The Importance of Visual Testing

While it’s clearly important to test the functional elements of your application, some teams will make the mistake of not paying enough attention to visual validation.

Visual testing requires the tester to consider how the application looks in addition to how it works. Often times, the UI of an application can pass a functional test, while design elements that are visually defective can go under the radar.

This becomes important as we look at responsive design and consider the myriad of different devices, browsers, and operating systems. If an application is not built to be responsive, design elements may suffer on different screen sizes.

Visual bugs can be annoying or unpleasant to users, but they can go beyond inconvenience to be more severe. In fact, visual inconsistencies can affect the user journey in a way that makes it difficult or even impossible to complete their intended actions even though the test is functionally proficient.

By using a tool for automated screenshots like CrossBrowserTesting, you can ensure that visual bugs don't slip through to your customers.