How can automated visual testing detect broken elements after code changes?

General Discussions
1

Hi

I’m wrestling with a common challenge in our development pipeline, especially with frequent code changes. It feels like even small updates can sometimes lead to unexpected visual regressions that are tough to catch manually.

I’m really trying to understand how automated visual testing can effectively detect broken elements or unintended UI shifts after code changes are introduced. What are the best practices, tools, or strategies you’ve found most effective in this area?

Help me out here folks!!

2

Hey @MattD_Burch, your question about the automated visual testing of detection of broken elements after the code changes is a very important one to understand.

So, basically, Automated visual testing detects broken elements after code changes by capturing screenshots of your application and comparing them against baseline reference images using advanced image comparison algorithms to identify visual discrepancies.

How It Works: Visual testing involves comparing an initial version of the application or website (referred to as the baseline) with the most recent iteration to detect any visual discrepancies that may have occurred. The process establishes visual baselines, then automatically captures new screenshots after each code deployment to analyze differences.

Types of Issues Detected:

  • Layout shifts and misaligned elements - Components moving out of position
  • Color inconsistencies - Incorrect brand colors or theme changes
  • Missing or broken images - Failed image loads or distorted graphics
  • Font and text rendering issues - Typography appearing differently across browsers
  • Responsive design problems - Elements not adapting properly to different screen sizes
  • Padding and spacing issues - Incorrect element positioning and margins

Cross-Platform Consistency: Visual testing examines every element on webpages to ensure correct shapes, sizes, and positions across all browsers, devices, and operating systems. This ensures your UI appears correctly across different environments, catching platform-specific rendering issues.

Why Functional Testing Isn’t Enough: Functional tests may overlook aspects like pixel-to-pixel comparison, rendering differences, layout issues, and responsive design problems. While functional tests verify that features work, they miss visual defects that impact user experience.

LambdaTest’s AI-Native SmartUI Platform enhances this process by offering intelligent image-to-image comparisons, allowing you to identify visual discrepancies in various elements, including text, layout, color, size, padding, and element positioning.

With support for automated visual tests across 3000+ browser and OS combination and 10000+ real devices for creating desktop and mobile environments using different testing frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, and Appium, LambdaTest provides comprehensive visual regression testing that catches UI issues before they reach production.

The result is faster, more reliable visual validation that automatically detects broken elements and ensures consistent user experience across all platforms and devices.

That’s it! Hope you find this useful!! :grin: