“A Smattering of Selenium #62” is a historical Selenium project blog roundup by Adam Goucher, published September 29, 2011. Its “62” is the roundup number, not a Selenium version. The post gathers opinions and links about test design, deciding what to automate, and keeping automated tests maintainable; it is not a release announcement or current Selenium guidance. Goucher introduces it with “All opinions, all the time…”
What the 2011 roundup is about
Goucher’s post is an authored link collection, not a systematic review or report of measured results. Its central thread is how to design and manage test automation thoughtfully: what belongs in an automated suite, how to structure tests, and how to keep them useful over time. The linked discussions reflect the context of 2011; they should not be read as current recommendations endorsed by Selenium as a project.
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Read the original post on the Selenium project blog.
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Test design, selective automation, and maintainability
The roundup points readers to a sequence of writing on test design for automation, including follow-up discussion of automated test design and GUI automation. It also highlights “Not Every Test Should be Automated!”—a reminder that automation is a choice, not an objective to maximize without regard to cost or value.
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Maintainability is another prominent theme. Goucher links Cem Kaner’s paper on improving automated test-suite maintainability and calls particular attention to strategies 1, 2, and 5 on page three. This is a pointer to advice in the linked paper, not evidence that the roundup evaluated those strategies or measured their effects.
Related software-engineering ideas in the links
- Dependency principles: one linked discussion distinguishes dependency injection from the dependency inversion principle; they are related ideas, not interchangeable terms.
- Prioritizing automation: a link introduced with the metaphor of “taking on water” addresses how to choose automation work when there is more to do than can be handled at once.
- Harold’s Corollary to Knuth’s Law: the post notes that this idea is aimed at unit tests rather than functional tests. Keep that distinction in view rather than applying the claim to every kind of test.
- Continuous deployment: the roundup includes a link on why continuous deployment matters, connecting testing practices with software delivery.
- Exploratory testing: it mentions The Little Black Book on Test Design as intended for exploratory testing and suggests that some ideas may also transfer to automation.
These are topics represented by the links, not claims that all the linked arguments remain applicable to modern tools or workflows.
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How to use the post today
Use it as a dated snapshot of what one Selenium practitioner was discussing in 2011: thoughtful test design, selective automation, suite maintainability, and the relationship between testing and delivery. It does not provide current Selenium release information, browser support, compatibility guidance, or a present-day assessment of the linked resources. For those questions, consult current Selenium documentation rather than treating this roundup as a guide.
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