Learn how to test the platform from different roles without it being visible to everyone.
Sometimes you want to test a new workflow and experience how it works from different roles. And sometimes you get a question from a user where you would like to see for yourself what they experience.
It is nice if that user sends a screenshot and shares the URL of the place where it happens. It is even better if that user can record a video (we use the online tool Loom for this ourselves, because then you only have to share a link - but there are many more options). But not everyone can or wants to do this.
Fortunately, you can also test a number of things yourself by making smart use of the possibilities of the platform. To do this, you will first have to go through a number of steps so that you can work without all other users and visitors of the platform seeing all the tests passing by.
Click on a link to go straight to the right part or go through everything from the beginning below.
- Step 1: create an "invisible organization/team"
- Step 2: create multiple test user accounts
- Step 3: work from multiple browsers at the same time
- Step 4: make your activities invisible
Step 1: create an "invisible" organization page
You can create a new organization, but in many cases it is more convenient to do this as a sub-team.
- Go to the settings of your organization page and activate the team functionality (if it is not already enabled). You can get there via your profile icon > organization > settings > customize.
- Create a team.
- Once your team has been created, you must adjust the privacy settings so that it is not shown in the results. You can get there via settings > privacy. It is important that the following functions are enabled: 'Private organization', 'Hide activities of members' and 'Hide organization in search results'.
- Now your organization and its activities are hidden from the search results. It is "invisible".
Step 2: Create multiple test user accounts
You are now the administrator of the test organization with your "normal" account. In order to be able to test properly, it is useful to also have an organization administrator and a normal user account.
This can be done very easily using a sub- or task-specific email address. Nowadays, this is supported by most email providers, including Google (task-specific) and Microsoft (sub). The name varies, but fortunately the operation is the same everywhere.
The advantage of a sub-email address is that you can create unique email addresses (and therefore also unique user accounts) that arrive at your regular address. So you do not have to create new accounts, manage multiple inboxes or set up all kinds of extra things.
You create a sub-email address by adding a plus sign (+) and a word before the @ sign in your current email address.
Example
Let's assume that current@domain.co.uk is your current email address. Now suppose you want to create an account for user A.
You can then choose to create an account with the following email address: current+a@domain.co.uk.
All messages and notifications for that user will arrive at your current email address: current@domain.co.uk.
This way you can create an infinite number of accounts while you know for sure that the messages will continue to arrive at your current address. This way you can create an account for each role. For example:
- current+administrator@domain.nl
- current+moderator@domain.nl
- current+user@domain.nl
- You can now invite the different users to become members from the test organization.
- Give each user an email address that matches their role (you can find more about the different roles here)
- Also give each user a different name so that you do not have multiple accounts with your own name. You can use the same surname as you used for the email address. For example: First name User --> current+user@domain.co.uk
- You will now receive multiple invitations in your own inbox. NOTE: you cannot simply log in to multiple accounts in one browser, see below.
Step 3: work from multiple browsers at the same time
To be able to test properly, it is useful to be able to work from multiple accounts at the same time. For example, you can then simulate a conversation between an organization and a user while also seeing how you can keep track of that as a platform administrator. How do you do that?
You can only be logged in to our platform with one account at a time. In order to be logged in with multiple accounts at the same time, you can open multiple browsers at the same time. You can be logged in with a different account within each browser.
Tips
- You can easily switch between windows (browsers) on your computer by using the key combination Alt + Tab.
- An incognito/private window also counts as a separate browser.
Step 4: Make your activities invisible
If you want to test things related to activities and registrations, you need to make sure that the activity is only visible to members. That way you don't bother the regular visitor with it.
And that's it! This way you can test and experience a lot of things without bothering the regular visitor of your platform. Have fun.