Re: Comments on Microsoft Chapter 4 Tests

Arron Eicholz wrote:
> Test passes if the box below is green.
> Test passes is the "Filler Text" below is green.
> Test passes if there is a dotted green line below.
> Test passes if the line below is green.
> Test passes if the blue box below is to the right of the orange box.
> 
> None of these examples of standard text leave any room for error they clearly state what needs to be true to pass the test. I know we are all smart people and we may think this is dumb to have things so clearly stated and maybe it even complicates the test a little but we do not know the intelligence level or skill that every person running theses tests will have. The simpler and the more clearly things are stated more people will be able to run them and verify compliance. As it stands now with our tests a tester does not need to run the tests, anyone can run the tests and clearly understand if they pass or fail and 99% of the time they can say why they fail too.
> 
> As a note it is probably best not to use the term background in a test. Or any other term that is a direct property reference. I know some of our cases do but I am still trying to clean those up. Again the tests have to be simple and the more technical the term the harder it is for anyone to run the tests. 

"Test passes if" seems good to me.

However, Hixie and I agree that you shouldn't use the term
"filler text" for anything that's important, like the actual
test itself. To quote Hixie, "Filler text should be silver
and unimportant."

I don't see a problem with using the term background in a
test as long as it's clearly in the colloquial usage.
I actually prefer "Test passes if this sentence has a green
background." to "Test passes if the text of this sentence
is green." because it's more visible to change the color
of the background than the text.

~fantasai

Received on Saturday, 28 March 2009 10:15:07 UTC