The VRTs-Story
Websites break all the time
We’ve always been driven by the potential of cutting-edge web technologies to solve problems and unlock new possibilities. But after developing, launching, and maintaining hundreds of websites, a few lessons became clear:
- Deploying on Fridays is playing with fire. 🔥
Your whole weekend could go up in flames. - Every fix or feature may introduce new bugs. 🐛
Even the smallest change can lead to nasty side effects. - Taking over projects from others is like walking on thin ice. ❄️
Breaking something is almost inevitable. You just don’t know when. - Websites change even when you’re not looking. 🫣
Systems, integrations, and browsers update all the time.
Does it really have to be this way?
Sure, things break – maybe more often than we’d like – but software testing has been around forever to save the day. The problem is, test-driven development and test engineering aren’t exactly standard practice in website development. They’re often too complex and too costly to be practical.
When we first tried visual regression testing, the results were eye-opening. We set up Backstop.js on a major project we inherited, and our confidence in deploying updates skyrocketed. It uncovered issues we would have otherwise missed. However, the setup and maintenance still demanded significant effort.
Automated testing should be the standard, not the exception.
Why is noone building this?!
We thought, “Surely, someone will create a simpler version of this!” But that day never came. Year after year, we waited, but visual testing didn’t gain traction in the website development world. Most existing tools are built for software projects, demanding extensive configuration and maintenance.
It must be simple!
What we envisioned was different: minimal setup, seamless integration, yet great confidence. You should be able to rest easy knowing you’ll be alerted if anything goes wrong – even when making questionable decisions on Fridays.
So finally, we thought: screw it, let’s build it ourselves!
But as with most things, making something “simple” is the hardest part.
It must be powerful.
So here we are, on a journey to build an essential tool for anyone working with WordPress websites. To all you fellow web workers: Our goal is that you spend less time testing, so you can focus on doing your best work, every time.
Cheers ✌️
Steffen, Dominik & team Bleech
Learn the full story, technical details, and how to use VRTs to its full potential:
