What is visual regression testing?
Visual regression testing compares screenshots of an interface before and after a change to catch unintended visual differences.
Functional tests check that elements exist and behave. Visual tests check how the page actually looks, catching overlapping elements, broken layouts and styling changes that functional tests pass.
Good visual testing masks dynamic content, uses sensible thresholds and makes approving intended changes easy, otherwise noise overwhelms the signal.
Example
A global CSS change increases line height. Functional tests pass, but the visual test shows the pricing table’s last row now overlaps the footer on mobile.
Best practices
- Capture screenshots at stable checkpoints
- Mask timestamps, avatars and animations
- Compare per breakpoint and theme
- Approve intended changes to update the baseline
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