Selenium is a test automation tool was developed by Thoughworks in 2004 for their internal usage. Since then Selenium has become one of the most popular automation tools available in the market.
Automation has become a crucial part of the software development world as it makes tasks easier, faster, more reliable, and more efficient. In this article, we will talk about the drawbacks that come along with Selenium and also why you should still choose Selenium as your automation tool.
What are the major drawbacks associated with Selenium?
- The learning curve with Selenium is very steep
Selenium IDE, Selenium WebDriver, and Selenium Grid comprise the components of Selenium. In order to make the best use of the tool, one must be well aware of its functions. In turn, the learning curve for these components is very steep. It takes a good level of understanding and hands-on experience to truly understand and master these components. This makes it important to pick well-defined tutorials that would help the learner master the tool from scratch.
- Programming expertise is a must
Selenium WebDriver is one of the most important components of the Selenium suite. It requires writing scripts in any of the supported languages like Java, Ruby, Python, C#, etc. To write scripts without any errors, it is important to have prior knowledge and a good understanding of these languages. This becomes a task for any non-programmer to learn the language prior to starting using the Selenium tool. In fact, most of the Selenium interview questions are based on programming. - To create a complete test suite, other libraries are needed
Selenium is simply an automation testing tool that is used to automate web applications. To write a complete test suite, we need features like logging, reading from external files, mailing test reports, testing frameworks, and many more. For these features, we need to use external libraries and tools integrated with Selenium like POI, TestNG, Maven, log4j, etc.
These are some of the major drawbacks associated with Selenium that hold back many newcomers to start using the tool. But there are many reasons why Selenium should be an automated tool you must learn. Let’s find out the reasons here.
- It has the maximum market share.
Among many paid and free tools available in the market, Selenium is open-source and free. This makes it hold the maximum market share. Selenium is extensively used in the industry. From small startups to renowned industry giants, everyone is seen using Selenium for automated testing. So the market will always be in need of Selenium automation engineers. - It provides help in understanding automation fundamentals.
Selenium requires you to create your own unique automation framework and integrate it with other libraries. This proves very helpful in understanding and gaining hands-on experience with the concepts of automation. These might slip in the case of using tools that have pre-defined frameworks and modules.
- Selenium supports various languages and browsers.
With the help of Selenium, automation of web applications is possible across almost all browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Microsoft Edge. Selenium also supports writing scripts in all major programming languages like – Java, Python, Ruby, C#, etc. Hence, Selenium does not have constraints on learning a particular language or platform but offers a wide range of choices.
- The setup is easy and needs few resources
Selenium WebDriver is available in the form of a library that can simply be included in any project. Selenium can be easily set up with an IDE of your preference, unlike other tools. It also executes automated test scripts with minimal resources. - It has great community support.
Though Selenium is free and open-source, it still proudly boasts a very active community. The community aims to evolve and update the tool constantly. They also look out to resolve users’ queries and help them with any issues they might be facing. - A large number of online and offline learning resources are available for learning.
The demand for Selenium automation testers is always high. Hence, there is always an abundant amount of resources available both online and offline for the purpose of learning Selenium. You can always find well-curated resources, offline and online like – Selenium tutorial by ArtOfTesting. - Picking other automation tools is easy after learning Selenium
Learning Selenium will make you familiar with the fundamentals and intricacies of automation testing. This makes it easier to pick up any new automation tool because you are already well-versed in the basics. This is one of the major reasons we insist you on learning Selenium as your first automation test tool.
With this, we come to the end of the article stating various reasons Why you should choose Selenium as your automation tool. We hope the reasons listed will ignite your passion to begin learning Selenium for automating all kinds of web applications. If you think I have missed some points in the list then feel free to drop them in the comment section below.
