“A Smattering of Selenium #84” is a numbered link roundup, not Selenium version 84. Adam Goucher published the post on June 11, 2012, collecting links about browser automation and related software-development topics. It is useful as a snapshot of what the Selenium community was sharing then, not as a guide to current Selenium releases or browser compatibility.
What “A Smattering of Selenium #84” is
The post appeared on the official Selenium project blog and is part of its “Smattering” series. The number 84 identifies the installment; it does not name a Selenium release or product model. Goucher opens with a joke about it having been three months since the preceding installment.
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Its format is a collection of links with brief comments, rather than a release announcement, tutorial, or single-topic analysis. The official Selenium blog’s Smattering archive lists #84 among the series installments.
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What the roundup covered
Page events and page objects
One link discusses DOM Ready and the ordering of page events. Goucher cautions readers to approach the comments with care. Other links concern a page object for BrowserID and writing page objects. He says the latter reflects how he approaches page objects, except that he sometimes uses Cucumber as a functional runner.
#1 Best Overall
Operational dashboards and technical work
The post points readers to material on operational dashboards, including a link titled “Enterprise Operational Intelligence.” It also links to Etsy’s “Lessons from Etsy: Avoiding Kitchen Nightmares,” which begins with an oven belching flame and goes on to discuss technical work.
Automation, music, and test execution
Goucher calls “Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, Played by Selenium” “just cool.” Another link addresses splitting Robot Framework tests into batches for parallel execution, as one response to batches that stop being balanced.
Rank #2
Technical debt and bug tracking
“The Long Tail of Technical Debt” looks at parsing run information and considering what to do with a particular outcome pattern. The roundup also links to Bugwatch, which Goucher calls “magic,” while noting that magic can sometimes be fun.
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The installment documents links and commentary selected in 2012. It does not establish whether the linked projects, tools, articles, or recommendations remain available or current, and it should not be used to infer present-day Selenium release status or browser support. Treat it as historical community reading; check current primary documentation before making implementation decisions.
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