As a tester, it is always advisable to use manual white box testing and
black-box testing techniques on the test software. Manual testing helps discover
and record any software bugs or discrepencies related to the functionality of
the product.
Manual testing can be replaced by test automation. It is possible to record
and playback manual steps and write automated test script(s) using Test
automation tools. Although, test automation tools will only help execute test
scripts written primarily for executing a particular specification and
functionality. Test automation tools lack the ability of decision-making and
recording any unscripted discrepancies during program execution. It is
recommended that one should perform manual testing of the entire product at
least a couple of times before actually deciding to automate the more mundane
activities of the product.
Manual testing helps discover defects related to the
usability testing and GUI testing area. While performing manual tests
the software application can be validated whether it meets the various standards
defined for effective and efficient usage and accessibility. For example, the
standard location of the OK button on a screen is on the left and of CANCEL
button on the right. During manual testing you might discover that on some
screen, it is not. This is a new defect related to the usability of the screen.
In addition, there could be many cases where the
GUI is not displayed correctly and the basic functionality of the
program is correct. Such bugs are not detectable using test automation tools.
Repetitive manual testing can be difficult to perform on large software
applications or applications having very large dataset coverage. This drawback
is compensated for by using manual black-box testing techniques including
equivalence partitioning and
boundary value analysis. Using which, the vast dataset specifications
can be divided and converted into a more manageable and achievable set of
test suites.
