Category: Guides

It is the modern era of technology, and we know everything works digitally, from calling a friend through an app to scheduling important meetings with your office colleagues. Everything now can be done with the help of your fingertips.

Google Calendar by Gmail is one of the great tools as it provides many functionalities. The Gmail app is the second most widely used email application, while Google Calendar is also the most widely used network. According to statistics, 500 million people worldwide are using Google calendar, which is also available in 41 languages for people of different nationalities.

If you are reading this article, you are probably searching for a way to share your Google Calendar with others. Look no further! We have whatever you want to know; continue reading!

Before knowing how to share Google Calendar, we have to know how to schedule an event on it first.

Steps to create an event on Google Calendar

1. Open Google Calendar using Google Apps.

2. Click on the date and time you want to schedule an event. Or, you can click Create from the top left corner of your screen.

3. Add your preferred details, event title, event location, event time and which Calendar you want it to be a part of.

4. Add or invite guests to your event as you want.

5. After completing the event details, click the Save button.

After completing the above steps, a calendar event will be created on your Google Calendar at the location and time. And the guests you would have added will be notified, and they will be able to access the event.

Now that you have learned how to create an event let’s look at ways to share your Google Calendar.

Ways to share your Google Calendar

You need to be aware of your busy colleagues’ and clients’ schedules when setting up meetings, especially with them. Instantly sharing your Google Calendar with others makes scheduling a time and location much easier. How frequently have you overheard a team member calling a client to inquire about their availability for a subsequent meeting? A shared calendar makes things quick and easy in that situation.

There are multiple ways to share your Google calendar; select what is feasible for you!

Sharing Google Calendar via settings

• Open your Google Calendar on your computer or laptop-sharing through a mobile app that is not available.
• At the bottom left menu, look for “My Calendars” you can expand or close the list by clicking ^.
• Hover your mouse over the Calendar you want to share, then select the three dots on the right.
• After that, select “Settings and Sharing.”

There are a few options you can select from, depending on the way you plan to share your Google Calendar with others.

• Under “Share with specific people,” you can add contacts one at a time.
• If you want and don’t mind sharing it with anyone, you can select “Make available to the public,” and anyone with the link will be able to view your public Calendar. However, in the tab on the right, you can adjust the settings on which details are visible.

Sharing Google Calendar to view in a web browser

1. A direct HTML link can be sent to the people you want to view your Google Calendar.
2. Click Settings
3. On the left side, click your Calendar
4. In the section where it says “Access Permissions,” click “Get shareable link” and copy the link
5. Send the link to any contacts you want your Google Calendar to view.

Google Calendar is a great tool, and you can use it in multiple ways. Let us list some ways to use it and make your life easier.

Syncing all your work in one place

Want to sync every Calendar you have with Google Calendar? By doing this, you’ll be able to view your events on a single calendar and get a clear image of how busy you are. If you have both, you may sync your personal and business calendars to view them.

1. Open your Google Calendar
2. Click the “Settings menu” gear, then select “Settings.”
3. Scroll down to “Import and Export”
4. Export your Calendar
5. Go to your main Calendar
6. Click the “Settings menu” gear, then select “Settings” again
7. Scroll down to “Import and Export”
8. And import your Calendar

The above-given method will sync all your work in one place and make it easy for you to manage it using one Calendar.

Viewing your Colleague’s Calendars

If you’re working at a large or mid-sized company, you might have several meetings in a day with your colleagues. It is very important to view your colleague’s calendars to schedule the meetings at the right time and know when everyone involved is free to have a meeting. With Google Calendar, viewing your colleague’s Calendar and events for the day is easy.

1. Open Google Calendar
2. On the left side menu, type your coworker’s email under Add Calendar.
3. A request for permission to view your coworker’s Calendar will be sent to their email; once it is accepted, you will be able to view their Calendar and events.

Changing your Google Calendar View

If your Calendar is overflowing with events, switching up the view can help you better understand what’s coming up. A day view could be useful if you have a busy schedule every day so you can concentrate on all of your meetings for the day. However, a monthly view can be more useful if you discover that you only seldom have an event.
You can change your Google Calendar view by:

1. Open Google Calendar
2. Besides the settings menu, click the dropdown (Day, Week, Month, etc.)
3. Then choose the setting you want to view your Calendar.
4. You can also select whether to show weekends or not.

