6.1. Poor Quality reports: Why vocabulary matters

This subject is very complex and it is usually a combination of more than just a single factor. To help you understand why this status is sometimes selected we will try to split these contributing elements into several subsections.

When the decision is made to mark a bug as a ‘Poor Quality Report’ it is mostly because one or more of these reasons have been noticed in the bug report:

• Language

We at Tester Work are proud that our crowd of testers comes from all corners of the world and we understand that there is a big chance that English might not be your first or even second language.

However, English has slowly become the most used language in IT because of the number of people worldwide who speak it to at least some degree. Therefore, the language we use to communicate with our testers has to be English so that people from all over the planet can interact together with a common goal to provide the best result possible in the tasks we set out to perform.

As a professional tester or even as an amateur testing freelancer, you should try to make it a big part of your mission and daily routine to master the very basics of testing terms and correct grammar.

The results you provide need to be easy to understand, clear and concise, and have all the correct elements of a proper bug report.

We apologize if you think this is in any way unfair or somehow discriminatory, but you need to remember that we ourselves are a multinational team working with multinational companies, therefore you should aspire to improve your language skills to meet those great expectations. We assure you that in the professional setting of IT work, your language skills will matter almost as much as your testing skills. Improving yourself will go a long way toward your endeavors in this field.

Although we cannot provide direct assistance in your journey to mastering the English language, we have compiled a list of terms and expressions commonly used when providing an accurate test report. If you study this list and absorb the information presented, we are certain you can level up your bug reporting skills, and that your reports will be much better received anywhere, not just on our platform.

Alongside this reason, there is also an immediate secondary direct consequence of using the correct terminology, and that is the ‘Known Issues’ list. Having the vocabulary to correctly describe an issue can help you find that issue much easier with the correct search keys in the ‘Known Issues’. This can go a long way for you to avoid wasting time and losing rank by reporting a duplicate entry that will ultimately be rejected.

So let's jump into this inventory of correct Tester lingo:

1. “The User” - this is one of the most used terms you will ever find when reviewing bug descriptions. The term refers to the person performing the action that leads to the bug. This term is preferred because it is impersonal and can refer to anyone regardless of position or skill level. The “user” can be anyone, which helps give the report a sense of impartiality towards the bug. Examples: When the user launches the app / The issue only occurs when the user clicks the button.
2. “Displayed” - the correct term to be used when describing a visual issue. This term should be used to replace words like “look”, “shown”, “appear” or “seen”. Other than being a very broad term that can easily be used in multiple situations, it also has the benefit of having a professional feel to your report. Examples: a loading screen is displayed when opening the section/the text is incorrectly displayed on the screen
3. “Overlap” - this term should be used whenever an app element is displayed over another element. This term can be used for text, graphical elements, buttons, logos, or even entire screens. It should be used instead of  “go beyond”, “protrude”, “overlay”, “run over”, “sit on top” or “folded over”. Examples: when the user taps the settings button he will notice that the Terms and conditions screen overlaps the Side Menu bar
4. “Spill” - we usually use this term when an element (usually text) goes out of its designated area. It can be very easy to confuse a spill with an overlap because by its nature in order for an element to spill out it has to overlap with another element. The easy way to distinguish between them is to think of overlaps as elements that maintain their “edges” and simply cover another element, while spills break through their “edge” and they penetrate another visual element. Examples: the error message text spills out of the error pop-up
5. “Misspelled” - use this term when a word or phrase is not correct in a grammatical way. Use this term in order to avoid resorting to terms like “incorrect”, “badly written” or “wrong word” because these terms are very general and they do not properly convey the exact problem you are trying to describe. Examples: the privacy policy page contains multiple misspelled words
6. “Access” - use this term whenever referring to opening a section or screen. Use this term instead of “go inside”, “go to” or “enter”. Examples: when the user accesses the main menu he will notice that the application crashes
7. “Functionality” - the functionality of an app can be understood as a range of actions that can be executed. Any action that can be made inside the app fall inside the range of the app’s functionality. Examples: the app's functionality is greatly impaired under low internet connection
8. “Improper” - this is a general term that describes any unwanted behavior observed in the app. Examples: the loading screen animation is improperly displayed
9. “(Infinite) Loading” - while a certain amount of loading is usual for any app, there are times when the app’s loading continues for unacceptable amounts of time. As a general rule, if an app’s loading time exceeds 2 minutes the tester can submit a bug report using the term “infinite loading”. Examples: when the user accesses the game’s multiplayer he will notice that an infinite loading is displayed
10. “Freeze” - a freeze occurs when the app stops giving any visual or audio feedback to the user’s commands. When the screen shows the same screen and the buttons or interface do not respond anymore to any touch gesture but the device system remains functional and active then the app is frozen. Examples: When the user exits the log-in screen he will notice that the app freezes
11. “Stuck” - unlike freezes, a stuck state occurs when the app continues to give visual and audio feedback but the user can not progress further in the app forcing the user to restart the app in order to use the app correctly again. Please note that lag or loading issues do not qualify under the stuck term unless at least one element of the app still reacts and gives feedback when selected. Example: the back button becomes unresponsive so the app remains stuck on the settings screen
12. “Disable/Enable”  - to activate a function in the app Examples: the app crashes when the user disables the security settings from the main menu
13. “Unable” - when you can not generate the action or response you were expecting Examples: the user is unable to progress to the next level as the game overscreen is not triggered
14. “Search Query” - words that are typed into a search engine/text field in order to get the information that you require Examples: the app’s search query returns an invalid result when searching for promotional items
15. “Toggle” - a key or button on a computer that is pressed to turn a feature on and then off. Additionally, the verb form of “to toggle” means to actually execute the action of turning said button on and off. Example: the privacy notification remains active even after the user toggles the button several times
16. “Slider” - similar to the toggle, the slider is a button/element that allows the user to use a swipe-type gesture to trigger an action. Example: the volume slider can only be moved up to the 80% level
17. “Hamburger Menu” - The hamburger menu or hamburger icon is a name given to the menu icon found in newer programs and websites that hide the traditional file menu. It is usually visually displayed as 3 horizontal lines or 3 points. Example: the hamburger menu button loses functionality after returning from the Profile screen
18. "Carousel" (ads) - a carousel is a kind of visual format that combines multiple videos or images into a single dynamic element. This format is usually used for ads because it can provide a lot of information in a single element without the user having to access another screen or section.
19. "Header/Footer" - An app’s header/footer is the correct terminology to use when referring to the section of an app’s page that contains valuable information (like the name of the section, logos, mission statement, company values, etc.) and functional items (like menu buttons, hyperlinks, subsections, profile indicators). Example: When the user scrolls down to the page’s footer he will notice that the hyperlinks are improperly displayed
20. "Placeholder" - A placeholder is a character, word, string of characters, or even graphical element that temporarily takes the place of the final data. A placeholder is used when an element of the app is still under work and has not yet been replaced by the correct one. A tester should be careful, however, as some placeholders might be intentionally left in place during the app’s development phase. This among many others provides a very good reason for the tester to thoroughly review the Tester Spec Document to find out what if some sections or parts of the app should or should not be tested. That being said, if the Tester Spec does not mention anything about any work in progress on the placeholder you found, you should always report it as a bug, since placeholders can be accidentally forgotten/generated inside an already finished section. Example: When the user expands the Terms and Conditions section, he will notice that the content is replaced by a placeholder text.