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“A Smattering of Selenium #77” was a short historical link roundup by Adam Goucher, published on January 31, 2012—not a Selenium release announcement or a current news page. Its links touched on Selenium test diagnostics, web-performance data, Python tooling, deployment software, and a joke about repetitive work.

When was Selenium Smattering #77 published?

The Selenium blog published the post on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. Goucher framed it as one installment in an effort to publish a Smattering every day that week and clear his backlog of saved links. As he put it: “No. Really. A Smattering every day this week and I’ll have the link queue cleared.”

The Selenium Smattering archive places #77 within the series, a recurring collection of links about Selenium and software automation.

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What links did the post include?

The post offered brief pointers to other material rather than detailed instructions or a single central announcement:

  • Web-performance data: a post about collecting performance data using Selenium with BrowserMob Proxy.
  • Python HTTP tooling: a suggestion to use Python’s Requests module and the Envoy library instead of lower-level alternatives discussed in the linked post.
  • Failure screenshots: a link about capturing screenshots when Selenium tests fail, using JUnit.
  • Deployment software: a note that Rackspace had open-sourced Dreadnot, with a reference to its relationship to Deployinator.
  • Repetitive tasks: a humorous Twitter link on the subject.

How should you read this roundup today?

Treat it as a snapshot of links Adam Goucher collected in 2012. The post records what those links were about at the time; it does not establish the projects’ present maintenance, compatibility, ownership, or availability. In particular, its mentions of BrowserMob Proxy, Envoy, Dreadnot, and Deployinator are historical references, not current recommendations.

If you are looking for current Selenium setup guidance, a release announcement, or an up-to-date tool comparison, this roundup is not that: it is a dated community link collection. The Selenium archive helps locate it in the Smattering series, while the original post is the source for its date, author, and selections.

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The 2012 post’s JUnit pointer concerned screenshots captured when Selenium tests fail. For a separate task—capturing a website page directly as an image or PDF—ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server from Yorker Media. A single GET request can return a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF; it is not a replacement for Selenium-driven interaction or JUnit failure hooks.

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