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How Responsive Web Design Will Change in 2019 and Beyond

January 3, 2019 By Alex McPeak Leave a Comment

For years now, we’ve been aware of the importance of building responsive web applications so that they are visually and functionally sound when accessed on a myriad of devices.

However, while we’ve been used to designing for the standard smartphone, tablet, and desktop screen sizes previously, evolving technologies may challenge what it means to be truly responsive.

As we prepare for the new year, it’s also time to prepare ourselves for the ways that testing, development, and design will change with new innovations. Here are the trends that we see starting to pop-up:

Up-and-Coming Trends in Technology

Foldable Screens – At Samsung’s recent developer conference, they announced Infinity Flex Display, a foldable screen that will allow users to fold a larger 7.3-inch tablet into a smaller phone, and vice-versa. This foldable device is planned for release in 2019, but thinking beyond that, the technology behind Infinity Flex Display creates countless possibilities that will make us reconsider responsive design. While before, you had to look at how a web application might look on one screen size vs another, now developers and designers will have the challenge of making a seamless transition for multiple screen sizes on a single device.
Stretchable Surfaces – While we can expect to see foldable screens in the near future, Samsung, LG, Sony, and other vendors have also discussed stretchable, bendable, and rollable screens. Samsung’s flexible OLED screen is set to be 9.1 inches and will stretch 12 millimeters in either direction, while LG has an 18-inch prototype that can be rolled up like a piece of paper. While these screens might seem like an unnecessary innovation, there’s an added benefit of being more resistant to damage. While stretchable screens will likely be first used for tablets, it has the potential to be used with other devices such as wearables, car displays, TVs, digital readers, and more. This calls into question how web applications will work under circumstances that are not completely 2D.
The Ever-Expanding IoT – As wearables and other IoT technology from cars to smart refrigerators become more common, the companies that make them are simultaneously introducing more ways to expand capabilities. While these gadgets previously work solely with their own native applications, possibilities of allowing browsing on the World Wide Web is coming up more often. In Apple’s 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference, they announced the ability to access web content on your Apple Watch for the first time with watchOS 5. This got everyone talking about what it takes to design for a resolution that’s small enough to sit on our wrists, but we imagine that this is just the start of surfing the web on unconventional screen sizes.
New Notches – With the iPhone X came the inception of the notch. There were mixed emotions, but it certainly didn’t deter people from purchasing the iPhone X, and many other smartphone models followed the lead of Apple once again. Developers and designers were suddenly tasked with creating applications that account for the invasive cut-outs. Now we’re seeing the notch evolve and take on new forms as mobile vendors attempt to find the best placement for the front-facing camera. In fact, the Samsung Infinity series of four phones seem to be entirely identical besides than the notch placement, which changes from a U-shaped middle notch, to a V-shaped middle notch, to an O-shaped cut out on the upper left-hand side, to being notch-less.
Dual Displays – In another attempt to combat design issues that arise from front-facing cameras, some mobile vendors are taking a completely different route to the notch with dual displays. In fact, devices like the Vivo Nex will attempt to avoid front-facing cameras all together by installing a second touch screen and camera on the back of the phone to serve this purpose without interrupting your primary experience. While this might seem excessive lengths to go to just to avoid a notch, versions such as the Nubia X will make sure the back screen is off when your phone is so that the back looks like normal glass. Although we probably won’t see this option explode in the next few years (especially as the Nubia X is only expected for release in China), it does call into question how the dual screens would work in tandem to be properly responsive.
Touch Screens Galore – While touch screens have previously been primarily used for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, this technology has recently been popping up for notebooks and laptops as well. Where mobile QA teams have been tasked with the challenge of validating scrolling, tapping, and swiping actions on smaller screens, we can expect to see an increasing number of devices that will need to be tested in the same way. Testing on real devices has always been a priority for teams to make sure these user actions are accurately replicated, but now this could become a necessity for laptops and desktops as well

Looking Toward the Future

It’s impossible to know which of these trends will take off and which will be short-lived, but by being aware of new inventions and innovations in technology, we can be more prepared to adapt our products for them.

In the meantime, ensure that your web application has a basic foundation of responsiveness when it comes to cross-device compatibility, continuously prioritize web testing across various screen sizes, and keep a lookout for more disruptions that may change the way we think of the future for responsive web design.

Why Your Website Looks So Bad on Internet Explorer

October 2, 2018 By Alex McPeak Leave a Comment

Just the mention of Internet Explorer is sure to bring on a migraine for developers and testers. But why is IE so often the browser we love to hate?

As we know, your web page will have slight differences across browsers because of the different ways they render HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Oftentimes, this is minimal, but it can also lead to more major functional and visual differences that could potentially affect how a user interacts with the web applications, which is why cross-browser testing is so important.

This becomes even more evident with Internet Explorer where those differences are often more obvious. The problem is that despite all of IE’s issues, it continues to hold a share of the browser market, which is why developers and testers have to keep it in mind when building out and releasing a website.

So why is Internet Explorer so problematic, and if so, why do people use it all? Let’s take a look back at some browser history to get a better understanding of where the issues first started.

Blast to the Past

In the early years of the web, Netscape, which was largely considered the first major internet browser, ran the show. It didn’t have much competition until Microsoft came out with Internet Explorer in 1995.

This was the first time there was real competition between two browsers a.ka. the browser wars. Not only was Internet Explorer free and automatically installed on Windows, Microsoft’s advantageous financial situation allowed them to continue implementing new capabilities, such as scripting support and the first CSS implementation.

This helped IE inch ahead in the race against Netscape, and in 2003, Internet Explorer became the most popular web browser, captivating about 96 percent of the market share.

However, we know the browser wars don’t end there. Following Internet Explorer’s takeover, Opera made its way into the picture. Then Safari, Firefox, and Chrome.

Where the problem truly lies, however, is that Microsoft didn’t abide by the guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which gives specific HTML and DOM specifications for browsers to follow, and decided to make their own decisions when it comes to features and plugins.

So while every other browser was following certain rules and regulations, Internet Explorer was a wild card. With users split between those newer, W3C compliant browsers and the non-compliant Internet Explorer, developers were attempting to write standards-compliant applications and running into issues when it came to IE.

Meanwhile, Internet Explorer had already grown a large user base and used competitive advertising to drive users away from other browsers. While new browsers created competition for IE, some people stayed with the browser because it was the default on Windows and they were already using it.

User interest began to noticeably wane when IE stopped releasing new developments and updates. New browsers focused on speed, security, and, to developers’ delight, standards compliance. They released regular updates for continuous improvement, and by the time Internet Explorer tried to catch up, they were already too far behind.

Microsoft hadn’t updated IE6 for 10 years, and as Android and iOS mobile operating systems emerged, Internet Explorer was not compatible.

Not to mention, Internet Explorer was brimming with security issues, criticized for using third-party technology, suffered from a lack of development tools for debugging, was slow to update, experienced slow performance, and was crawling with software bugs.

Eventually, in 2015, Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer and replaced it with Microsoft Edge as the default Windows browser.

Back to the Future

Over time, Internet Explorer has made great strides in some of the areas they have been most widely scrutinized for by users. However, because so much of the underlying code still does not follow the W3C guidelines, it still remains a problematic browser for developers and testers.

As new versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are continuously released, it’s important that we test web applications in those newest versions as well as previous versions. Though Internet Explorer is defunct, it’s still important for us to test on versions of Internet Explorer since it retains a user base.

Moreover, because of the fact that it is non-compliant, it remains a problematic browser, which means that it’s less likely to render your website the way you intended it to look and work, and more likely to crash it. This makes it high-risk, and savvy software professionals know the importance of including it in browser testing. In fact, our customers’ second most commonly tested desktop browser is IE 11, and many of our customers go back to IE 9 or further.

Of course, there are other methods for deciding which browsers to test and if Internet Explorer is one of them. But one thing is to be expected — looking at your website in Internet Explorer for the first time may make you doubt your design and development skills — just know you’re not alone. And make sure to check your website in IE from time to time.

Killing 1500 Tests with One Stone

September 18, 2017 By Mike Lyles Leave a Comment

I know… you’re sitting here, starting to read this, and you’re thinking of the ten other things you need to do today. You’re asking yourself if you should even be reading this at all. Whether it’s a responsibility at work, something you need to do at home, taking time to exercise, or simply sitting down to eat a meal, there are probably numerous other obligations demanding your attention right now.

We live in a world where everyone is burdened with endless responsibilities. We allow task after task to be added to our list, and we struggle to prioritize which to do first and which will follow. And many times, we realize that we don’t have time to do everything that needs to be done.

So, what do we do? Some people review their ‘to-do list’ and figure out what is the easiest thing on the list. This gives them some satisfaction that at least something has been done for the day. Others take things on priority. They focus on the highest priority items and put their effort into them. Either way, we are all faced with the struggle of completing everything on our to-do list before time is up.

If you’re seriously overbooked, you may attempt to multi-task. Many believe that they can accomplish more if they double, triple, or quadruple the things they are doing at once so that they can get more done in a shorter amount of time. This is a fantasy.

An article in Psychology Today states that multi-tasking is a misnomer and that the term should be called “task-switching”. This is because the human brain can only do one task at a time productively. Instead of truly combining tasks at one time, we are “switching” from one task to the other. This task-switching process requires a lot of effort to accomplish, and studies have shown that it can reduce a person’s productivity by 40 percent.

As you read this, you may be saying to yourself “That’s not the case with me. I’m not the same as everyone else. I’m a pro at multi-tasking”. There is a slight possibility that you are one of the rare people that are called “supertaskers”. An article in The New Yorker speaks to research by David Strayer, in which he found that approximately 2 percent of those studied attempting to multi-task could be productive at 100 percent. Chances are, you and I are not supertaskers.

In software testing, we are constantly faced with the need to multi-task. Whether the timelines are short, or we’re simply attempting to complete multiple testing tasks at the same time, we find ourselves trying to do more than one thing simultaneously. With software teams shifting to development methods such as Agile and Continuous Integration to increase productivity, testers often feel the need to double their workload in order to meet the needs of their peers in development. Not to mention, with more browser-based products, and more types of mobile devices being introduced into the technical world, we see a growing need to ensure that each browser and device used by the end users will work the same for everyone.

While responsive web design helps to ensure that the product is visibly functional on all devices and browsers, it does not solve for reducing time spent going through each one of them. Automation in testing has provided the ability to conduct “checking tasks” which do not require a human to sit and execute each test. This has proven supportive to test teams which need to perform checking in regression or other repeatable tasks. Automated testing gives the tester time to focus on the hands-on testing of the application, evaluate the product, and explore the functionality. With the number of browsers and mobile devices increasing every day, there begs a need for the ability to test all “X” of the possibilities without a time requirement of “X multiplied by the testing time” for one browser or device. For example, if you have a script that takes one hour to run and you need to test on ten different browsers, that’s ten hours just to check one test case. Figuring you have multiple scripts to execute, manually testing them all would be hours and hours of valuable time every week.

With the number of browsers and mobile devices increasing every day, there begs a need for the ability to test all “X” of the possibilities without a time requirement of “X multiplied by the testing time” for one browser or device. For example, if you have a script that takes one hour to run and you need to test on ten different browsers, that’s ten hours just to check one test case. Figuring you have multiple scripts to execute, manually testing them all would be hours and hours of valuable time every week.

How can testers accomplish this, and how can they do this while respecting a deadline without getting sloppy? One way is with cross-browser testing. Cross-browser testing enables a test scenario to be executed repeatedly across multiple browsers and devices without the need for the tester to process these one by one. Once you have defined how your tests will be executed and you have developed the steps to move through one scenario, you can leverage cross-browser testing to complete the testing for other browsers or devices.

With CrossBrowserTesting, testers can leverage the platform to run parallel automated tests, compare browser screenshots, and remotely debug on 1500+ real desktop and mobile browsers. The need for organizations to own every browser and mobile device is simply covered by the CrossBrowserTesting software. Manual and automated tests can be executed in parallel, and testers can leverage the platform so that, while the tests are running, they can focus on the other testing for their product. Removing the need to multi-task ensures productivity continues to soar high for testers, while ensuring that all of the testing is completed in the timeframe given.

If you’re facing the challenge of short testing windows, or the need to ensure your product works on multiple browsers and devices, you should consider evaluating a cross-browser testing tool like CrossBrowserTesting to understand the many ways that it can help you and your test team to be more productive.

Let CrossBrowserTesting be your “supertasker” while you focus on the other tasks that you must complete for testing your product. The more time you have that you can focus on each task one by one, the more productive you will be in testing.

About the Author: Mike Lyles is a QA Director with over 20 years of IT experience in multiple organizations, including Fortune 50 companies. He has exposure in various IT leadership roles: software development, program management office, and software testing. He has led various teams within testing organizations: functional testing, test environments, software configuration management, test data management, performance testing, test automation, and service virtualization.

Mike has been an international keynote speaker at multiple conferences and events and is regularly published in testing publications and magazines. Mike’s passion to help others improve and grow, in the field of testing, leadership, and management, is his key motivation. His first published motivational book will be released this year.

You can learn more about Mike at www.MikeWLyles.com where you can also find his social media links and connect with him there also. You can find more on his upcoming book at www.TheDriveThruBook.com.