Ever since it was developed as a local browser test automation tool in Thought Works in 2004, Selenium has caught up like wildfire. It has become a matchless software testing tool having garnered a large fanbase, loyal community, and high-adoption by major companies. That said, it has been over 15 years since Selenium is out. So, is the Selenium automation certification still relevant? Is the demand for the Selenium suite just as it was before? Let’s check out the answers in this blog and find out why Selenium is such popular to start with.
What is Selenium Suite?
Selenium tool is a free, open-source, automated testing framework that is used for testing web applications across browsers and platforms. It is essentially a combination of four components
- Selenium IDE
- WebDriver
- Selenium Remote Control
- Selenium Grid
The Selenium WebDriver or Selenium 2.0 combines Selenium Remote Control (RC) and the WebDriver together. The current and latest version of the Selenium suite is Selenium 4.0.
Selenium IDE – This is the most popular component of the Selenium Suite that has the record-playback feature, with the help of which the browser actions can be automated.
WebDriver – It is a cross-platform testing framework that performs regression tests and exploratory tests.
Selenium RC – Also known as Selenium 1.0.
Selenium Grid – This component carries the ability to acquire the screenshots of the browser at different stages of testing apart from enabling cross-platform, cross-browser testing
What makes Selenium so popular?
You would agree that Selenium Automation Certification is popular. Is it the best automation testing tool, this is probably arguable? So, let’s see those important aspects that make the Selenium so popular.
- Open-source: Selenium is free and open-source. This means anyone can simply visit the official website and download totally free.
- Supports a wide range of programming languages: Selenium allows the tester to develop test cases in a multitude of programming languages including, Java, C#, Python, PHP, JavaScript, etc.
- Works across browsers: Another most popular feature of Selenium is its ability to run test scripts on different browsers without many variations.
- Works across platforms: Not just limiting itself to cross-browser testing, the Selenium tests can be run across browsers such as Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc.
- Scripts can run and re-run multiple times: The test recording feature of Selenium enables running the test scripts again and again. What’s more, Selenium offers support to create test scripts manually by integrating with a tool called Firebug.
- Can integrate with external tools: Selenium is very user-friendly and allows easy integration with third-party tools or software or cloud-based online grids.
Does Selenium have any downside? What are those?
In the earlier section, we have seen the upside of the Selenium tool, now on the flip side what are its drawbacks?
- Lack of Test Management: Selenium is notorious for the lack of test management facilities. The test scripts are saved without any attributes attached to them. However, one can overcome this hurdle with the help of integrating with test management tools like TestNG, Junit for managing test cases, and generating bug reports.
- Selenium needs 3rd party integration: Selenium is not a fully-equipped self-sufficient automation tool. It requires third-party frameworks, test management tools, language bindings to efficiently automate web application testing. Selenium requires the of TestNG and Junit for test management, binding with Jenkins, Maven for continuous testing, and integration with Sikuli to perform image-based testing.
- Selenium requires technical knowledge to perform testing: Selenium is not quite user-friendly and has no full-fledged technical support from its makers. As Selenium requires programming language help for scripting, the testers need at least minimal technical knowledge. It uses Java, JavaScript, Python, C#, Perl, PHP, and many major programming languages and converts into Selenium code to perform automated testing.
Can Selenium Automation Certification help me bag jobs as it used to?
There are numerous automation testing tools out there in the market. However, they come bundled with a plethora of technical and test management issues. Selenium is a tool of choice in almost all the major companies for testing web applications, for functional regression automation, and to manage test suites.
Many organizations are migrating to open-source Selenium from manual testing and costly licensed automation testing tools.
As an end note, we would like to state that authentic selenium automation testing training can help you bag software testing jobs seamlessly on the go now, more than ever.
