The SQA2 Blog: General
Beginners, and others who are interested in learning how to test web sites, need to know the different types of tests. Let’s take a closer look at the most common testing areas.
#1 – Appearance and Cross Browser Compatibility
This area of web development is the most overlooked. There are several reasons for appearance disaster – it may be the designer or developer’s fault, deployment problems or compatibility issues. However, recently, there are several dramatic changes taking place in website design and development including Web 2.0, or user generated content. The availability of development frameworks gives everyone the opportunity to make a site compatible for all devices and browsers. But unfortunately, the implementation of this technology is difficult. Therefore, to ensure the right “look and feel” of a website, cross-browser and appearance testing is a must.
#2 – Internationalization/Localization
If a business is targeting different demographic areas, then it is critical that the website speak the language of the people in the target area. The best way to reach different demographic location is localization/internationalization. The web application testers must ensure the application is compatible with different language operating system and browsers. Additionally, make sure the terms, content, video, audio and other multimedia contents are completely available all languages that the application offers.
#3 – Security Testing
Security testing is essential no matter what kind of website or application your business produces. Some business owners mistakenly believe that they don’t need much security if they aren’t processing payments on their website. However, their data including customer databases, newsletter subscribers, RSS feed subscribers and other information is equally valuable for cyber-criminals. When there are data and security breaches, businesses often receive negative publicity.
#4 – Payment Modules and E-Commerce Testing
You should never compromise payment modules. This is the greatest threat to any business and associated customers and vendors. Payment module testing is a crucial part of any web application testing plan. Thus, payment modules should be easy to use, secure, and should function correctly. Discounts, taxes and shipping charges must be calculated correctly or else businesses risk their shopping carts being abandoned.
#5 – Load Testing
The goal of load testing is simple and straightforward – to test the web server’s ability to handle maximum user requests. How many simultaneous user requests can the web site handle without crashing? Another benefit of load testing is preventing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
