In some tests, you will have the option to report content bugs. Content bugs relate to the actual content of websites or apps: text, labels, pictures, videos, icons, links, data, etc.; hence, typical content bugs are:
Broken links or images (404s)
Defective redirections, in general
Missing text, e.g. in an empty tooltip
Missing content, e.g. empty content area
Missing content, e.g. if 4 out of 5 icons have a tooltip, 1 doesn't
Missing translations, e.g. some buttons on an English website having French labels
Some products are missing in search results, but the search function itself works
Missing data
Repetitive problems
When a content problem occurs repetitively, it may only be submitted once, even though each occurrence may have a different URL, link, picture, etc. This is also the case if occurrences are on the same page or on different pages. This single bug report should state that other URLs, links, pictures, etc., are also concerned.
Individual bug reports for every occurrence of the problem must not be submitted and will be rejected. The customer only needs a single reference to be made aware of the content problem. They will investigate the problem and solve it for all occurrences.
Examples:
Some product pictures on product detail pages of a webshop are broken.
Some download links for PDF manuals on product detail pages lead to 404 pages.
Some product descriptions are in a different language than the rest of the webshop.
Some labels or text snippets on a website have missing translations.
Information is missing for different items, products, or pages.
Some tooltips don't contain any information.
Some links that belong to the same group are broken.
Upgrade to functional bug
As soon as a content bug prevents a functionality, it should be reported as a functional bug, even though it is not actually the function itself that is defective.
If the functionality can be reached intuitively and easily via a different path or option, users are de facto not prevented from using the functionality, so the problem may not be submitted as a functional bug. It remains a content problem.
Another case when a content bug should be submitted as a functional bug is when the content bug occurs in a functional component of the product – namely, linking problems in the navigation menu, header, footer, or breadcrumb navigation. Such problems are typically Low bugs.
Documentation of content problems
Content reports must contain screenshots. For more information on how bug reports must be documented, visit our article Bug Report Requirements.
Out of scope
Spelling problems are not content bugs.
Staging environments often have dummy texts, or the content is missing. This is not a bug.
Understanding Broken Images and Placeholder Images: A Guide for New Testers
Broken images fail to load or display correctly on a website. Instead of the intended image, you may see an error icon, a blank space, or a broken image symbol. These issues can be caused by incorrect image URLs, server problems, file corruption, or network issues.
On the other hand, placeholder images are intentionally used as temporary visual representations until the actual images are available; visual cues indicate that no specific images will be displayed. These placeholders can be simple geometric shapes, solid colours, or icons. Unlike broken images, placeholder images are not considered defects as they serve a temporary purpose.
Let's look at examples to understand the distinction better. Imagine a webpage with a user profile picture. If the intended image fails to load and you see a broken image icon or a blank space, it indicates a broken image. Like the following ones:
On the other hand, if you come across a webpage displaying grey boxes with words like “the size of the image or just the word image inside, those are placeholder images. Like these:
