title: Using WebElements from PageFactory POMs in my test class
body: <p>Basically, I would like to make an assertion (from my test class) that a WebElement contains text(). Since all of my WebElements are defined in my page.class, I think I have to make them public to do this. </p>
  
  <p>I am running into a few problems with the webdriver and elements, and I think it may be because multiple test classes are accessing WebElements from the page class simultaneously. My question is: Is there a reason the WebElements must be private?</p>
  
  <p>Code example:</p>
  
  <p>All PageFactory tutorials I have seen say to make your WebElements private, like </p>
  
  <pre><code>    @FindBy(xpath = "//*[@id='searchStringMain']")
      private WebElement searchField;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But to assert that an element contains text (from another class), I have to define them like this: </p>
  
  <pre><code>    @FindBy(xpath = "(//*[contains (text(),'Hrs')])[2]")
      public static WebElement yourLoggedTime;
  </code></pre>