bug 1072493 - Shorten basic visibility tests, remove sleep() calls when possible
bug 1072493 - Add shortcut method for global property checks
bug 1072493 - Make the login widget open functionality a util so it can be used often.
Merge pull request #2858 from darkwing/more-test-updates

bug 1072493 - Shorten basic visibility tests, remove sleep() calls when possible