Testing has always been and continues to be something of a “skeleton in the closet” for most developers. It’s rarely required as part of the development process, is often tedious to set up, and, to be effective, needs to become a regular practice both before and after going live. Yet bringing it into our work routines provides numerous benefits in the long run and, if done properly, can save lots of headaches and at times even help avoid a tainted reputation. We will start by looking at the automated testing landscape from the high level – what’s what and where’s best to use each testing methodology. We will then explore testing options available for different parts of the WordPress ecosystem (core, plugins, themes), and go through a couple of practical examples of using selected test frameworks. To finish off, we’ll discuss the habit-forming aspect, which is not necessarily as much about development itself.
Prerequisites
The talk is aimed at developers and people who manage developers. There will be some code examples, though understanding them is not required. Minimal knowledge of the WordPress ecosystem is required, as well as some knowledge of a typical web project’s various stages.