HackerNews Sorting Validation - Playwright Test Suite

Comprehensive automated test suite validating chronological sorting and functionality of Hacker News' "newest" page. This project demonstrates advanced Playwright testing skills with 100-article validation and 38 UI test cases.

🎯 What This Tests

• Core Validation: Chronological sorting of 100 articles (newest to oldest)
• UI Components: Navigation, pagination, article metadata
• Data Integrity: Timestamp formats, article elements, page structure
• Edge Cases: Missing data, boundary conditions, error handling

Total Coverage: 39 test cases across 6 test suites + core sorting validation

🛠️ Technologies

• Playwright v1.40+ (Library & Test Framework)
• JavaScript (ES6+)
• Node.js v16+

📦 Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ellen20/hackernews-playwright-sorting-validation.git
cd hackernews-playwright-sorting-validation

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Install Playwright browsers
npx playwright install

# Verify installation
npm run test:core

🚀 Running Tests

npm run test:all       # Run everything (core + UI tests)
npm run test:core      # Run core sorting validation only (index.js)
npm run test:extra     # Run UI test suites only (tests/)
npm run test:report    # View HTML test report

📁 Project Structure

hackernews-playwright-sorting-validation/
├── index.js                      # Core: 100-article sort validation
├── tests/
│   ├── ui-elements.spec.js       # UI component interactions (6 tests)
│   ├── article-elements.spec.js  # Article metadata validation (7 tests)
│   ├── timestamp.spec.js         # Timestamp format/validity (5 tests)
│   ├── pagination.spec.js        # Navigation functionality (6 tests)
│   ├── page-structure.spec.js    # Page layout verification (6 tests)
│   └── edge-cases.spec.js        # Robustness testing (8 tests)
├── helpers/
│   ├── navigation.js             # Navigation utilities
│   └── extraction.js             # Data extraction utilities
├── playwright.config.js
├── package.json
└── README.md

📊 Test Coverage

Test Suite	Tests	Focus Area
Core Validation	1	100-article chronological sorting
UI Elements	6	Component interactions
Article Elements	7	Metadata validation
Timestamps	5	Format & validity
Pagination	6	Navigation functionality
Page Structure	6	Layout verification
Edge Cases	8	Robustness testing
Total	39	Comprehensive coverage

🔍 Implementation Approach

Core Test (index.js)

• Uses Playwright as a library for direct browser automation
• Validates 100 articles sorted chronologically (newest to oldest)
• Execution: node index.js

UI Test Suites (tests/)

• Uses Playwright Test framework with built-in runner and assertions
• 38 tests across 6 comprehensive test suites
• Cross-browser testing: Chromium, Firefox, WebKit
• Execution: npx playwright test

This dual approach demonstrates proficiency with both Playwright library and test framework.

📝 Test Strategy

See TEST_STRATEGY.md for detailed testing approach, technical decisions, and rationale.

👨‍💻 Author

Jingling Jin

• QA Engineer with 3 years of experience
• Specializing in test automation and quality assurance
• 📧 jljin0524@gmail.com
• 📍 Houston, Texas

🎓 Project Purpose

This portfolio project demonstrates:

• Advanced test automation with Playwright
• Comprehensive test strategy design
• Clean, maintainable code architecture
• Real-world testing of live applications
• Both library and framework implementation approaches

📄 License

This project is for educational and portfolio purposes.