Understanding Compatibility Testing | What Is Compatibility Testing ?
What is Compatibility?
Compatibility refers back to the capacity of different elements to exist or perform collectively harmoniously. For instance, in regular life, oil and water are incompatible, whereas milk can without problems mixture with water.
What is Compatibility Testing?
Compatibility Testing is a form of software checking out that assesses whether or not a software program application can characteristic efficaciously across diverse hardware, running systems, applications, network environments, or cell devices.
Compatibility testing on the other hand is a form of software testing particularly applied to determine the compatibility of an application or system in other environment, platform, device and or configuration. This testing is concerned with proving that the software runs well on different hardware, operating systems, network conditions, and other software applications, hence giving the users a homogenous experience.
Key Aspects of Compatibility Testing:
- Platform Compatibility: Makes confident that the application start and run in different operating system such as Window, MAC OS X, Linux and different version of these operating system.
- Browser Compatibility: Ensures that web applications work properly in all the available web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge and their latest versions.
- Device Compatibility: Examines how the application works in different devices; desktop, laptop, tablets, smartphones and in varying screen sizes and DPI.
- Network Compatibility: It helps the application to act optimally in a network scenario of different speeds, delay and the kind of network used (Wired, Wireless etc)
- Software Compatibility: Ensures that the application is properly integrated with other applications, for instance, database tools, middle ware, third party tools or plugins.
- Hardware Compatibility: Confirms a proper work of the application regardless of the used hardware, including processors, memories, storages, peripheral devices, etc.
Importance of Compatibility Testing:
- Enhanced User Experience: Guarantees that the users are not affected by the interfaces they use in terms of functional and non-functional quality characteristics regardless of the platform, device, or environment they utilize at the time of interacting with the system.
- Increased Market Reach: When the application is compatible with the multiple environments means more people can utilize it because they have various devices and operating systems.
- Reduced Support Costs: It is realized through Compatibility testing that shows which problems could occur in the near future if the application is released; thus, it is possible to eliminate them beforehand, avoiding that the application will be the cause of numerous support requests and customers complaints.
- Brand Reputation: Smooth running of the application across different platforms also plays a major role in building users’ confidence on the brand.
- Compliance with Standards: There are some industries that have laid down rules and regulations of how an application should be developed to fit certain environments and devices. This is done to adhere to the above standards through compatibility testing.
Types of Compatibility Tests:
- Backward Compatibility Testing: Confirms the compatibility of the evolved software program with older variations of hardware or software.
- Forward Compatibility Testing: Validates the compatibility of the software with newer versions of hardware or software program.
- Cross-Browser Testing: It involves running the web application through various browser types and even the versions to check for style and operational conformity.
- Cross-Platform Testing: Ensures that the application is compatible with the various operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and different mobile operating systems.
Advantages of Compatibility Testing:
Enhanced User Experience:
- Consistency: It results to happy users as there is continuity as people move from one platform, device or browser to another.
- Accessibility: Update 4: Ensures the application has the flexibility of being used with different devices and operating systems.
Increased Market Reach:
- Diverse Platforms: Through such a design, it is easier to get a calar user base since the application is compatible with several platforms and devices.
- Global Accessibility: Making sure that it is possible to use the application all over the word by taking into consideration all such regional differences in the types of devices and operating systems.
Reduced Support Costs:
- Prevention: Probably solves potential compatibility problems before the release of a particular software, the occurrence of support tickets and complains from users, shall be less.
- Efficiency: Reduce the amount of time and effort need for post-release troubleshooting and fixing of bugs.
Improved Product Quality:
- Reliability: It helps to provide an effective and stable performance of the application in all the executing environments for the better performance.
- Robustness: Contributes in finding marginal cases and restrictions of the environment in which it is implemented, thus improving the product.
Brand Reputation:
- Trust: Sustaining good performances over the different contexts assures users and can help boost the brand image.
- Professionalism: How ensures the quality of the firm and satisfaction of the users of its products or services.
Competitive Advantage:
- User Retention: When users would be able to have a consistent experience when going from one platform to another, there are high chances that they are going to stay whenever they would be using those platforms.
- Market Position: Secures the possibility that the application is aligned with the existing market standards and it fits user expectations regarding compatibility.
Compliance with Standards:
- Regulatory Compliance: It is useful in an organization in maintaining the industry set standards as well as meeting the set legal standards hence very important in specific industries.
- Industry Best Practices: This would allow for the compliance with the right standards in development and implementation of the software.
Future-Proofing:
- Backward and Forward Compatibility: Keeps the application fully usable in both older versions of the platform, and also prevents from compatibility issues that may appear in future versions of the platforms.
- Technology Adaptation: Least favors it because makes it easier to implement new technologies and platforms that may come in the future.
Cost Efficiency:
- Long-Term Savings: One can be convinced that harmonisation costs should be ideally addressed at the beginning of the process because avoiding further alterations will be less expensive.
- Resource Optimization: Savvy at the management of development and testing resources provided great early identification of issues.
Improved Development Process:
- Feedback Loop: Gives feedback to developers pertaining to the issues of the environment and thus comes in handy in improving code quality as well as practices.
