How to improve developer experience (DX) with visual testing

As a developer, there's nothing more frustrating than spending hours, if not days, working on a feature or bug fix, only to have it break the visual layout of the app. This not only slows down the development process, but it can also lead to frustration and loss of confidence in the quality of the work being delivered.

That's where visual testing comes in.

Developer experience (DX)

Developer experience refers to the overall satisfaction and efficiency of development tools, including design, usability, documentation, support, and working workflows.

A good developer experience is important for maintaining a high level of productivity and software quality. Efficient tools and workflows allow developers to iterate quickly, and ultimately resulting in higher software quality and positive experiences for developers and users.

Visual testing to ship with confidence

Visual testing is a type of testing that focuses on the visual aspects of an application, such as layout, design, and user interface elements. One way visual testing can be implemented is through the use of screenshot comparison tools. These tools allow developers to take screenshots of the app before and after a change is made.

With visual testing tools like Argos, the screenshots are automatically compared, and if any differences are detected, the developer is alerted, allowing them to fix the potential issues before it becomes a problem.

In addition, a visual tests suite can be created to ensure that the visual aspects of the app are consistent across different devices and screen sizes and catch visual issues early on. By implementing visual testing, developers can be confident that their work won't cause any visual issues that could break the app.

Conclusion

Overall, visual testing is invaluable for any developer looking to deliver high-quality, bug-free applications. Automatic visual testing improves software crafting workflow by giving developers more confidence in feature delivery and save time and effort in the long run.