
Hello there! 👋
Welcome to the 99th edition of Software Testing Notes, a weekly newsletter featuring must-read content on Software Testing. I hope this week has been good for you so far.
Did you know that Threads (an alternative to the popular micro-blogging app Twitter (now X)) had over 100 million users signed up in its first five days?
As people from all walks of life were onboarding to the new social platform, Threads made some impressive claims and users had high expectations. I don’t know about how it performed on others but they seem to have failed in one. That is Accessibility.
Upon Launch, they had claimed “core accessibility features” which we see on Instagram.
The core accessibility features available on Instagram today, such as screen reader support and AI-generated image descriptions, are also enabled on Threads. — Introducing Threads
I was just reading this article by Paul Speller who has carried out a brief accessibility audit of just one page – the main Threads home timeline – on an Android device, against WCAG 2.1 Level AA. And as per Paul’s findings, the claim doesn’t seem to hold.
You can read more about it in New Threads app fails accessibility test.
The detailed accessibility analysis carried out by Paul Speller can be a very useful case-study and a nice template for how you can test and prepare accessibility testing reports.
Now, onto this week’s curated links.
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📚 Testing
Cargo-cult testing by Amit Wertheimer
Are you building a portfolio to showcase your testing skills? Maybe you want it to become your gateway for a good job, or you are just experimenting with different tech. No matter the case, you should checkout this piece by Amit Wertheimer.
Bad reasons to test by Gregory Paciga
Gregory Paciga raises some really important points for what to consider and what questions to ask for performing your testing activities. Reading and answering some of the questions described in the article might help you get better in designing and execution of your tests.
The Very Idea of Test Cases by Jeff Nyman
This is a fascinating read about test cases by Jeff Nyman. There have been lots of ideas and reasons for and against writing test cases. But to what extent? Maybe, the answer lies some ware in between. The way Jeff Nyman visualizes the reasoning behind this using curves and charts is simply amazing.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Software Testing.
⚙️ Automation
Streamlining Test Reporting with Real-Time Dashboards by Irfan Mujagić
Whenever I hear the words “Grafana” and “InfluxDB” in the context of software testing, my mind immediately goes to Performance Testing. Both of these tools are very commonly used for visualizing performance test monitoring. But I never knew you can use them for automated tests too. Thank you Irfan Mujagić for sharing the gem and showing how to use them step by step in the article.
How Cypress Component Testing Was Born by Gleb Bahmutov
Are you doing component testing with Cypress? If Yes, allow me to share this writeup by Gleb Bahmutov who started the quest of component testing in Cypress when he was working at Cypress. Gleb goes into detail about how the idea of component testing was conceived and how it’s going after he left. The article also includes some interesting examples of how component testing works in practice with Cypress.
Image Verification Made Effortless with Python and Selenium UI Automation by Shohanur Rahman
This article Shohanur Rahman is a step-by-step guide demonstrating how to use Selenium with Python to Automatically compare images, Calculate differences and determine matches and how to Compute the percentage difference between actual and expected UI screenshots.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Software Testing Automation.
💨 Performance
Concurrent users vs completed requests | which one to focus on? by Mohamed Tarek
I have seen many people getting confused over no. of concurrent users and the no. of transactions(TPS). Mohamed Tarek has done a great job explaining the use cases for both.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Performance Testing.
🛡️ Security
Time Based Blind SQL Injection on MYSQL : How To Do Manually by Anastasis Vasileiadis
Time Based SQL Injections is an approach in which we inject a SQL segment that contains a specific DBMS function or heavy query that generates a time delay.
Get a deeper understanding of How Time based Blind SQL Injection works and When you might need to test for it in this article by Anastasis Vasileiadis.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Security Testing.
🛠️ Resources & Tools
try — A Shell program that lets you run a command and inspect its effects before changing your live system.
Winded — An online tool to test responsive layouts that lets you view multiple device sizes simultaneously, just enter a URL to test.
ModHeader — A popular, multi-featured browser extension to modify HTTP request and response headers.
Mailpit — A multi-platform email testing tool and API that acts as an SMTP server and provides a web interface to view all captured emails. It also contains an API for automated integration testing.
📝 List of Software Testers
It's hard to find good articles, podcasts on Software Testing. Even hard to find people who create them. Are you also looking for amazing software testers to follow or read their content? check out this page dedicated to software testers.
Do you also create content around Software Testing? Submit yours here and I will add it to the list.
🎁 Bonus Content
📌 OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
- The Real Price of Success
- The mindset you need to succeed at every goal
- Paying Attention to Your Attention Span
⭐ LAST WEEK'S MOST READ
- Why I switched from Cypress to Playwright by Lucy Diaz
- QA Process in Agile Environment by Diksha Gupta
- Exploring Performance Testing: A In-Depth Overview of Types and Techniques by João Coelho
😂 And Finally,
Keep Smiling and have a fun week.
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Thanks to everyone for subscribing and reading!
Happy Testing!
Pritesh(@priteshusdadiya)
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