Changing Screen Resolution Causes Problems in Winamp3

 

Summary

In this example we are going to perform Interference Testing on Winamp3 by changing the screen resolution. Winamp3 is a media player composed of several windows. Increasing screen resolution causes the windows of the application to separate. Decreasing it causes them to overlap (bugzilla.spinner.com:3430).

Application Description

Winamp3 is a mp3 player for Windows. It also has support for some video formats. A number of skins and plug-ins are available to allow complete customization. (Source: www.winamp.com).

The interesting fact about Winamp is that it is composed of several windows. As long as they are aligned properly, the user can move them and close them very easily.

Test Design

This example demonstrates the use of Interference Testing. One way to perform Interference Testing is to change a component or a setting that the application depends on.

One of Winamp3's responsibilities is to keep its windows aligned properly. For this test we will start several of Winamp3's windows and then change the screen resolution.

We would expect that if the windows were aligned properly before the change, they will remain aligned after the resolution was changed.
 

Performing the Test

  1. First start the application. Now moving the window called winamp3 will move all other windows as well.

  2. Change the screen resolution to its maximum. You can do that by right clicking on the desktop and selecting properties, and then the settings tab.

Results/Relevance

The increased resolution has caused the windows to separate from each other. At this point they cannot be moved around and managed as whole, until they are put together manually.

The current behavior of the application can create inconvenience for the users, especially if they have to switch often between different resolutions.

Similar Tests

We can try to decrease the resolution and check if there will be similar problem.

Start the application and set the resolution to the minimum. The result is that the windows overlap.

Configuration

Testing NullSoft's Winamp3 build #488 on:

Created 21 May 2004 for the CSTER

All images and written material ©Copyright Georgi Nikolov 2004

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