Using Shortcut (hot) keys for testing

Shortcut keys are designed to perform frequent tasks quickly through keyboard hardware and software. The development of software involves a lot of strategy on how to prevent users accessing data and performing tasks. Unfortunately, these strategies can be flawed and often focus on restricting user access through a mouse - disregarding the tasks that can be performed via a keyboard, or jointly a mouse and keyboard.

Shortcut keys to consider

• Microsoft
• MacOSX
• FireFox
• Internet Explorer
• Unix
• Opera
• Specifically created shortcut keys for the application under test.

So, you have a list of shortcut keys, now what?

• Have a look through them, see which ones are relevant to your application and try them out.
• If you don't understand what a short cut does, give it a try. Finding a bug is probably the worst thing that can happen.
• Experiment, experiment and experiment.
• Are there any shortcuts which may conflict with the software under test?

Want to share yours?

Do you have something not listed here? Have a neat testing trick to share? Get in touch!