What is Manual Testing in Software Testing?

Taking into consideration today’s world, manual testing in software testing is the action which includes execution of test cases manually as opposed to eliciting the use of automation tools. During the manual testing process, the testers are trying to mimic a real user in order to find bugs, usability problems and functional issues, this way the software will operate as intended. In contrast to automation, manual testing is performed by testers and requires their skill set when conducting exploratory and intuition-based testing.

Types of Manual Testing

Manual testing consists of many such approaches which serve the purpose of verifying all the facets related to software quality. Some of the most common types include:

Smoke Testing

Confirms that the most essential features necessary for the application can be adequately performed. This guarantees that the application is relatively stable to be able to undergo further unit tests.

Sanity Testing

Checks that the new features or the bug fixes added to the application do not disturb the already existing features of the application.

Functional Testing Objectives

This type of testing focuses on assessing whether the functions of the software operated as designed and were developed according to user needs. Exploratory Testing Definition: This kind of testing assists testers in taking a creative approach toward the software, hence uncovering defects that were not even expected.

Regression Testing Objective:

This type of testing is focused on ensuring that added features or updates do not affect features that are currently working.

Usability Testing Objectives:

Usability testing focuses on evaluating the ease of use as well as how intuitive the interface of the application is.

Acceptance Testing Definition:

This type of testing determines whether the software fits commercial purposes and is ready for distribution. Manual Testing Tools Although manual testing is done solely by people, its productivity and effectiveness can be improved by a few selected tools. Below are some of the common manual software testing tools used.

Manual Testing Tools:

Although manual testing is done solely by people, its productivity and effectiveness can be improved by a few selected tools. Below are some of the common manual software testing tools used:

JIRA:

It is an all-in-one bug tracking and project management tool.

TestLink:

It is an impressive tool that works to ensure proper management of test case specifications and their execution tracking.

Bugzilla:

It is a clean and robust tool to track and manage software defects.

MantisBT:

It is an easy customizable bug tracking and team collaboration tool.

HP Quality Center (ALM):

It is a professional software application for test management and quality assurance.

qTest:

It is an integrated platform that embraces automated and manual testing practices.

Every process has its pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages. With time and technological advancement, our tasks and duties have been made easier through the use of tools or techniques. However, there are cases where we need to put in some effort and do the work by ourselves, where automation techniques would fail to yield optimum results.

Advantages of Manual TestingCost-Effective for Smaller Projects:

Small businesses or companies with tight budgets especially for initial stages are advised to conduct manual testing as it does not require high setup costs for tools.

Adaptability:

There might be unpredicted scenarios, in such cases being able to adapt to the new situation and testing it is possible by using human methods which are not possible to automate.

Complexity:

A major problem would be that cost changes and adjustment of the test systems and scripts would potentially take a lot of time which would make the process cost increase and would be useless for smaller to middle scale projects.

Human Insight:

One of the best perspectives is from a user and this can be found only in a person which is an upside for manual testing as it cannot be replicated through automated systems or scripts.

Challenges of Manual Testing

Limited Scalability:

Scalability is going to be an issue as it takes a lot of time to conduct multiple manual tests, especially for a large scale application.

Risk of Human Error:

Carrying out the same task repeatedly can lead to boredom and failures and don’t be surprised if something has been left out.

Time-Intensive:

Manual testing being inefficient to an extent and needing a lot of time to carry out, is a downside to this process.