An Overview of Selenium and Automation Testing

LearnVern
3 min readJan 18, 2021

Looking for a Selenium tutorial? Selenium is an open-source and free automated testing framework. This framework is used for validating web applications across different browsers and platforms. One of the reasons that Selenium is popular among web developers across the globe is that you can use multiple programming languages to create Selenium Testing scripts.

Interestingly, Selenium is a suite of software that can be used for QA testing. This framework comprises Selenium Integrated Development Environment, Selenium Remote Control, WebDriver and Selenium Grid.

If you aspire to be an expert at Selenium testing, here is everything you need to know about Selenium and Automation Testing before enrolling for a Selenium testing tutorial.

What is Selenium IDE?

Selenium IDE or Selenium Integrated Development Environment is the simplest and easiest framework. The framework is a Foxfox plug-in, which you can easily install. However, Selenium IDE is extremely simple and hence it should be used as a prototyping tool. If you want to create complicated and advanced tests, then using Selenium Remote Control or Web Driver is recommended. To get a better understanding of Selenium, you can enroll for a Selenium Tutorial for Beginners.

What is Selenium Remote Control?

Selenium Remote Control or Selenium RC is the first automated web testing tool that allowed users to run the programming language of their choice. Selenium Remote Control supports Java, C#, PHP, Python, Perl and Ruby.

Some of the advantages of Selenium RC offers to users. The framework can be used across browsers and platforms. A user can perform looping and conditional users. Also, Selenium RC has a matured and complete API. Selenium RC can readily support new browsers and offers faster execution than IDE. You can enroll for a software testing tutorial to learn the different aspects of testing and the tools required for testing.

What is WebDriver?

The WebDriver offers higher results as compared to Selenium IDE and Selenium RC. WebDriver application does not rely on Javascript for testing. The application communicates directly with the server and responds accordingly. WebDriver supports all the languages that the Selenium RC.

The advantages offered by WebDriver include simpler installation than Selenium RC; facilitates realistic browser interaction, faster execution time than IDE, etc.

What is Selenium Grid?

The Selenium Grid is used together with Selenium RC to run multiple tests in different browsers simultaneously. Selenium Grid’s ability to run tests simultaneously in different browsers and environments helps users to save time significantly. This software utilizes the hub-and-nodes concept, wherein the hub acts as a central source of Selenium commands to each node connected to it. A software testing tutorial can help you learn Selenium testing in detail!

So How Do You Choose the Right Selenium Tool?

Now that you have learnt about the different tools of Selenium, you can find the perfect tool for your use. Here’s how to pick out the right Selenium tool for your use.

Selenium IDE

This tool is perfect for beginners. If your objective is to learn concepts on Selenium and Automation testing, Selenium IDE is the best tool for you. Selenium IDE also works great if you wish to test a web application on Firefox and Chrome only. Selenium IDE is also perfect for you if you have little and no knowledge in programming and wish to create simple test cases. A Selenium tutorial for beginners can help you learn about Selenium IDE.

Selenium RC

Selenium RC is better suited for those who have some experience in programming. With this software, you can design a test in a language that is more complex than Selenese. You can also run your test against different browsers on different operating systems. If you are a developer and wish to deploy your tests across multiple environments, Selenium RC is the best tool for you. If you wish to become a Selenium testing expert, enroll for the best software testing course.

WebDriver

If you wish to create customized test results or use a certain programming language in designing your test, WebDriver is what you should pick. WebDriver allows users to test applications that are rich in AJAX-based functionalities and execute tests on the HTML Unit browser.

Selenium Grid

Selenium Grid can be your saviour when you have a huge test suite that needs testing in short time. Selenium grid also allows you to run Selenium RC in multiple browsers and operating systems at the same time.

Selenium and automation testing is seeing a steady increase in demand across industries. If you aspire to become a Selenium testing expert, take the first step without wasting time and enroll for a Selenium tutorial today!

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