The approach a test automation engineer uses to identify and target UI elements within an application during automated test execution. A locator strategy defines which selector types to use (such as IDs, CSS selectors, ARIA roles, or data attributes) and how to prioritise them for reliability and maintainability. User-facing selectors (those tied to visible labels or roles rather than internal DOM structure) are generally preferred because they are more stable across UI changes and better reflect real user behaviour. AI tools can suggest locators automatically, but the tester or engineer should review these, as AI often defaults to convenient selectors rather than the most robust ones.
For example, using a visible button label as a selector is typically more resilient than using a dynamically generated class name.
For example, using a visible button label as a selector is typically more resilient than using a dynamically generated class name.