Setting Privileges

With the help of shared Google calendars, you may use different permission settings to make the most of other people’s time-saving efforts or restrict access to keep full control over events. You can choose how much access you wish to grant to those authorized to view your Calendar. Google provides four levels of access while sharing calendars:

1. Manage changes and sharing

This level of access allows a person to create or delete events on your Calendar and manage the sharing options. You can assign anyone to do your work, like schedule events and share your calendar events with anyone on your behalf.

2. Manage events only

With this accessibility level, you can grant someone permission to handle your events. They can create and schedule meetings for you without access to sharing capabilities.

3. See all event details.

The person you will allow this level of access to will only be able to view your public events. They will not be able to create or schedule any event for you. No events can be deleted, and they can view no personal events.

4. See free or busy (hidden details)

Only the free or busy information is displayed to the viewer with no name or information.

Disable Calendar Sharing Option

This was about sharing your Google Calendar to make scheduling easier, but what if you want to disable the sharing option? What should you do then?

Sharing a Google Calendar is easy likewise, and vice versa is also very easy. You have to follow some simple steps.
Start by clicking the Calendar you want to modify.
If you are using a touch screen, touch and long press the calendar name.
Lastly, select the “Permissions” option. Locate the person whose access you want to change, then select a new configuration type or the discard icon to remove it completely. This will prevent Calendar sharing with that person. You can “Save” alterations or “Cancel” them.

Conclusion

To make your scheduling process more efficient, share your Google Calendar with others. A Google Calendar can be shared easily, and many privacy options are available. All you need is a legitimate Gmail account. You can allow anyone to schedule and create or delete events for you. They can also add the people involved in a meeting or exclude anyone from attending it. Likewise, you can always stop allowing access to the Calendar by disabling the sharing option. You can delete the email of the person you have granted permission to and change the access level for that person under “Permissions.”

The fact that 24% of companies have experienced a significant increase in Return On Investment (ROI) after adopting automated testing validates its potential as a game-changing technology. It’s no surprise that businesses are now shifting from manual to automated testing to keep pace with the competition and increase their revenue.

Note that QA automation is different from manual testing, and a comprehensive understanding of the process is necessary to optimize your revenues. That’s where we come in.

In this article, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step process for QA automation testing, equipping you with the knowledge to execute it correctly. Stay up to date with this latest technology and start now to stay ahead of the game.

QA Automation: 5 Steps of Quality Assurance Process

Set a Specific Goal

The first step of QA automation is much like manual QA testing, which is setting a specific goal. A well-defined goal is necessary to achieve a conclusive outcome.

Set practical goals and consider potential factors. This includes your team’s expertise in running the QA automation software, the volume of data, and the software you’re testing.

Additionally, you don’t have to test the entire application or software. Automating specific features may suffice, depending on the testing software you’re using.

Factors to Consider When Setting a Goal for Automated QA Testing

In addition to the primary considerations, running a smooth QA automation test involves keeping other factors in view. This includes:

• How complicated is the software? – Some software is complex and may require more extensive and thorough automated testing to ensure that all components are working properly,
• How much time do you have? – Since QA automation is a costly process, you should opt for it when running out of time to deliver the product on a committed hour.
• How many resources do you have? – You need to consider the available resources for the project. Failing to consider this factor may lead to interruptions in the middle of the process.

Picking Automation Tool

Selecting the right tool is the next step in initiating the QA automation testing process. As the name implies, automated testing requires the utilization of a tool.

There are a plethora of tools available in the market. Some of these tools are free, while others ask for monthly and annual payments for their premium features. It is no secret that the most reliable tools often come with a price tag.

Remember, all tools might not be well-suited for every project. Project nature difference and the technology employed in your application are critical factors to consider when selecting a tool.

Despite these considerations, choosing the appropriate tool is essential for achieving accurate and effective results.

How to Pick the Best QA Automation Tool

Choosing the right QA automation tool is essential for effective testing. The factors listed below will help you achieve the best choice to meet your testing needs.

• Cost – Set a budget for your project and select a tool that fits within it.
• Functionality – Ensure the tool you choose is compatible with your software or application.
• Versatility – Choose a testing tool that promises versatility and allows testing on various types of software.
• Usage – Opt for a tool that your team is already familiar with to avoid difficulties in understanding results.

Design Script Outline

Design an online script once you have selected a QA automation tool. Keep in mind that your script should meet the project requirements and follow a standard format.

An ideal script is always:

• Well-structured – with every part and detail clearly defined
• Reusable – applicable to different used cases
• Easy to understand – facilitating third-party analysis
• Specific to the selected tool – mentioning the tool you’ll work with
• Time-bound – with a defined deadline to complete the project
• Goal-oriented – with comprehensive detail on objectives
• Result-driven – highlighting the desired outcome or the features being tested

Tools To Use for Scripting

Scripting the QA automation process can be done manually or through automation using various open-source and reliable tools. Some popular options include:

• Selenium WebDriver
• Appium
• Android Monitor

Not only are these tools used for scripting, but you can also use them for testing features or software across multiple browsers.

Test Execution

Once you have completed all the steps mentioned above, begin your QA automation test. However, you’ll need to select a test type before launching the test, as there are two types available.

Types of Testing

Let’s have a look at these testing types so you can pick one that aligns with your project requirements.

• GUI Testing

GUI or Graphic User Interface (GUI) testing is the type of testing that primarily monitors ease of use. It keeps in view the user persona and replicates the user behavior on your software or application when testing.

This type of testing can also be conducted manually. However, the GUI QA automation test accelerates the process and helps you achieve the target quickly – probably in half time.

Using this testing mechanism, you detect the bugs and eliminate errors you or your QA team might have missed during manual testing. It is intended to make sure your software works as expected and desired.

• API Testing

API testing is used to test your application’s programming interface, which cannot be tested through GUI testing.

Assessing built-in house and third-party APIs is the primary aim of this testing system. It focuses on end-to-end transactions along with individual software components.

While the testing may include security attack responses, testing response time and format, and the capability of software to handle boundaries. So you can have a better understanding of your software’s accuracy.
Pick one of these testing types depending on the type of software you have and the features you want to test.

Analysis and Studying Report

Collect and analyze the results after you have picked a test type and conducted one of the QA automation tests. The tool you will use for automation will generate a report.

These results will provide you insights into any bugs or issues that you missed out on in manual testing. It will also indicate if additional testing is necessary.

If reports suggest that no further testing is required, you can implement the necessary corrections. At this point, you might need to collaborate with your design and development teams – depending on the stage of your software.

Conclusion

To ease your QA automation testing, we provided you with a comprehensive process to automate your product’s quality assurance. Begin by setting a specific goal for the automation test.

This step is followed by selecting the appropriate tool that meets your criteria, requirements, and budget while aligning with your team’s expertise. Designing a well-structured and reusable script is the next crucial step in the process. Once the script is in place, execute your test and analyze the results generated by the automation tool.

Discuss the identified bugs with your design and development team to make necessary corrections and ensure your software or application is error-free before launch. By following these steps, you can streamline your QA automation process and improve the accuracy and efficiency of your testing.

If users land on your website but go back to the previous website or search engine within a few seconds, you may need to make a few improvements. In a study, 88% of customers stated that they didn’t prefer returning to sites that aren’t user-friendly, which makes a user interface an important factor impacting user experience.

This statistic shows how important it is to perform usability testing before launching your product or website. If you are searching for how to conduct usability testing for a website, application, or software, we have got you covered.

Here are the six simple steps you can follow to make your interface smooth, retain website visitors, and generate higher revenue.

6 Simple Steps for Conducting Usability Testing

Step 1. Have a Product Ready and Specify Your Goals

To get started with the usability testing process, you should have the product ready. Your product can be anything between software, a website, or an application. Sometimes, usability testing is conducted when the final product is ready. Whereas some businesses prefer conducting initial tests on the prototype.

Be certain if you want to test a prototype or the final product. We’d suggest testing at the prototype stage since it is easier to address major issues at the start.

Along with choosing the product stage for testing, you should also have a testing goal in mind. Make up your mind if you want to test its design, its smooth use, or its navigation.

Testing with a set goal will get you the results you’re looking for and help you make necessary improvements. Otherwise, driving a reliable result and creating a plan for improvement can be challenging.

For smooth and efficient testing, you can also outsource a QA engineer. In fact, you can get in touch with VinnCorp’s talented QA engineers, who have years of experience making software products user-friendly.

Step 2. Design the Test and Pick a Test Type

The next step of usability testing is designing your test. It’s important to have a flawless test design to generate error-free results.

Your test type can be divided into two sub-categories:

• Open Ended Tasks
• Specific Task

Open Ended Tasks

Open-ended tasks are carried out to identify the most common interest of your targeted audience. It helps you work on primary issues that are keeping users from using your product effortlessly.

Specific Tasks

As the name implies, specific tasks intend to generate results for a particular feature or functionality. Usually, these types of tasks can address issues when a product has multiple functionalities or is highly complex.

Pick a test type from both of these according to your scenario and product type to conduct successful user testing.

Step 3. Test Your Product With the Right Audience

Once you have set the goal and chosen a test type, the next step is to find the right test audience. This step is the most crucial one and takes a hefty amount of time. With a product live, you might not have to work hard in this stage and can perform tests on your existing customers. However, if you do not have an audience, you might have to use your social channels.

Ask your friends or family members to be a participant if their interest aligns with the product you are about to launch. Be sure to remind them that you want unbiased results to acquire the right knowledge and flaws of your product.

If achieving unbiased results is not possible, try to avoid fellow employees or family members, as they can affect the data. Since a well-aware audience comes with pre-convinced thoughts and experience, they might also reflect and criticize your product on the basis of their prior experience. Recruiting an audience unfamiliar with your product can be highly beneficial in this case.

Additionally, take account of your audience’s “gender, age, location, education, profession, income, or characteristics” to evaluate the results better.

Step 4. Conduct Your Test on a Suitable Platform

Depending on the type of your product, you can conduct tests in two ways:

• Remote
• In-person

Remote

For remote testing, you can use platforms like Skype or Zoom. Observe the expressions of your test participants if it’s live to get a better idea of their impression of a specific feature.

While conducting the test, you can also tell your tester to imagine a product and its specific feature’s impact on their life. This will help them make a better verdict on it.

In-Person

Request your test participant to evaluate how smoothly your product responds and operates and add a personal touch when dealing with participants personally. This will also make your tester comfortable and distraction-free.

In fact, you should always pick an isolated place to test with no pets, family members, or employees around. One good example is the Guerilla method, where you can simply meet the tester in cafes or public places to conduct tests.

Practice asking the questions beforehand to focus on the subject’s answers on the spot. You can also record the test conversation with the consent of the candidate. This will keep you free from making notes.

Mention that the recording will be confidential and you will be reviewing it for test analysis. Later, when you revisit the recording, you’ll be able to focus on points that might have gone unnoticed earlier during the test.

Step 5. Maintain Data of the Test

Maintaining data is the next step once you are done with the test. In this stage, you distill, summarize, and organize data to get it in good shape and make it easier to study.

The data gathered can be in the following ways:

• Audio recordings
• Video recordings
• Spreadsheet with notes
• Survey and feedback form
• Calculated success rate
• Calculated error rate percentage

Make a testing report with the above-mentioned details. You can also use a Powerpoint presentation to reflect all the data and include the background, testing method, test result, recommendations, and summary in the report.

This stage needs complete focus and proofreading of the report to ensure the results are reliable. Remember, the goal is to make amendments and improvements on the basis of the data, so never rush while making the report.

Step 6. Improve Your Product On the Basis of Data Gathered

This is the final stage of usability testing. Here, you will address bugs and fix them according to the reports generated to give your users a smoother interface and experience.

Draw a possible solution for every error encountered during the test. It would be best to have multiple solutions to solve a specific issue. This way, you can go with option B if option A doesn’t improve your product’s issue.

Collaborate with your designer and developer to resolve these issues. Share details regarding the bug found, and issues users have faced. They will work on it to make a responsive and user-friendly product.

Conclusion

To help you make your product’s interface smooth, this article discussed how to conduct usability testing in six simple steps.

Usability testing is a straightforward method to detect bugs and improve performance. To perform this test, you have to specify the goals of your test, design and pick a test type, recruit an audience to participate and take their opinion, maintain data collected during the test, and improve your product at last.

Once you carry out this test and remove the errors, you are bound to see increased engagement and conversion on your website.