- Integration with CI/CD: Compatibility testing can thus be done with CI/CD streams in a bid to continue testing compatibility at every stage of development.
Tools for Compatibility Testing:
- BrowserStack: A web-hosted solution for functional and cross-browser and cross-OS and cross-Device testing of the web application.
- Sauce Labs: Offers an all-in-one testing environment for both, automated testing, and manual testing for various browsers and gadgets.
- CrossBrowserTesting: Allows testing in all the browsers, operating systems, and mobile devices and through manual testing as well as script testing.
- Perfecto: An application testing service that allows developers to test Web and mobile applications on cloud-driven real-users’ like devices.
- LambdaTest: Offers cross-browser testing as a service and runs on cloud which is compatible with many browsers and OS.
How to Perform Compatibility Testing:
Performing compatibility testing comprises of the following steps since it aims at checking the efficiency of an application in different environments, platforms and devices. Here's a detailed guide on how to perform compatibility testing:
Define the Scope and Requirements:
- Identify Target Platforms: Decide on which operating systems (OS) to include — Windows, macOS, Linux — browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge — which devices — desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones and which network environment.
- Specify Versions: This is likely to involve choosing the kinds of operating systems, browsers and devices that are to be included in the test suite both for current and outdated ones.
- Environment Setup: It is also important to design a cross matrix of the various platform, browser, and device that has to be tested.
Set Up the Test Environment:
- Physical Devices: Assemble the physical devices if the real hardware are to be used in testing. This can include, bare metal desktops, laptops, tablets and smart phones classified under laptops.
- Virtual Machines and Emulators: Physical devices should be replaced with VMs and emulators to imitate the variety of OS and devices. Some of the software that can be used includes; Virtual box by Oracle, VMware, and the Android studio.
- Cloud-Based Solutions: Instead of using physical devices, one can use cloud testing tools such as BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, and LambdaTest, by which a tester gets easy access without physical devices to various environments.
Develop Test Cases:
- Functionality Testing: Develop test cases that can are created for testing CRUD operations of the application in different environment situations. Check that all the features are in operation in each of the archetypes.
- User Interface (UI) Testing: Create test scenarios that would validate the application’s appearance and its positioning in the different size screens and screen resolutions.
- Performance Testing: It is also good to incorporate test cases that are aimed at checking various features of the application, instance load time, and response in different facilities.
Execute the Tests:
- Manual Testing: Run the test cases with the browser functional testing tools to check for any compatibility issues on different devices. It can prove very useful for UI and UX testing in particular.
- Automated Testing: Automate your test cases to run them through every environment to save time for yourself and your team. Cross browser and cross platform test can be done with the help of tool such as Selenium, Appium and test complete.
Record and Analyze Results:
- Log Issues: Report tests with any compatibility problems in a log that should include the environment where the problems have been identified, how to recreate these problems and perhaps a screenshot.
- Analyze Patterns: Try to focus on such factors that are alike to the relevant environments and manifest as the identical problems. This can aid in bringing special attention when fixing things and unearthing other issues as well.
Report Findings:
- Detailed Reports: When testing the various environments, wrap large reports in brief summaries that highlight the outcomes, namely, which environments were successful or not, and the challenges noted, with information regarding their impact.
- Recommendations: Indicate measures for resolving compatibility problems and advise on the changes that can be made in testing in the future.
Fix and Retest:
- Bug Fixes: Consult with the development team to resolve the compatibility problems that are realized during testing.
- Regression Testing: To check if these fixes are not going to cause new problems and whether the application is working correctly in all the environments perform regression testing.
Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD):
- Integrate Testing: Include compatibility testing in a restarted CI/CD cycle to have an updated compatibility as soon as new updates to the application and other changes are made.
- Automated Builds: Systematic build-test cycles must be established to check frequently if the new code changes will interfere with compatibility of the environments.
- Tools for Compatibility Testing:
- BrowserStack: Offers actual devices and browsers for manual and automated testing in various environments purposely.
- Sauce Labs: This provides an online environment in which an application under development can be tested on multiple browsers and many devices.
- LambdaTest: Offers one a cross system testing environment with many browsers and operating systems to compile with.
- CrossBrowserTesting: Provides functionality for quickly putting newly developed web applications to the tests across the numerous browsers, ends devices and operational systems.
- Perfecto: Offers a cloud platform for quality assurance of web and/or mobile applications on actual devices under real life scenarios.
Here's the reference video for you to watch and better understand the topic:
Conclusion:
Compatibility trying out is important to make certain that advanced software program features successfully throughout various environments as targeted in the necessities documentation. By validating compatibility, businesses can make certain that their applications are appropriate for use of their customers' environments.
Compatibility testing may be carried out in a bid to establish that an application can perform equally well across various interfaces and on various operating systems, devices and so on. When compatibility problems are taken into consideration in the early phases of development, organisations can reach more consumers, increase users’ satisfaction, decrease the maintenance costs, and protect their brand image. Compatibility testing can be adopted right from the beginning of the system design phase of an application and thus helps to provide heterogeneity of the environment for the users.