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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →“A Smattering of Selenium #89” is a short Selenium community link roundup published by Adam Goucher on June 18, 2012—not a Selenium 89 software release announcement. It collects six links on browser performance testing, test login design, RSpec, event media, and Python. Here is what the archived post actually covers, and how to distinguish it from current Selenium news.
What “A Smattering of Selenium #89” is
The number 89 identifies the installment in a recurring blog series called “A Smattering of Selenium.” It does not identify a Selenium version. Goucher’s post is an editorial roundup: brief comments point readers to six external items rather than announce a project release or document a new Selenium feature.
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The archive places this installment among nearby issues, including #88 and #90. Its publication date—June 18, 2012—is essential context: it is a historical snapshot of links that interested a Selenium community writer at the time.
The six links in the roundup
- “Automate Page Load Performance Testing with Firebug and Selenium.” The title indicates that the linked item concerns page-load performance testing using Firebug and Selenium. Goucher says the topic was not new but was timely for him. The roundup does not provide a procedure, measured results, or a performance claim.
- “Speed up your features with a backdoor login route.” Goucher describes this as an older post and says it addressed something he had needed to explain repeatedly. The title alone does not establish how the login route works or whether it is appropriate for a particular application.
- “RSpec’s New Expectation Syntax.” Goucher notes that the item explains both what the syntax is and why. The roundup does not reproduce the syntax or provide a migration guide.
- “Slides & Videos from LDNSE #6.” This is the event-media link in the collection. The roundup does not give further details about the talks or their contents.
- “Python Timer Class – Context Manager for Timing Code Blocks.” Goucher says it reminded him to use context managers more often. The roundup does not include implementation details or timing results.
- “Overloading Python list comprehension.” Goucher calls it an interesting experiment, with a qualified aside. The title and comment do not establish that it is a recommended Python technique.
What the post does—and does not—tell you
The six titles show the breadth of the links: browser testing, test workflow, Ruby testing syntax, event recordings, and Python programming. They are not evidence that the Selenium project adopted any of the ideas, that a tool achieved a particular performance gain, or that the linked approaches are still supported. Several destination pages are not available through the archive record, so their details and present-day availability cannot be established from the roundup alone.
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In particular, the Firebug/Selenium title is not a benchmark. It gives no test setup, browser version, timing figures, or comparative result. Likewise, the login-route link title is not enough to infer security guidance. Treat both as pointers to historical discussion, not as instructions to copy into a current test suite.
How this differs from current Selenium news
The Selenium project’s current news and release activity is separate from a 2012 blog roundup. The official blog index reports Selenium 4.49 released on September 9, 2026, and notes a planned change for Selenium 4.51: ExpectedCondition will stop implementing Guava’s Function interface. These are current project announcements, not contents of Goucher’s #89 post.
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The Selenium repository’s ongoing release notes cover work across language bindings and WebDriver BiDi, including implementation and maintenance activity. That continuing development should not be read back into the 2012 roundup.
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There is also a current concern about code quality: in a September 29, 2026 post, Selenium contributor David Burns wrote, “A lot of Selenium code is now written by coding agents, and it is wrong in the same handful of ways every time.” That observation concerns contemporary generated code, not the older link roundup.
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