While few people deny the benefits of test automation, comprehensive automated testing via UI (browser for web applications) is rarely implemented in software projects. Common reasons for projects' failed attempts on test automation are:

• Difficult to learn - test scripts are complex and testing tools are not easy to use
• Hard to maintain - UI tests are vulnerable to application changes
• Long feedback loop - automated tests take too long to run

To succeed in automated testing via UI, software projects need to overcome all these 3 challenges.

This book presents a practical approach to implementing test automation for web applications. Topics include:

• Developing easy to read and maintain Selenium WebDriver tests using a next-generation functional testing tool
• Page object model
• Functional Testing Refactorings
• Cross-browser testing
• Setting up a continuous testing server to manage the execution of a large number of automated UI tests
• Requirement traceability matrix
• Strategies on team collaboration and test automation adoption in projects and organizations

To help readers learn more effectively, the book has a dedicated site containing the following resources:

• Software. Test automation is not necessarily expensive. All test frameworks featured in this book are free and open-source.
• Sample test scripts. Ready-to-run test scripts for the exercises in the book.
• Demo web sites. Two demo sites were created for readers to try out test scripts.
• Tutorial screencasts. You will be able to see how exercises are done step by step.

Watir is a great framework for automated testing web applications. It is easy to get started with Watir, but do you use effectively for testing real-world test scenarios? Such as data driving test from an Excel spreadsheet and handling pop up dialogs.

Watir Recipes will show you solutions to your problems from the experts who have already solved them. All recipe test scripts (100+) are ready-to-run. I created the target web pages and test sites, so that you can simply find the recipe and run, in a matter of seconds. Owning this book is like having a test automation coach sitting next to you.

Selenium WebDriver is a popular browser automation framework, testers or developers with Selenium skills are in high demand.   It is easy to get started with Selenium, but do you use effectively for testing real-world test scenarios? Such as data driving test from an Excel spreadsheet and handling pop up dialogs.

Selenium WebDriver Recipes will show you solutions to your problems from the experts who have already solved them. All recipe test scripts  (~200 in Ruby language) are ready-to-run, i.e., I created the target web pages and test sites, so that you can simply find the recipes and run, in a matter of seconds. Owning this book is like having a test automation coach sitting next to you.

On December 8, 2013, US President Barack Obama "asked every American to give it a shot to learn to code" (watch it here), kicking off the Hour of Code campaign for Computer Science Education Week 2013. "Learning these skills isn't just important for your future, it's important for our country's future," President Obama said.

The message is clear: coding (aka. programming) is an important skill for this Information Age, and many will agree.  Some might wonder: there are many "how to program" books, why another one? 

A typical how-to-program book will go through the programming concepts, syntax and followed by demonstrations with simple examples. I have read dozens of them (for different programming languages) and taught this way at universities. It was not an effective approach. It is more like a teacher dumping knowledge upon students.

I believe a better way is to engage students in doing carefully selected programming exercises and guiding them solving interesting and useful computer programs. New programming concepts are introduced gradually.  I put this into practices by teaching my 12-year old daughter Courtney. This book is the outcome of the journey.