Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Test ideas for Video Player V1.0


How do you plan to test any given feature/ page element? Do you sit alone & start testing OR do you start writing the the test cases based on the requirements OR do you copy paste the plan done by your erstwhile colleagues?

Well, this is how we did: Me, Santhosh Tuppad & Yagnesh H Shah decided to list the ideas that we would get to test any online video player in general. We then based on the context modified few for the specific player that we were testing. Later we did what we do best (strictly not kidding :D), TEST! Below is the gist of ideas that we came up with during our brainstorming session.

Functionality 

  1. Video should starts automatically without clicking on “Play” button initially
  2. Video should pause when click on “Pause” button
  3. “Resume” option must be shown in the video canvas when the mouse over event occurs
  4. Check if the video is continues to play when clicked on “Resume” option from the video canvas
  5. Pause the video and go to full screen, check if video is paused or not
  6. Pause a video for a while (Let us say 30 minutes) and later resume the video
  7. Total video length should be shown on the right hand side of the end-user at the end of progress bar
  8. Time elapsed in watching the video should be shown on the left hand side of the end-user beside the progress bar
  9. Time should be shown in MM:SS – Are you planning to have even the videos which last for hours? If yes, then would it be in HH:MM:SS or still MM:SS (Example: 90:30 which is 1 hour 30 minutes 30 seconds)
  10. Elapsed time of the video must be same as the total time of video length

Usability and Accessibility 
  1. Tooltips should exist for Play / Pause / Resume & other video controls
  2. Check if any keyboard shortcuts exist for the video controls
Ads (If an Ad is being shown before the actual video)
  1. Before starting the video the sponsor ad should be shown with Mute set to off.
  2. Check if clicking on “Mute” mutes the audio.
  3. Provide option to skip the Ad.
  4. Does skip Ad option really skip the Ad when clicked.
  5. Does the user has the option to look at the Ad again.
  6. No video controls must be given during Ad is played (This could change based on the business context).
  7. A countdown is present at the top which displays the time that the advertisement video will be completing
  8. Once the Ad is completed, the video should start automatically
  9. In any way end-user should not be able to bypass the Ad  nor the system should not bypass sponsor message due to some malfunctioning
  10. Can the Ads repeat when played different videos? In our opinion yes they can
  11. Zoom In / Zoom Out, Pause, Play, Resume controls should not be provided in the right-click controls
  12. Right-click on the Ad video and go to full screen
Volume Controls 
  1. When end-user chooses “Menu” option, the volume controls should be not disabled
  2. Using mouse end-user should be able to use the slider to increase / decrease volume
Video Streaming / Buffering 
  1. Check if the buffering is being done while the video is paused
  2. While buffering, loading component in clockwise direction should be shown between elapsed time component and progress bar
  3. Let us say the video has played till 01:30 and end-user drags it to 00:30 – Check if the video is again buffering or it is playing from the cache because it has been already buffered
  4. What message is shown when internet connectivity breaks down during the middle of the video viewing
  5. While watching the video disconnect the internet and again connect to the internet. Does the video again start playing the video from where it stopped?
Resolution and cross browser compatibility 
  1. Change the resolution of browser to various sizes (Example: 100% which is default, less than 100%) and then see if anything affects the video player
  2. All the controls should work seamlessly in all the major web browsers like Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox.

 Full Screen View & Exit Full screen
  1. 'Go Full screen' button must have a tool tip as “Go Full Screen”.
  2. Once the full screen view is active, the normal view space must not be left blank.
  3. The video shouldn't hang once if we have clicked on full screen when the video is being played.
  4. The video must occupy the entire screen, it shouldn't be cramped.
  5. “Press Esc to exit Full screen mode” message must be shown once the full screen view is activated. The message should disappear after few seconds.
  6. The video should continue playing from the point at which we click the full screen button during normal view.
  7. The video should not start rendering from the start, once the full screen view is activated.
  8. Quality of the video should not differ significantly from the normal view.
  9. Video controls must be shown at the bottom of the screen.
  10. Video controls must hide after few seconds once the full screen is activated.
  11. Video controls must be shown once we mouse hover the video.
  12. The video must play(resume)/pause when we left click anywhere on the screen.
  13. Play(resume)/pause buttons should change while select the respective options.
  14. Volume control must have '+' & '-' symbols to indicate increase or decrease volume.
  15. The time elapsed time should change as you drag the progress bar accordingly.
  16. All the video controls function must be in sync with the normal view. Eg: Volume controls, pause/resume must be same before or after returning to the normal view mode OR vice versa.
  17. All the video controls must have a tool tip.
  18. Title of the video must be shown completely.
  19. Title of video must be shown in a single line.
  20. Full screen view must exit either when we press 'Esc' key or click the 'Exit full screen' button or when right click & select 'Exit full screen'.
Video Ordering:
  1. Check if the first video being played by the player is displayed as the first video in the list.
  2. Once video is finished playing it should automatically start next video from the list.
  3. Video being played currently should be highlighted in the list for user reference.
  4. If a playlist is being shown, each slideshow of the list contains specific number of videos listed (Let us say 3 videos/slideshow). Now player finishes playing 3rd video from the slideshow then it should start playing 4th video from the list along with refreshing the slideshow of the list to next three videos.
Functionality – Video sharing options:
  1. Social networking widgets. ( Eg Facebook, twitter, blogs).
  2. Default video resolution in the when the video is shared & shown in any of the social networking sites.
  3. Relevancy of the video being shared & the one that is being shown.
  4. Should the video which is embedded in other users website/blog should also embed advertisement along with the video?
  5. Let us say video number 2 is being played currently. Now on selecting any other related video from the menu option starts playing that video. Check if we can still play video number 2 on selecting it again or not.

8 comments:

  1. Nice list! Thanks for sharing.

    In terms of accessibility, there is lots that can be done for video content.

    I would recommend looking up the WCAG guidlines for both flash objects and video content. Both will provide you with extensive insights around providing accessible video content.

    It would also be worth thinking about the underlying hosting platform, e.g. content management system or external video hosting site, and how these impact the videos ability to be accessible.

    Good stuff, keep up the good work.

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    Replies
    1. Hey Darren,

      Thanks for your suggestion. It will surely help me in building the V2.0 of the same list :)

      Regards,
      Sunil

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  2. nice post Sunil, it will surely help the new up coming testers
    grt going

    BTW i would like to add some more points here if you don't mind.

    Functionality:
    1. We can PLAY & PAUSE any video on clicking the video screen itself.

    Full Screen View & Exit Full screen/ Video Buffering:
    1. sometimes when video is buffering then you go full screen it will not show you the part which has been already played. It will start the video from the point/moment you go click on Full Screen.

    Video Ordering:
    1. It will not play next video automatically unless it has a group of videos to play in that play list. Otherwise it will stop when that video is done. Will/should show the other related videos or something on the screen.


    But yes really nice post buddy. \m/

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  3. I like this. I would challenge you to tell us HOW you came up with these ideas.

    -- James

    ReplyDelete