I haven’t touched front end web automation for a few years now, but I see some potential use cases in my current project where it can come in handy.
We’re already leveraging API’s wherever possible, so looking for recommendations (with motivation) specifically front end web automation tools.
When I left the seen, Selenium was all the craze.
I know about tools like:
Are there others I don’t yet know of?
Which one do yo recommend, and why?
Where to start?
Do you have/want a mobile app? I mean surely everyone does nowadays. What limitations does your development environment place on you in terms of security?
Thanks for that feedback @conrad.braam . Yeah, not a big fan of Selenium anymore (though for a while it was the best we had).
My Java is a bit rusty, but will take a look at Serenity-DBB. No .NET in sight, so the Boa Constrictor will have to stay in its cage.
What I’m targeting is an internal web site, so no mobile app. As it is internal, I’m relatively unobstructed with regards to security
Hmmm, I felt truly bless when I escaped the world of UI automation! But, in the near future I might need to do a bit of UI automation again. I will (try) avoid using Selenium, since the app is not very complex and Cypress could be a better choice - I think it will be a smooth sailing.
Also, I heard good things about Test Café - those two geezers from AB podcast seem to like it too. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but, recently I watched a presentation (at the SauceCon conference) by Don Wibier, and that kind sparked my interest in the Test Café. All that is left if to find the time (and will) to try it out!
Here’s an overview video of it:
EDIT: I plan to check out this course as well:
I also heard some good things about test-café. I haven’t used it yet but might just try a little project myself.
Does anyone here have experience with it? I would love to see some opinions.
We are currently using Cypress for front-end automation. Protractor was to unstable & becoming deprecated. Selenium is selenium … so Cypress it is! 
That being said I’ve started googling Cypress vs Test Cafe and found this: Evaluating Cypress and TestCafe for end to end testing | YLD Blog. A nice comparison and I honestly thought he would pick Cypress above Test Cafe but he didn’t 
Of course this is just 1 article and 1 mans opinion.
Front end web automation is an important aspect and there are few tools come in handy when we need to choose a suitable one for our need. There’s been a lot of discussion about the future of Selenium Webdriver when there are so many new kids on the block in terms of framework choices. Selenium WebDriver is by far, still the most widely used web automation tool with 75% of our users executing their tests with this framework. Web application testing tools helps you to remove Use test cases to detect bugs and save time. Unlike manual testing, automatic test cases make testing faster, which means you can deploy products to market more quickly. Use software programs to test applications and minimize the chance of human error.
Besides being the tried and true web automation framework for over a decade, Selenium WebDriver also supports all major browsers (Chrome, IE, Edge, Firefox, and Safari) and boasts support for Java, Python, C#, Ruby, JavaScript, and Kotlin whereas most other web automation tools only provide support for a limited number of browsers and a single programming language.
There are some other tools available:
Cypress: Leading the pack is relative newcomer, Cypress, with just shy of half (47%) of JavaScript users choosing this tool for their web testing. This is quite impressive, considering up as compared to last year (February 2020), Cypress’ browser support was limited to Chrome only.
WebdriverIO: WebdriverIO, which is an independent JavaScript implementation of the WebDriver API, comes in second place with 25% of our JS users choosing this framework for their test automation needs.
WebDriverJS: Selenium WebDriver’s official JavaScript implementation, WebDriverJS, is close behind with 23% of JavaScript tests being executed with this tool.
TestCafe: After the Big Three of JavaScript web automation tools, comes newcomer, TestCafe, with 5%. However, it is gaining the popularity fast and more people are choosing it.
Playwright: The youngest web automation framework in the race is Playwright by Microsoft. Playwright has only been available for a few months and people have already started using it.
Hi Peet,
Did you evaluate the tools ? I’m very interested to know which one you chose and why 
Hi @enrico_gua ,
Yes I did evaluate them, and in the end I settled with Cypress. For the following reasons:
We use testcafe for majority of front end automation in my company, it’s also the first ever front end automation tool I used. Personally I think it’s great but I have only selenium web driver to compare.
What are your Pro’s & Con’s for testcafe? 
When it comes to front-end web automation, there are several tools available, each with its own unique features and benefits. Choosing the right tool for your needs will depend on a variety of factors, such as the specific requirements of your project and the technology stack you are using.
Some of the most popular front-end web automation tools include Selenium, Puppeteer, TestCafe, Cypress, and Playwright. Each of these tools offers a different set of features and capabilities, so it’s important to evaluate them carefully to determine which one is the best fit for your project.
Ultimately, the goal of front-end web automation is to make testing and development more efficient and effective. By automating repetitive tasks and simplifying complex processes, you can save time, reduce errors, and improve the overall quality of your web applications. So when deciding which front-end web automation tool to use, be sure to consider your specific needs and choose the tool that best meets them.
I’m a huge fan of TestCafe (so much that I wrote a book about it!). I really recommend trying it out since it’s really straightforward to get started with the basics of UI/end-to-end testing for web apps, and it has plenty of functionality if you need to dig deeper. The company behind it could probably do better in spreading the word out, though, since it’s rarely mentioned when talking about these types of tools. It’s one of the reasons I’ve blogged and written so much about it, and it’s a shame there’s so few people who know about it because it’s such a nice testing tool.
In one of the current projects I’m working on, the team began using Playwright and it’s also been a really good experience. Compared to TestCafe, there’s a little bit more needed to get going, in my opinion, but beyond that it works great. It also seems to have more mindshare online these days so you’ll probably have an easier time dealing with issues when they arise.
I don’t think you’ll go wrong with either TestCafe or Playwright. I admittedly haven’t used Selenium for ages, but my prior experience was enough to stay clear of it for the rest of my career if I can help it.
Hi Peet.
Apart from above mention tool, there are more two tools that I know is
TestCafe: It is a cross-browser automation tool that allows you to write tests in JavaScript or TypeScript. TestCafe runs on all popular browsers and platforms and doesn’t require any browser plugins.
Protractor: It is an end-to-end testing framework specifically designed for Angular applications. Protractor uses WebDriverJS to control browsers and runs tests against real browsers.
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