Selenium is an incredibly useful set of tools used to automate web browsers, and WebDriver is an advanced tool that lets you test your scripts against multiple different browsers. Every web developer needs to know how to use Selenium WebDriver.

If you don’t have time to go through a class, or if you know a little bit but want to become an expert, a great way to learn more is by reading relevant blogs.

But there’s a problem: It’s REALLY hard to find good blogs to teach you Selenium WebDriver.

It’s not that they are not out there. They are. However, there are so many of these blogs that it is hard to filter out the bad from the good.

So I’ve done it for you.

When I first started doing test automation with Selenium many years ago, I had a tough time finding good blog resources to help me improve my skills. So, when I found a good blog with valuable information, I saved it. I still do this today.

The final result is a collection of my top blog resources to help you learn Selenium WebDriver. Listed in no particular order, all of these resources:

– Provide valuable and actionable information

– Are unbiased in their opinions

– Convey excellent knowledge as a result of extended experience

I’ve included a link to each blog, the main subjects the blog covers, a brief description, and some of the key points you can expect to learn by reading or articles you should take a look at.

Selenium HQ Wiki

Author: Simon Stewart
Topics Learned: Selenium Webdriver

You cannot have a resource guide to test automation without including the headquarters of knowledge for Selenium WebDriver. This fantastic wiki covers everything related to Selenium. Some of the topics you can read about from the contributors include:

– Advanced User Interactions

– Building WebDriver

– Developer Tips

– PageFactory

A list of the most helpful blogs on learning test #automation and #selenium webDriver. Thanks to @tjmaher1 @eviltester @SeleniumHQ @TourDeDave @jcolantonio @kentcdodds @dpaulmerrill for creating excellent content! https://wp.me/p7absY-gX Click To Tweet

Kent C. Dodds

Author: Kent C. Dodds
Topics Learned: JavaScript, NodeJS

As JavaScript is quickly becoming the most popular language in the world, Kent has been one of my go to resources in helping clients to better understand their JavaScript pitfalls. Especially because the best practices for test automation in JavaScript are drastically different from other programming languages.

He isn’t specifically focused on Selenium WebDriver, but he does help to cover all topics of test automation, in a really good way. For example:


UltimateQA

Author: Nikolay Advolodkin
Topics Learned: Selenium Webdriver, Automation Testing, Quality Assurance, Software Testing

This is my site and it covers everything related to QA, with a particular focus on automated software testing using Selenium WebDriver. There are posts and video tutorials that teach you step-by-step how to work with Selenium WebDriver. Here are some posts  that you should read through:

– Common Selenium WebDriver Errors and How to Fix Them

– Complete Selenium WebDriver with C# Course

– How to work with iFrames using Selenium WebDriver

– Proper black box testing design

– ChromeDriver and Chrome browser configurations


Elemental Selenium

Author: Dave Haeffner
Topics Learned: Selenium Webdriver, Ruby

Dave Haeffner is a great resource when it comes to test automation. He has been around for years sharing WebDriver knowledge and his website is a serious gold mine of information. If you want to learn how to resolve standard issues with Selenium WebDriver, go through the archives and work through the code samples. Here are a few examples of what you can learn how to do using Selenium:

– How to work with Selenium Grid

– How to use Safari

– How to do load testing with JMeter and Selenium

– How to test for broken images


JoeColantonio.com

Author: Joe Colantonio
Topics Learned: Automation Testing, Quality Assurance, Development

Without a doubt, Joe Colantonio is one of my favorite thought leaders in test automation. Colantonio constantly provides quality content on all kinds of different subjects. His podcast, TestTalks, has many excellent interviews and he publishes the transcript of the interviews on his blog as well. By reading through these interviews, you have the opportunity to learn from a variety of experts with loads of experience, all in one place. The subjects include:

– Test automation

– Pair testing

– Security testing

– Quick Test Professional/Unified Functional Testing

– Mobile test automation


W3C Schools

Author: Refsnes Data
Topics Learned: HTML, XPath, CSS Web

Having a strong coding foundation is just as important as knowing specific tools like Selenium Webdriver. W3C Schools isn’t directly related to Selenium WebDriver, but it is a great resource to learn or brush up on the basics of the skills you need before you get ready to perform test automation with Selenium. If you don’t have these foundational skills, you won’t be able to work with Selenium WebDriver.

I refer back to this blog as needed, especially for these two areas:

– HTML

– XPath


Automate The Planet

Author: Anton Angelov
Topics Learned: Test Automation, C#, Jenkins, Visual Studio, Team Foundation Server (TFS), Telerik Studio

I have followed Anton Angelov for a number of years because he knows automation. Angelov regularly shows different code solutions to the same problem. For example, coding a page object with a data map and without a data map. He consistently delivers high-quality content which I have used to improve my skills as a Test Automation Specialist. He writes blog posts that cover a bunch of useful topics related to Selenium WebDriver. For example:

– Most Exhaustive WebDriver Locators Cheat Sheet

– A blog series on development design patterns

– Fluent API in Selenium tests

– Deep coverage of a variety of topics related to Selenium WebDriver

– Compelling Sundays  is a collection of his favorite posts


Beaufort Fairmont

Author: Beaufort Fairmont
Topics Learned: Test Automation

I first saw Paul Merrill through a presentation at Automation Guild 2017. The information that he presented was relevant and insightful. Since then, I have been reading his blog.

His work has a deep focus on how to do test automation well. Merrill provides excellent strategies to speed up test automation and deliver higher quality results, which is something we all want when using Selenium. He also regularly provides high-quality webinars that are full of excellent information. Some of my favorite posts include:

– 5 Ways to Simplify Your Automated Test Cases

– Test Automation ROI: 5 Ways to Show the Business Benefits

– What’s an API and How Do I Test It?


Eviltester.com

Author: Alan Richardson
Topics Learned: Testing, automation, Java

I’ve known about Alan Richardson for at least five years now. He is a phenomenal resource when it comes to test automation. For example, he wrote the book Java For Testers: Learn the Fundamentals Fast and the book Selenium Simplified.

As with most excellent resources, this blog doesn’t only focus on a single tool. He covers a broad range of topics related to test automation. However, there is no doubt that his resources will help you to drastically improve your WebDriver skills. Here are a couple of my favorite resources:

– A diagram that helps you to understand how to abstract out your test automation classes to make them easier to use and navigate.

– A post all about Javascript and where to learn it for test automation.

– Where to learn Selenium from Alan’s point of view.


Google Testing Blog

Author: Google
Topics Learned: Test Automation, Flaky tests

Google is an innovator and the ideas and patterns that they follow should be emulated by the rest of the IT industry. I like to learn from the best.

This isn’t exactly a Selenium WebDriver blog, I know. However, this blog offers excellent information in general and it does cover topics related to test automation techniques. It also includes information on how to write great code. Here are some of my favorite articles:

– Where do our flaky tests come from?

– Too Many Comments on Your Code Review?

– Reduce Nesting, Reduce Complexity

– Providing Context With Commit Messages


Adventures in Automation

Author: TJ Maher
Topics Learned: API Testing, BDD Automation 

TJ has some excellent content on his blog that I recently started to read and notice. It’s extremely helpful and covers a lot of gaps that other blogs miss. Some of my favorite examples include:

  • API Testing: From Entry Level to a PhD in 40min is a great overview of how to do API testing. Unfortunately, many of my students can’t find a good resource for API testing. Neither can I. There aren’t many out there. So when I find a great resource, I am sure to note it down because I can use it again later. This is another great resource that I found to help you with your API test automation. Even better, you can use API testing to enhance your Selenium automation.
  • How to Fail at BDD is an amazing post that covers the most common ways that I see clients fail at BDD. This is a great list that conveys what you should avoid when doing BDD. BDD is a process, not a tool. Tons of clients still use BDD as a tool that’s supposed to help them automate their Selenium tests. Actually, when used incorrectly, I’ve seen clients suffer even more with BDD. If they didn’t use it, incorrectly, there would have been less pain.

Continuous Testing Blog

Author: Eran Kinsbruner
Topics Learned: Mobile Automation

Mobile automation is really hard. It’s drastically more complicated than regular browser automation. And there aren’t many great resources. However, Eran has a blog that’s focused on making mobile automation easier. These are some of my favorite posts:

  • Mobile test automation coverage: how to appropriate test your mobile devices through a continuous delivery pipeline. This blog post conveys at which stage of the delivery pipeline to execute which type of mobile automation. For example, at the unit layer, you can run emulators and simulators on the Dev workstation. By production environment, you should be executing on 2 real iOS devices, 2 real Android devices, and 2 – 4 browsers.
A list of the most helpful blogs on learning test #automation and #selenium webDriver. Thanks to @tjmaher1 @eviltester @SeleniumHQ @TourDeDave @jcolantonio @angelovstanton @dpaulmerrill for creating excellent content!… Click To Tweet

Simply The Test

Author: Josh Grant

Topics Learned: Test Automation, Selenium WebDriver with Python

Josh is a colleague of mine from Sauce Labs and is an extremely smart individual with a keen eye for good test automation. He is extremely knowledgeable in all things related to test automation. He understands the basic concepts of test automation, he understands the history of tools such as Selenium and can do some pretty advanced testing.

His blog has many interesting topics such as:

Conclusion

Blogs can be a valuable tool when you’re looking to learn more about a subject. In the case of Selenium WebDriver, there are so many blogs that it’s hard to know which ones are worth the time and effort to read through.

The blogs on this list certainly helped to improve my Selenium skills and I believe you’ll find them a useful resource as well.

These blogs will help you lower your learning curve when it comes to Selenium WebDriver and test automation. Use the vast experience and knowledge of these blogs and help yourself grow.

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