Mobile app testing to build a better user experience is a tricky process, especially since there are so many factors to consider. How does the software work on different platforms? What about the look and feel of your web applications across the major browsers? Does the UI translate effectively from computer to smartphone? These questions, and others like them, are often difficult to answer in the testing process without input from your users. The question is — do you keep the testing internally for as long as possible, are there mobile app testing services available, or do you hand it over to the users to use?
As developers, we want to get our product out to the people quickly and see their reactions, but at the same time, we don’t want them to see it until it’s perfect. However, deadlines force us to stop tinkering and start mobile app testing, and most of the time we depend upon our own internal testers to manage that process.
Without a doubt, internal UI mobile app testers or mobile app testing services are faster than users because it’s their job to test. They know exactly what to do, what to look for, and how to communicate errors or problems coherently to the developers. Internal testing is less labor-intensive, and it certainly saves a ton of time.
On the other hand, you need a truly solid team of UI testers, not just a bunch of people hired from Craigslist. People with extensive background in UX testing and experience in software are much more likely to provide you with the information you need to improve your applications, which means less work for your dev team in the long run. Additionally, internal testers need domain knowledge of the software, which is sometimes hard to find in a jack-of-all-trades tester.
With external mobile app testing, you gather a targeted user population to test the UI, choosing the sort of people who would actually use your application. The advantage of this form of UI testing is that you get a better idea of what’s working and not working for your users, with the added benefit of their extensive domain knowledge. However, having users test your software is also much more time-consuming and expensive because you have to find the right people and then keep tabs on them to ensure they’re being thorough.
The kind of UI testing you want to implement really depends on the type of program you’re creating. An industry-specific program, such as ERP software, would probably benefit more from external mobile app testing.
On the other hand, a more generally used software, such as a mobile app, is easily something that internal testers can handle effectively. Or maybe you should try a mixture of the two? Either way, don’t get too caught up in trying to make it perfect. No GUI is; you just have to make sure your users can do what they need to do.
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