Exploratory Testing

Workflow

What to Look For

First Impressions (30 seconds)

• Is the purpose of this page immediately clear?
• Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
• Does anything look broken, misaligned, or out of place?
• Are there any console errors? (browse eval "JSON.stringify(window.__logs || [])")

Navigation Test

• Can you reach every major section from the current page?
• Does the back button work?
• Are breadcrumbs accurate?
• Are there any dead ends (pages with no way to navigate away)?
• Does the logo link to the homepage?

Form Stress Test

• Try submitting empty forms
• Enter extremely long text (200+ characters)
• Enter special characters: <script>alert('xss')</script>, "quotes", emoji 🎉
• Double-click submit buttons rapidly
• Tab through all fields — is the order logical?
• What happens when validation fails? Is the error helpful?

State Persistence

• Fill a form halfway, navigate away, come back — is data preserved?
• Create an item, refresh the page — does it still exist?
• Apply filters, refresh — are filters preserved?
• Open a modal, press Escape — does it close cleanly?

Edge Cases

• What does the page look like with no data (empty state)?
• What happens when you navigate to a URL that doesn’t exist (404)?
• What happens with an expired session / no auth?
• Resize the viewport to mobile — does it still work?

Performance Perception

• Does the page feel fast or sluggish?
• Are there loading indicators for slow operations?
• Does content pop in or load smoothly?

Exploratory Testing Report Format

For each finding:

Example: