Selenium News and Updates: A Smattering of Selenium 79
A guide to Adam Goucher’s 2012 Selenium roundup: what it linked, what “#79” means, and how it differs from ChromeDriver 79.
“A Smattering of Selenium #79” is a link roundup, not a Selenium 79 software release. Adam Goucher published it on February 2, 2012, collecting links that were still open in his browser tabs. Its subjects include web test automation, Page Objects, browser virtualization, WebDriver and meta tags, iOS techniques, and testing culture. The “#79” is the roundup’s number; it does not refer to ChromeDriver 79. Read the original post on Selenium’s blog.
What “A Smattering of Selenium #79” contains
The post is a short set of links with brief editorial comments, rather than a tutorial, release announcement, or comprehensive bibliography. Goucher opens with: “The only links left now are ones currently open in tabs right now.”
| Topic | What the roundup linked | Why it may interest a developer |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous deployment | Slides and a video from November’s SFSE talk, “Continuous Deployment At Mozilla” | A historical example of a talk connecting deployment practices with a software organization. |
| Test automation reading | Practical Web Test Automation, described at the time as having free and paid editions | A resource the author listed, while explicitly saying he had not evaluated its quality. |
| Automation guidance | “The Why, What and How of Software Test Automation” | An article about the purpose and practice of test automation. Goucher offered a mixed assessment, objecting to its use of “guideline” and criticizing its measurement section. |
| Browser virtualization | “Internet Explorer for Mac the Easy Way: Run IE 7, IE8, & IE9 Free in a Virtual Machine” | A period-specific approach to accessing older Internet Explorer versions. The author raised a concern about licensing legality; do not treat the link as current legal or setup guidance. |
| Page Objects | PageMapper, described as “a bit of template magic to create Page Objects” | A reference to a tool or technique for shaping reusable page abstractions in browser tests. |
| Consistency testing | “Web Consistency Testing” | A resource on what might be tested for consistency with Selenium. |
| Testing culture | “Taking Automated Tests Off The Pedestal” | An argument about the place and status of automated tests in a development process. |
| iOS programming | “Monkey-Patching iOS with Objective-C Categories Part I: Simple Extensions and Overrides” | A programming technique outside the main browser-testing theme that caught the author’s attention. |
| Tools and presentations | A Tool’s Tale | A presentation Goucher thought would benefit from its speaker presenting it, but still considered useful as a standalone slide deck. |
| Testing models | “Introducing the software testing ice-cream cone” | A visual model of test types and their relationship; the author’s response was that it made him want ice cream. |
| WebDriver and metadata | Goucher’s own post, WebDriver and Meta Tags | The edition’s own Selenium-related contribution. The roundup does not summarize its technical details, so consult that linked post for its argument. |
How to read this roundup today
Read it as a snapshot of links and interests from February 2012. The post’s descriptions tell you what Goucher thought of the items then; they do not establish that an external page is still available, that a tool remains maintained, or that its instructions are safe or useful with current browsers. Some outbound destinations were not verified for this article. Likewise, “free and paid editions” describes what the roundup said about Practical Web Test Automation at the time, not its present-day availability or format.
- Use the original post to identify a resource. Its short annotation is context, not a substitute for the linked source.
- Check the date and current status. Old browser versions, tools, virtual machine images, and operating-system procedures may no longer be supported.
- Separate historical interest from current practice. The roundup is useful for understanding what Selenium developers were discussing; current setup and API questions belong in current documentation.
- Follow present-day Selenium documentation for present-day work. Selenium describes WebDriver as browser control through a native browser interface, locally or remotely. That is current background, not a claim made by the 2012 roundup. See the official WebDriver documentation.
Is Selenium #79 the same as ChromeDriver 79?
No. “A Smattering of Selenium #79” is the number of a blog roundup. ChromeDriver 79 is a historical version of the driver used to control Chrome through WebDriver. The two labels share a number but identify different things.
Chrome’s official archive lists ChromeDriver 79.0.3945.36 as supporting Chrome 79 and records a fix for incorrect element-coordinate calculation compared with 79.0.3945.16. The earlier 79.0.3945.16 entry lists fixes involving JavaScript-alert crashes or lockups and a headless-mode “Element is not clickable” issue. These are historical release notes, not current browser setup recommendations. See Chrome’s ChromeDriver downloads archive.
Modern context: WebDriver and screenshots
For current browser automation, Selenium’s documentation explains that WebDriver drives a browser as a user would, either locally or on a remote machine. Browser automation can also be used to capture screenshots as part of a test or debugging workflow. If you need a repeatable image of a page rather than a full browser test suite, a screenshot API can avoid maintaining browser and driver setup for that capture.
Or skip the browser setup
ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server from Yorker Media. One GET request returns a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. Its capture flow accepts cookie and consent banners like a visitor and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each step can be turned off. Bot checks and CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing, and response headers report the page verdict and billing status. An MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients.
Here is the one-call capture pattern in the API’s documented forms. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your key and change the target URL as needed. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for response formats and options.
cURL
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpPython
import requests
r = requests.get(
"https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot",
params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"},
timeout=90,
)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)Node.js
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);Free includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card. Paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 screenshots; every feature is available on every plan. The other listed monthly plans are Growth at $15 for 15,000, Pro at $39 for 60,000, Scale at $99 for 250,000, and Business at $249 for 1,000,000. Yearly billing gives two months free.
Cookie banners, popups, and chat widgets are removed before the shot; bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed; an MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots; and 1,000 screenshots a month are free with no card, with paid plans starting at $5 for 3,000. Sign up free for ScreenshotNeo.
FAQ
Who wrote “A Smattering of Selenium #79”?
Adam Goucher wrote it. Selenium’s post is dated Thursday, February 2, 2012.
Was Selenium version 79 released in this post?
No. The title identifies the roundup’s place in the “A Smattering of Selenium” series, not a Selenium software release.
Does the roundup explain how to use PageMapper?
No. It describes PageMapper briefly as a template tool for creating Page Objects and links to it; the roundup itself is not a usage guide.
Can I rely on the linked 2012 browser virtualization instructions?
Not from this roundup alone. The author himself raised a licensing concern, and the post does not establish the present availability, legality, or safety of any linked virtual machine procedure.
Where should I look for current Selenium instructions?
Start with the official Selenium WebDriver documentation and its current getting-started guidance.
