If you write software for a living, you probably have a bias toward coded tests and against all things codeless. Most software engineers who become test engineers trust themselves to write well-designed structured code. Some people see record-and-playback as cheating, demeaning, or otherwise indicative of poor workmanship. Yet, research shows that test code maintenance costs correlate directly to the number of lines of written test code.
In Web UI testing, testers have to deal with increasing new page objects and changing identifiers when the web application grows. No matter if you are a manual or an automation tester, updating object locators for the Application Under Test (AUT) is a required step when changes are made. This helps ensure regression testing flows without friction and all key functionalities are not affected.