It’s hard not to agree with the fact that sometimes when you find a bug in mobile software, you are not able to properly define some part of the virtual interface or action that has caused a bug.

Or you may feel uncomfortable while speaking with designers and developers when they attack you with technical terms that only they are able to understand.

To minimize these inconveniences, let’s analyze the terms and the main target of the most popular gestures and elements that can be met while using mobile software.

Splashscreen

It’s a unique screensaver that a user sees while he/she is launching a mobile application.

Stub

The term speaks for itself: it’s a specific element that flags an encountered problem (problems with an Internet connection, server error, technical maintenance, the page was not found, and so on).

A stub is usually located in a place where content should be located but it has not been received due to some reasons.

Webview

It’s a special component that helps to display web content inside a mobile application.

Pop-up

A small pop-up window which can appear unexpectedly, without the user’s request, and be displayed in the foreground of the screen a user is currently using.

This should not be confused with a dialogue box that appears when you perform certain actions.

Action Menu

A button in a form of three dots, which opens a menu with several options after clicking on it.

Toast

A pop-up notification that doesn’t block the application’s work and disappears in a few seconds.

It can notify users of a certain error, on the need to perform a certain action.

A toast usually contains text blocks but it can also contain graphic content (images or animated images).

Page Controls

UI element that should display a current state of a mobile screen in a form of a flat list of pages.

Suggest list

A special dropdown that contains some hints: it is shown when a user types letters or numbers.

Or a list of a previous search request.

Slider

A small horizontal scale with a few control elements, which helps a user manage a current state or value of mobile software elements such as the criterion of price section (from 0 to a maximum numeric value).

A list of the most popular gestures

Let’s define the most popular gestures that a user utilizes while executing mobile software testing:

• Tap — a touch used by a user to launch an application;
• Double tap — two short taps (touches);
• Multiple tap — three and more taps of one element;
• Long tap — a tap that lasts a few seconds. This tap can open a block of additional options (if any);
• Scroll — vertical leafing through content down or up-down;
• Swipe — swiping around;
• P2r — pull to refresh;
• Drag/Drop — a process of changing the location of selected elements;
• Pinch — a special gesture that helps to change the image scale.