Testing - WordPress
Last modified on Mon 19 Sep 2022

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source Content Management System (CMS), often used as a blog publishing application, supported by PHP and MySQL. WordPress has many features, including a plugin architecture and a template system.

www.wordpress.org

On this website, you can download and install a script called WordPress. For this, you need a web host that supports minimal requirements and little time. WordPress is fully customizable and can be used for almost anything.

How to use WordPress?

There are several different roles a user can play. If you get an Administrator approach, you'll have absolute control of everything, the whole CMS system: adjusting settings, adding and changing content, installing plugins, themes, and many more. Of course, that also carries a lot of responsibility. You can seriously screw up something as the Administrator, and it can cost you dearly, so be careful.

wp_login.png

To access the WP admin page, you have to use: {domain}/wp-login.php (e.g., https://infinum.com/wp-admin/post.php). The data entry page will appear, and you need to enter a username and password. After entering the correct data and clicking a Login button, you can access the WordPress system for content management/dashboard.

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WordPress dashboard

The Dashboard is the centerpiece of WordPress. You can add new and edit existing content, upgrade your site with plugins, tools, create new users, and more. Depending on what you want to add to your website, you will choose a specific menu item.

You can also use one dashboard for multiple WP projects by using multisite.

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USERS

Users bring a list of registered users and allow you to add new or edit existing ones. You can also set roles for users through this system. User roles are:

TOOLS

It brings tools that are useful for working inside and outside the system.

SETTINGS

Settings allow you to change your system settings. Things that can be set in settings are divided into General, Writing, Reading, Discussion, Media, Privacy, and Permalinks.

Gutenberg

Since the release of the 5.0 version, WordPress has a new default content editor. Named the WordPress Gutenberg editor during development, "Gutenberg" is now called the "WordPress editor" or "block editor". Gutenberg is the name of the project for the WordPress block editor, which replaced the TinyMCE editor. Gutenberg's main role is to manage the WP blocks. What does that mean? In essence, Gutenberg replaced one field for editing that the TinyMCE editor had with many individual blocks. These blocks allow you to create more complex designs than those in the old classic Editor.

gutenberg.png

What is a block? A block can be almost anything. For example, you can have blocks for text, images, video, buttons, widgets, tables, etc. And most importantly, developers will be able to create their blocks that you can access via plugins. Now you can create WP content just like you use LEGO cubes.

Adding blocks

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You can add a block by clicking on the icon in the top left corner. You can search for the block you want to add and choose it. When you select a block, you will get the block editor on the right side of the screen to adjust various setups regarding that block.

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Add and edit new content

WordPress has two main types of content:

WordPress posts have a publication date and are displayed by date on the site's blog page. On the other hand, pages are constant content on your site. These can be pages like "About us" or "Contact". Pages are not affected by the time they are posted.

The article or page itself can, of course, have images and videos in various formats; Once written article or page can be re-edited, refined, and saved for future publication or, of course, deleted. If it is your role other than the Administrator will have rights as described earlier.

Adding new content

To add a new post, select Posts from the menu, then Add new. In front of you, a window as in the picture will open. To save, press the publish button. To add a new page from the menu, select Pages and Add new.

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Editing content

To change the content of previously written articles, select Posts, and hoover on the article you want to refine or modify. The Edit option allows you to open the entire article, as when you wrote it. For fast changes, use Quick Edit. Trash deletes your article, while with the View option, you can view the article.

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Useful WordPress plugins

The most common WordPress plugins, which are also used on Infinum web, are:

How to use WordPress for frontend testing?

When changing something in WordPress, you could assume the process is simple. You update the intended content and click update. The trickiest part comes after you click that update button. You will need to make sure that the page is still working as it was before you update it. You will have to do this often while testing WordPress. Example of the things you should check, other than the specific thing you added or updated, are:

As QA, you will be testing the visual and functional things regarding WordPress. You will need to make sure that any content added or changed is looking good on the frontend. It's recommended you always do this on staging first and later do a production re-check. For example, if you are testing buttons, you can edit that button in WordPress in various ways such as its width, height, text, or color. Whenever you are testing anything on the frontend, you should make sure no content on any screen is overlaying with each other. Sometimes you will have to test forms on WordPress. You can test a form by checking its visual display on the page in various viewports, and you should also check if that form is working. You can test it by checking which plug is in use for forms, and there you can check if the form was successfully sent, e.g., Hubspot.

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WordPress - common bugs

The most common bugs you will probably encounter while testing WordPress are:

What do you need to know before WordPress testing?