You Are Not Done Yet: Alerts

You are not done testing yet unless…you have searched out every alert, warning, and error message and dialog box your application can display and checked the following:

Content

• Verify that you understand every condition that can cause the alert to display, and that you have test cases for each condition (or have explicitly decided to *not* test specific conditions).


• Verify that the alert is in fact needed. For example, if the user can easily undo the action, asking them whether they really want to do it is not necessary.


• Verify that the alert first identifies the problem and then presents the solution. Basically, treat your customers like smart, knowledgeable people and help them understand what the problem is and what they can do about it.


• Verify that the alert text does not use an accusatory tone but rather is polite and helpful. I remember one application who scolded me with "You did not close me correctly" as it auto-recovered its database after crashing. Umm, no, *you* did not close yourself correctly; I had nothing to do with it! A later release of the application changed the message to "This application was not closed correctly", which is a little better. As was the case for me, almost certainly your customer did not cause the problem intentionally. If they did do it on purpose, likely they didn't know it would be a problem. Again, let them know what happened, what the application is doing to remedy the situation, and what they can do to prevent it from happening in the future.


• Verify the alert text is correct and appropriate for the situation.


• Verify the alert text is consistent in its wording and style, both to itself as well as to each other alert.


• Verify the alert text is as succinct as possible but no more succinct. Hint: If the alert text is longer than three lines, it's probably too long.


• Verify the alert text contains complete sentences which are properly capitalized and punctuated.


• Verify the alert text does not use abbreviations or acronyms. (Discipline-specific acronyms may be OK, if you are confident that all of your users will know what they mean.)


• Verify the alert text uses the product's name, not pronouns such as "we" or "I".

Functionality

• Verify the alert's title bar contains the name of the product (e.g., "Acme Word Processor").


• Verify each button works correctly. I have seen innumerable "Cancel" buttons that were really an "OK" button in disguise!


• Verify each button has a unique access key.


• Verify the buttons are centered below the message text.


• Verify any graphics on the alert are appropriate and correctly placed. For Microsoft Windows applications, there are standard icons for Informational, Warning, and Critical alerts, and these icons are typically displayed to the left of the alert text.

Posted by The Braidy Tester at 07:30 AM  Permalink