Jonathan Franks Explains Why Automated Testing Should Be Standard in Drupal Projects

Staff Reporter

Tiny people testing quality assurance in software isolated flat vector illustration Tiny people testing quality assurance in software isolated flat vector illustration

Jonathan Franks of Breakthrough Technologies delivers a practical, insightful look at why automated testing should be standard practice in Drupal projects. Using humor and clear examples, he argues that tests are not just for QA; they are a critical part of development. Developers should not wait for client approval to write tests. Instead, testing should be treated like any other best practice, such as using the right API or tool.

The article uses a detailed scenario involving role-based access to a Drupal view to highlight the pain of manual QA cycles. Automated functional tests, Jonathan explains, catch regressions early and reduce back-and-forth between dev and QA. He recommends starting small and points readers to Drupal Test Traits (DTT) for writing simple behavior tests that check site functionality.

Jonathan plans to follow up with more technical guidance. For now, readers are encouraged to explore the DTT project and begin writing basic tests.

Source Reference

Title

Testing is Hard (But Totally Worth It)

Byline

Jonathan Franks

Date of Publication

10 June 2025

Organization

Breakthrough Technologies, LLC

Automated Testing

Drupal

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