September's Best Bugs

Bugs happen to the best of us. What's important is that they don't reach your users' hands where they can do real harm. That's why thorough and creative software testing, like the kind performed by our tester community, is a necessary part of every release process. Here are three issues our customers thanked us for finding before their users did and a dive into why your users would care if they encountered these issues while using your software.

Humans think they are master multitaskers. But did you know there is no such thing as multitasking? We are just quickly switching our attention from one thing to another. Luckily when we do switch back to a task, we retain the information that we gathered before. We do this frequently, and our phones have made it even easier. A user can quickly switch apps to check their texts, social media, take a phone call, etc. And when they do, they expect to keep the progress they've made on the first app.

In this bug, that expectation was not met. It may be difficult for applications that use a lot of memory and processing power, but your users are demanding. If a user can't minimize your app without losing progress, they might decide to try another one. If you meet those expectations the first time, you will be one step closer to keeping your users. 

This bug was found by a tester who emulated something that I'm sure has happened to many of us: indecision. How many times have you opened your fridge to take nothing out then come back five minutes later to do the same thing? I know I have. This is also common when using websites. There is so much information available to us that it can be hard to decide where to navigate and when you do, it is sometimes unclear if you are even in the right place. That's why the back button exists! But the crux of this issue isn't just the back button. It's that they clicked on the link to the page they were on before they clicked the back button.

Traditional happy path testing might miss something like this because you are trying to cover every combination. The link was likely tested, and because it worked on the first click, it was never retested. However, our testers quickly found the seemingly unlikely action because they experienced this indecision and were willing to perform repetitive motions. Your users will be too, which makes this kind of issue very important to consider and not treated as an edge case.  

As technology makes things easier and easier for the user, it usually comes with added complexity for the developer. This is an example of precisely that. The developer did the right thing and added a voice typing functionality to their application to make it more accessible. Unfortunately, this addition added another piece to the complex puzzle that is their software: aka, another place for something to break.

This break is not something to be dismissed. As we discussed in our previous article, How to Make the Web More Inclusive, Through Accessibility, Accessibility is a critical part of any successful application. The more accessible your application, the more users you can attract, the more revenue, etc.. But testing these paths with automation is hard. That's why companies rely on real people who use real devices to make sure every piece of their application works for their users wherever they may be, regardless of what device they are using.  

Have you ever gotten a message from a user dealing with an issue like this on one of your apps? It probably wasn't your proudest moment. Especially if you didn't account for it in the testing process, but don't feel too bad. The reality is, it's nearly impossible for a team to consider every possible use of their application. They have been exposed to it for too long, and they know how it "should" be used. Our testers don't have any of these preconceptions. That's why companies trust our testers to find the bugs that their team and automation misses. Because who better to test your software than real users on real devices? 

If you want to see what kind of bugs our crowd can find on your website or app, reach out here.