Introduction to website testing
Trying to use a website that doesn’t work well can be very frustrating. This is particularly true when you need to do something quickly or do something important. When you need to check store hours or when you need to transfer money into your online banking account, you expect the websites you rely on to work properly.
Web developers can create a great user experience by doing extensive testing. Testing is critical when developers launch a website, when they make major changes like adding a new feature to a website, and even when they make a minor change like updating the behavior of one button on a web page.
How do web developers test their sites to ensure users have a great experience? You’ll find the answers to these questions in this module.
First, website testing isn’t that different from software testing in general. Web developers test the user experience as well as the code they write. Application developers who develop an application that works only on a laptop or personal computer rely on the user interface to be consistent. With desktop applications, the range of screen sizes is somewhat predictable, and laptops and desktops typically use a keyboard and pointing device. Web developers don’t have this advantage. A user might experience a website on a desktop computer or a mobile device, and they use everything from a physical mouse and keyboard to their finger for navigation.
Looking for bugs
Web developers spend time trying to find software-related flaws, such as bugs. Bugs are flaws in code that can cause crashes or make a site or its features work in a way that isn’t intended. They require workarounds or code changes. An important part of the web developer’s role is to find bugs in their code and eliminate them. And testing helps them do this.
Not all flaws are code-related bugs. Some flaws result from the website’s design, and others have to do with the user experience. Web developers examine all areas of a website experience to ensure that the site is operating as they designed it to operate.
Types of website testing
There are many different types of website tests that web developers and testers perform, each with specific objectives and strategies. Explore each of these types and learn about their similarities and differences.
Acceptance tests
These tests check whether the whole website, client and server, works as intended. Individual website users or teams of users typically perform this type of test at the end of a project just before the launch.
Integration tests
These tests ensure that the website’s components and functions work together as they’re supposed to. For example, a developer might run a series of tests to ensure that the client can make application programming interface (API) calls to the server and that the server sends the proper response back.
Unit tests
These tests validate that a specific feature or behavior of the website performs as expected. A unit is the smallest testable part of a website. For example, developers might run tests on a drop-down menu on their web form to make sure it opens and closes properly and contains the right data.
Functional tests
These tests check the behavior of the website by simulating real-world scenarios based on the initial requirements for the site. Closed-box testing is a common way to verify behaviors. The idea behind these tests is to see how the website behaves as if real users were using the site in actual business and personal scenarios.
Performance tests
These tests show how the website performs under different levels of stress. Load testing, for example, evaluates performance under real-life load conditions. An example of a load condition is the number of requests a website can fulfill at a given time. The more requests the site is given, the higher the load.
Regression tests
These are tests that check whether new features break or degrade functionality. Regression testing is important when developers modify, change, or add features. When a new or updated feature breaks the website, it is referred to as a regression bug.
Stress tests
These tests are similar to performance tests, except they use extreme load conditions to see how much a website is able to handle before it fails.
Usability tests
These tests verify how easily a user can complete a task using the tested website. Usability tests will typically have a number of tasks that the testers will seek to complete. Testers will evaluate how well the site enables the testers to complete the tasks.
Cheers and do the tests! :)
