What's a Bug Report?
When a bug is identified during QA, it must be documented and sent to the developers for correction. Software is extremely complex and layered in today's digital environment. This means that most QA pipelines produce multiple bugs.
Developers often have multiple projects at once, so there are many bugs that need to be fixed. Developers are often under great pressure and can become overwhelmed if they don't have the right resources.
QAs spend a lot of time researching how to report bugs in a way that is beneficial for developers. This helps them debug faster and more efficiently.
A bug report that is well-structured and detailed is a great resource. Developers can use bug reports to quickly identify the issues and fix them. This helps to prevent software releases being delayed and allows for faster time-to market without sacrificing quality.
Learn more about How to Write a Good Bug Report
Elements for an Effective Bug Report
Start by asking the question: What should a bug description tell the developer when creating a bug reporting?
These are the questions that a bug report should answer:
- What's the problem?
- How can a developer reproduce the problem (to actually see it)?
- What page or feature (or software) did the problem occur?
- What environment (browser/device, OS, etc.) is responsible for the problem?
How to Write an Effective Bug Report
These are the essential elements of a bug report.
- Title/Bug ID
- Environment
- Steps to reproduce a bug
- Expected Results
- Actual Results
- Visual Proof (screenshots and videos, text) for Bug
- Severity/Priority
1. Title/Bug ID
The bug title should give a brief description of it. You could use " FAQ section: Distorted text Homepage ".
It is also helpful to assign an ID to the bug to facilitate identification.
2. Environment
One environment can have a bug that is not present in another. A bug can appear when you run the website on Firefox or when an app crashes on an iPhone X. These bugs cannot be identified without cross browser or cross-device testing.
Reporting a bug must be specific. QAs must indicate if the bug was observed in one or more environments. For more specificity, use the template below:
- Type: Hardware, and specific model
- OS - OS name and version
- Tester : Name of the tester that identified the bug
- Software version : This is the version of the software that has been tested and where the bug was discovered.
- Connection Strength - If the bug relies on the internet (4G, 3G WiFi, Ethernet), mention it at the time of testing.
- Reproduction Rate: This is the number of reproductions of the bug, along with the steps involved in each one.
3. Steps to reproduce a bug
The steps should be numbered from the beginning to the end so that developers can follow them quickly and accurately to reproduce the bug. This is how you can reproduce a bug using steps.
- Click on "Get Started" to go to the homepage. This takes you to the purchase page.
- Click on "Pricing Options"
4. Expected Results
What is the software's purpose in relation to the bug? To determine the extent that the bug is disrupting user experience, the developer must know the requirements.
Be specific about the ideal user scenario and describe it as best you can. It's not enough to say "The app crashed."
5. Actual Results
Define what the bug actually does and why it can cause distortions of the expected outcome.
- Please elaborate on this issue
- Software crashing?
- Are you simply pausing?
- Is there an error?
- Oder is it just unresponsive?
Developers will find this section most useful. It is important to focus clearly on the problem. Give them additional information so they can investigate the problem with all possible variables. You could use this example:
- "Link doesn't lead to the expected webpage. It displays a "404 error."
- "The button is clicked but does nothing."
- "The homepage's main image is distorted by the iPhone X."
6. Visual Proof of Bug
To clearly show the bug's occurrence, screen shots and videos must be attached. The developer may require video, text and images depending on the bug's nature.
Reading Healthplex allows you to use multiple debugging options, including text logs and visual logs (screenshots), console logs, network logs, as well as video logs. These allow developers and QAs to quickly identify the source of the problem, analyze the code and make corrections.
Reading Healthplex's debugging tools make it easy to verify, debug, and fix various aspects of software quality. This includes UI functionality, usability, performance, and network consumption.
7. Bug Severity
Each bug should be assigned a severity level and priority. This will show how severe the bug is and how urgently it must be fixed.
The severity of the bug infestation:
- Low: Bug will not cause any system breakdown
- Minor: Causes some unintended or undesirable behavior but not enough disruption to the system's function
- Major: The bug can collapse large portions of the system
- Critical: A bug capable of triggering a complete system shut down
Niveaus of bug priority:
- Low: The bug can be fixed later. Priority is given to other, more serious bugs
- Medium: A bug can be fixed during normal development and testing.
- High: The bug must be fixed immediately as it can adversely affect the system and make it inaccessible until it is resolved.
Before assigning levels to a bug report, ensure that QA teams are well-versed in bug severity and priority .
It is impossible to find every bug without testing on real devices. It is important to understand how often a bug occurs, and what its impact on the software. Bugs that are not found during testing cannot be reported by testers.
It is best to test software on real browsers and devices. Software should be run through both manual and automated testing. Automation Selenium testing should be used in conjunction with manual tests to ensure that no bugs are missed during the Quality Assurance process.
If you don't have an in-house device lab available, you can opt for a cloud-based service that offers real operating systems and device browsers.
Apps are the same. BrowserStack offers real devices to mobile app test and automated application testing. Upload the app to the appropriate device-OS combination, and you can see how it works in the real world.
Testers will be able to create detailed reports much easier if they know how. Developers don't need to contact QAs for all the details they need about a bug. This simplifies the debugging process and reduces delays. Software can be put into production quickly.