Test Automation Framework

Why a framework?

To standardize the automation development effort and implement best practices.
To provide a single point for customization and manage changes.
Reusable code.

Types of frameworks?

refer softwaretestinghelp.com for details.

Components that one can usually code as part of framework...

Input Folders
Output  Folders
Recording Scripts
Src Code
-modules
Utility Components
Reporting

Some Basic skills in programming ?

Read data from xls [opening an xls..selecting a sheet..selecting value of a cell..]
Create folders based on date of execution and run number..write results to folders
utility functions to manage data...like date format change, removing of trail spaces..etc.
selection of test cases for execution
batch creation
emailing
failure handling
execution results and summarized view of execution results
Integration with daily code ..Continuous integration and build.
Browser and OS independent.
(refer few others http://www.ggktech.com/blog/effective-qa-automation-framework/)

A good site http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/selenium-tutorial-1/

 listing all the Selenium Training Tutorials for your handy reference.

List of Selenium Online Training Tutorials:

Selenium Basics:

• Tutorial #1 – Selenium Testing Introduction (Must Read)
• Tutorial #2 – Selenium IDE Features, Selenium Download and installation
• Tutorial #3 – My first Selenium IDE script (Must Read)
• Tutorial #4 – Creating script using Firebug and its installation
• Tutorial #5 – Locator Types: ID, ClassName, Name, Link Text, Xpath
• Tutorial #6 – Locator Types: CSS Selector
•  Tutorial #7 – Locating elements in Google Chrome and IE

Selenium WebDriver:

• Tutorial #8 – Selenium WebDriver Introduction (Must Read)
• Tutorial #9 – Selenium WebDriver Installation with eclipse
• Tutorial #10 – My first Selenium WebDriver script (Must Read)
• Tutorial #11 – Introduction to JUnit
• Tutorial #12 – Introduction to TestNG (Must Read)
• Tutorial #13 – Handling Drop-downs
• Tutorial #14 – Looping and Conditional commands
• Tutorial #15 – Explicit and Implicit Waits
• Tutorial #16 – Handling Alerts/popups
• Tutorial #17 – Commonly used commands
• Tutorial #18 – Handling Web Tables, Frames, Dynamic Elements
• Tutorial #19 – Exception Handling

Selenium Framework:

• Tutorial #20 – Most popular Test Automation frameworks(Must Read)
• Tutorial #21 – Selenium Framework Creation & Accessing Test Data from Excel (Must Read)
• Tutorial #22 – Creating Generics and Testsuite
• Tutorial #23 – Using Apache ANT
• Tutorial #24 – Setting up Selenium Maven Project
• Tutorial #25 – Using Hudson Continuous integration tool

Advanced Selenium:

• Tutorial #26 – Logging in Selenium
• Tutorial #27 – Selenium Scripting Tips and Tricks
  
• Tutorial #28 – Database Testing using Selenium WebDriver
• Tutorial #29 – Selenium Grid Introduction (Must Read)
• Tutorial #30 – Automation Testing Using Cucumber and Selenium Part -1
• Tutorial #31 – Integration of Selenium WebDriver with Cucumber Part -2

Selenium Tips and Interview Preparation:

• Tutorial #32 – Selenium project test effort estimation
• Tutorial #33 – Selenium Interview Questions and Answers