Regression testing for styling and layout of web applications

Question

I realise this is a non-trivial task, but is there a way to regression test the styling and rendered layout of a web application?

I\'ve found it straightforward to unit t

Answer 1

If you're developing in Ruby, take a look at the rspec-page-regression gem. It's an RSpec plugin that lets you compare requested page snapshots against an expected image. It works with Poltergeist, which is a Capybara driver that uses PhantomJS and supports rendering page snapshots.

Rspec-page-regression provides an RSPec matcher that lets you do things like

context "user page" do
  before(:each) do
    visit user_path
  end

  it { page.should match_expected }

  context "popup help" do
    before(:each) do
      click_button "Help"
    end

    it { page.should match_expected }
  end
end

And it provides a mechanism to manage the expectation images.

Disclaimer: I'm the author of the gem.