In my previous post I have outlined points to be considered while testing web applications. Here we will see some more details on web application testing with web testing test cases. Let me tell you one thing that I always like to share practical knowledge, which can be useful to users in their career life. This is a quite long article so sit back and get relaxed to get most out of it.
Let’s have first web testing checklist.
1) Functionality Testing
2) Usability testing
3) Interface testing
4) Compatibility testing
5) Performance testing
6) Security testing
1) Functionality Testing:
Test for - all the links in web pages, database connection, forms used in the web pages for submitting or getting information from user, Cookie testing.
Check all the links:
- Test the outgoing links from all the pages from specific domain under test.
- Test all internal links.
- Test links jumping on the same pages.
- Test links used to send the email to admin or other users from web pages.
- Test to check if there are any orphan pages.
- Lastly in link checking, check for broken links in all above-mentioned links.
Test forms in all pages:
Forms are the integral part of any web site. Forms are used to get information from users and to keep interaction with them. So what should be checked on these forms?
- First check all the validations on each field.
- Check for the default values of fields.
- Wrong inputs to the fields in the forms.
- Options to create forms if any, form delete, view or modify the forms.
Let’s take example of the search engine project currently I am working on, In this project we have advertiser and affiliate signup steps. Each sign up step is different but dependent on other steps. So sign up flow should get executed correctly. There are different field validations like email Ids, User financial info validations. All these validations should get checked in manual or automated web testing.
Cookies testing:
Cookies are small files stored on user machine. These are basically used to maintain the session mainly login sessions. Test the application by enabling or disabling the cookies in your browser options. Test if the cookies are encrypted before writing to user machine. If you are testing the session cookies (i.e. cookies expire after the sessions ends) check for login sessions and user stats after session end. Check effect on application security by deleting the cookies. (I will soon write separate article on cookie testing)
Validate your HTML/CSS:
If you are optimizing your site for Search engines then HTML/CSS validation is very important. Mainly validate the site for HTML syntax errors. Check if site is crawlable to different search engines.
Database testing:
Data consistency is very important in web application. Check for data integrity and errors while you edit, delete, modify the forms or do any DB related functionality.
Check if all the database queries are executing correctly, data is retrieved correctly and also updated correctly. More on database testing could be load on DB, we will address this in web load or performance testing below.
2) Usability Testing:
Test for navigation:
Navigation means how the user surfs the web pages, different controls like buttons, boxes or how user using the links on the pages to surf different pages.
Usability testing includes:
Web site should be easy to use. Instructions should be provided clearly. Check if the provided instructions are correct means whether they satisfy purpose.
Main menu should be provided on each page. It should be consistent.
Content checking:
Content should be logical and easy to understand. Check for spelling errors. Use of dark colors annoys users and should not be used in site theme. You can follow some standards that are used for web page and content building. These are common accepted standards like as I mentioned above about annoying colors, fonts, frames etc.
Content should be meaningful. All the anchor text links should be working properly. Images should be placed properly with proper sizes.
These are some basic standards that should be followed in web development. Your task is to validate all for UI testing
Other user information for user help:
Like search option, sitemap, help files etc. Sitemap should be present with all the links in web sites with proper tree view of navigation. Check for all links on the sitemap.
“Search in the site” option will help users to find content pages they are looking for easily and quickly. These are all optional items and if present should be validated.
3) Interface Testing:
The main interfaces are:
Web server and application server interface
Application server and Database server interface.
Check if all the interactions between these servers are executed properly. Errors are handled properly. If database or web server returns any error message for any query by application server then application server should catch and display these error messages appropriately to users. Check what happens if user interrupts any transaction in-between? Check what happens if connection to web server is reset in between?
4) Compatibility Testing:
Compatibility of your web site is very important testing aspect. See which compatibility test to be executed:
- Browser compatibility
- Operating system compatibility
- Mobile browsing
- Printing options
Browser compatibility:
In my web-testing career I have experienced this as most influencing part on web site testing.
Some applications are very dependent on browsers. Different browsers have different configurations and settings that your web page should be compatible with. Your web site coding should be cross browser platform compatible. If you are using java scripts or AJAX calls for UI functionality, performing security checks or validations then give more stress on browser compatibility testing of your web application.
Test web application on different browsers like Internet explorer, Firefox, Netscape navigator, AOL, Safari, Opera browsers with different versions.
OS compatibility:
Some functionality in your web application is may not be compatible with all operating systems. All new technologies used in web development like graphics designs, interface calls like different API’s may not be available in all Operating Systems.
Test your web application on different operating systems like Windows, Unix, MAC, Linux, Solaris with different OS flavors.
Mobile browsing:
This is new technology age. So in future Mobile browsing will rock. Test your web pages on mobile browsers. Compatibility issues may be there on mobile.
Printing options:
If you are giving page-printing options then make sure fonts, page alignment, page graphics getting printed properly. Pages should be fit to paper size or as per the size mentioned in printing option.
5) Performance testing:
Web application should sustain to heavy load. Web performance testing should include:
Web Load Testing
Web Stress Testing
Test application performance on different internet connection speed.
In web load testing test if many users are accessing or requesting the same page. Can system sustain in peak load times? Site should handle many simultaneous user requests, large input data from users, Simultaneous connection to DB, heavy load on specific pages etc.
Stress testing: Generally stress means stretching the system beyond its specification limits. Web stress testing is performed to break the site by giving stress and checked how system reacts to stress and how system recovers from crashes.
Stress is generally given on input fields, login and sign up areas.
In web performance testing web site functionality on different operating systems, different hardware platforms is checked for software, hardware memory leakage errors,
6) Security Testing:
Following are some test cases for web security testing:
- Test by pasting internal url directly into browser address bar without login. Internal pages should not open.
- If you are logged in using username and password and browsing internal pages then try changing url options directly. I.e. If you are checking some publisher site statistics with publisher site ID= 123. Try directly changing the url site ID parameter to different site ID which is not related to logged in user. Access should denied for this user to view others stats.
- Try some invalid inputs in input fields like login username, password, input text boxes. Check the system reaction on all invalid inputs.
- Web directories or files should not be accessible directly unless given download option.
- Test the CAPTCHA for automates scripts logins.
- Test if SSL is used for security measures. If used proper message should get displayed when user switch from non-secure http:// pages to secure https:// pages and vice versa.
- All transactions, error messages, security breach attempts should get logged in log files somewhere on web server.
I think I have addressed all major web testing methods. I have worked for around 2 years out of my testing career on web testing. There are some experts who have spent their whole career life on web testing. If I missed out addressing some important web testing aspect then let me know in comments below. I will keep on updating the article for latest testing information.
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107 comments ↓
Very useful guide on web application testing….
Thank u sooo much
Very useful tutorial
Really nice one………..
hi, Which one tool is best for testing and easy to use. give introduction about this tool and perfect Details.
Thanks
Thanks Swapna, TesterQA and Sameer for your kind words.
@ Jignesh Automation tool selection is purely based on the project which you are going to test. I suggest what all factors should be considered while choosing automation tool for your project in this article :
http://www.softwaretestinghelp.....anization/
Still I will try to cover in my posts about the main automation tools like WinRunner and QTP.
[…] testing Very good summary of web testing. See the details of every point of web testing here.. Complete guide on Web testing __________________ Ask me your Software Testing Queries! […]
HI,
Very useful information. Thank you.
wow! what an informative site… i am really thankful for this. as i’ve said before, i have learned a great deal on these infos. again, a lot of thanks! i’ve done all 5 checklist except for the security… now that u hav the details on how i’l do the checking, i wil defntly try it. thank you again…
hello vijay,
i would like to ask when are you going to post the article about cookies?… i am going to do a test on cookies soon and before i do this, i would like to read first your article. but f incase my testing would me much sooner, i just would like to ask how would you do this… “Test the application by enabling or disabling the cookies in your browser options.”
thank you very much!
@Asha Thank for your kind words..
@ Jhenz yeah I will try ASAP to write Cookie testing article..
About your query - To change cookie settings in Internet Explorer: Open IE-Go to Tools-Internet Options- Click on Privacy tab- then ‘Advanced’ button. Here you can enable or disable the cookies.
For Firefox Go to Tools-Options-Privacy
thank you again.
Total summary of testing very good.
Hi, this is naga vishala
I would like to know that can we write test cases for non-functionality testing?(like User Acceptence Testing)
And one more What is Monkey Testing ? shall we use this testing in real time?
@ Naga vishala - Yes we should write test cases for usability testing also. Monkey testing is random , destructive type testing performed by some automation tools and without driven by any real user. Monkey testing can generally find the crashes in application.
I have just finished a course intesting using test director. I don,t have job exp, how can i go about geting a job or geting jo exp
Hi,
Excellent stuff.
I would like to ask one question regarding performance testing. Can we perform performance testing manually. as you mention about web stress testing where we stress input file, sign up screen etc. So, how we gona perform that as we all know sign up page has already has validation. Please elaborate this concept a bit.
Thanks & Regards
Kishore
hi,
Really excellent site.This site gives the information according to the real time.it’s very usefull.
Can you please write on How To analyze the results of Load Testing? ,What are the points to be consider for load testing?
Please write indepth regarding “Load Testing”.
Keep up the good work…..
Thanks in Advance…
hi
very informative information thank you very much
i want to know more on Regression testing & performation testing
on Theoritical point of view i got but i want to know how can i test these 2 things practiclly
what is orphan link,broken link , internal link, externallink .
give with examples
what are different levels of people involved in a company for software testing. what are their position names starting from the tester.
Very Nice,
can you add SQL injection and Session hijacking in security testing.
your articals are really great . i would like to ask what is quiet phase in sdlc.
Hi,
Ur information is indeed very helpful.Can u please tell me ,hw can we perform cookie,html &css testing.
what r the best automated tools for web testing????
how we can test what is the maximum users that can access a particular web site at a time???
good job,if interaction is done or chat is provide we can learn nice informations on testing .
Because i believe testing is innovative,every person will have his own creations what ever we see or learn ,while in implementation we loose the ethics on that particular concept ,so the person intrested can chat and solve the doubts regarding testing
@ -Kishore
The only way is to do performance testing on pages having Captcha is to disable the Captcha while recording the script using automation tool. Disabling Captcha will not effect on your performance standards as your final goal is to stress the system for its resources.
@ Ramdev Sharma
Yes to explain about Load testing I need to write a article on it as this topic itself is a big one.
@ Trupti Gandhi
For regression testing using automation tool is the best and efficient method. However you need some test cases written on the module you are going to test for regression. You can use old test cases to record the scripts on.
For performance testing tools mentioned here http://www.opensourcetesting.org/performance.php
First decide your performance criteria and then apply the test cases accordingly
@ lavanya
On every page there are some links pointing to some pages. So we can differentiate all these links.
The links pointing to same domain are said to internal links. e.g The link http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/jobs/ is pointing to same domain softwaretestinghelp.com so it’s a internal link.
Links pointing to other domain are external links. E.g See the above link pointing to opensourcetesting.org domain.
Broken links: If clicking on any link displays 404 page not found error then that link is said to be broken or unreachable link.
Orphan link: If no internal link is pointing to any particular web page on your domain then that web page link is said to be orphan link i.e not having any ancestor and no way to reach that link from your domain !
@shweta
for Cookie testing you can refer the article
http://www.softwaretestinghelp.....est-cases/
@ pradeep mathew
You can use load or stress testing automation tools to simulate n number of virtual users accessing particular web page or site simultaneously.
hai can any one suggest free online testing books for download?
hai. what is main point for security testing for web application
Hi Vijay,
Firstly, this site is very helpful for beginners.
All your posts are very easy to understand and have in depth information.
I would be thankful if you could suggest some simple websites / software etc that beginners could test at home to understand all the concepts better.
Thanks,
Raji
Hi Vijay,
This site is very helpful.. Can you please explain what is “Validate your HTML/CSS”.
And what are the questions asked on web based testing.
Thanks
Kaustubh
This is very useful information. This page is going to be part of my favorites.
Thank you
Giridhara Reddy.S
This website is the best website i ever been visited.
lots of useful information for every one.
Thanks,
Sri.
Hi
This is very use ful information.
thanks
udhaya
Really this site is awesome.. Very useful information.. I love this site.. Thanks a lot..
Hi Vijay,
Really this is a excellent site for all of us. The information are really very practical. I am very much thankful for this.
Could you please help me to prepare a testing strategy for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). I mean how do I approach for this and what should be my strategy??
Thanks in advance.
Priya
I LIKETHIS WEB SITE VERY MUCH BUT IWANT TO KNOE HOW TO TEST MICROSOFT WORD IN SOFTWARE TESTING
PLEASE GUIDE ME AND SHOW ME THE TEST CASES.
GOOD WEBSITE
Can anyone tell me about the automation tools for load testing and stress testing.
Please note that there is a spelling mistake for the word user status in the last line
Cookies testing:
if the cookies are encrypted before writing to user machine. If you are testing the session cookies (i.e. cookies expire after the sessions ends) check for login sessions and user stats after session end.
Cookies testing:
if the cookies are encrypted before writing to user machine. If you are testing the session cookies (i.e. cookies expire after the sessions ends) check for login sessions and user status after session end.
Please check and correct the spelling mistake for the word others status in the last line of the second case in security testing
6) Security Testing:
Following are some test cases for web security testing:
Try directly changing the url site ID parameter to different site ID which is not related to logged in user. Access should denied for this user to view others stats.
@ Manju,
It’s not a spelling mistake. I have used word ’stats’ as an abbreviation for word ’statistics’ which here means data reports for user account and this word ’stats’ is commonly used in online advertising business.
Good Site
Vijay,
Thanks for the information
thanks
How to perform database testing.
hey vijay,
I find this website very helpful ….thnx alot . I was waiting for a answer on validation of HtML/CSS which was posted by Kaustubh as even i wanted to know more abt the HtMl/css and wat role it has in search engines.
thnx
hey vijay,
i would also like to know how test a search field with the first name and last name …..and wat are the possible scenarios can we try???
vijay, wat do u mean by “Check if site is crawlable to different search engines.”
hi this tulasiram
i am new to this testing,
i have a dought in web testing.
Right now u r useing yahoo application, not only you
so many users are useing this application . How can
you test this application.
I have a similar article called Website Testing Cheat-Sheet! Hope you would find it interesting!
Happy Testing…
hi thanks for the team, can develop more using this
HI ,
This is very much useful and Thanks for this article
Hi Vijay!
Excellent website. Thanks a lot.
Could you pls elaborate more on Stress Testing & how to perform it manually?
Also can anyone tell me about some good open-source tools for functional testing?
hi
i felt this site is very useful and is there any free tool available on net to do the performance and stress testing…which should be easy to understand
This information is very useful fot me nut can you tell more about cookie, html and css testing?
please give me some sample testcases for web application testing.
It’s very easy to learn the testing concepts in the clear way.Each and every concept is undestands very easily and clearly.If you’r providing Sample testcase,bug report and tseting deliverables useful for us!!!!!!
Tahnk you!!!!
It is a good article that really help me to understand the Website Testing.
Thank You!!!!
THANKS FOR INFORMATION
great stuff…i want to know more abt how to test web based application using QTP
hi
i am working as tester with 2+ of exp in manual testing only.
up to uploading the resume and shortlisting the resume,every thing is working correctly.but after that i am not getting any proper reply.
i don’t know is mistake from my side i mean from my resume and skills or problem from company side
please give me the reply
thanku in advance
Very useful information. Thanks so much!
very useful tips to learn web testing
Hi,
This article is really great. Keep on publishing these kind.
thanks
Not clear about mobile browsing
Hi,
I wanted to know that how should I start the web testing at work. Like there are so many versions of IE , should I test for all the versions in compatabillity testing. I am very confused, I have no experience and I got a job in web testing …Please help me.
Shamita
Thanks for sending its help us
Good job done.
But the main thing is that when u would like to test all these?
Means which is your schedule, importance for doing all these test?
This is really nice material I’ve seen so far.
Thats really great job done by softwaretestinghelp.
Really appretiable…n commendable…
Thanks a lot.
Hi, this is prasanna
All u r experiences talks on u r article.. easy to understand.. … every web testers should read this…..
How to test that whether cookies are encrpted before writing to the user machine???? Please let me know the answer
Your site rocks. It is by far the best site related to Software Testing. My sincere appreciations and good wishes for your entire team.
I am going to start my carrier in testing and doing a course in chennai.
where can i get sample applications(projects) for practising manual testing.
Please can anyone send me info about it,i will be grateful……..
Thanks in advance
selvam.ba@rediffmail.com
Sashi you have given the perfect opinion…
same
Hey, I am doing my M.C.A final year and i have chosen webserver performance testing as my curriculum project, but i am unable to understand what to do and where to start from. PlZ help me by telling me what to do. Thank you. and also plz tell me the name of the sites that has uml diagrams for web server testing. Thank you once again
Iam 37,an under graduate, and want to become a software taster.What are my chances of getting a job in the Gulf countries or New Zealand as a software tester?
Waiting for a reply.Thank you.
Hello ,
Thanks for the useful article.
I would like to ask you if you can help me with Automated testing of applications for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server2007.
I’m new to sharepoint and I don’t have any idea what I have to do!
If I can have your help for the strat?
Looking forward to receiving your email
Many Thanks
superb explonation on web testing., thank u very much..
and also i need to ask one more que–>
plz explain on unit & ,whitebox &,regression testing
currently am working on black box & UAT testing.,
and also explain me about QTP automation
plzzzzzzzzzzzzz
regards
raghu
What about concurrency testing how to write effective test cases for the same ?
A very nice ,informative and usefule website
Hi this is very much useful for web testing i have learnt so much from this article. please update if any things are there on web testing.
Please any one can tell me the difference between the difference between build and version?
please give detail demo on tools.
good info
new and handy information provided…
hey , u had done a great job..
its really helpful… thanks
is thr any way to test performance manually..
I am working as a tester in elearning division. i need to know about software testing , prepartion of test cases and test plan.
Please provide me all the relevant details about test case preparations.
Hi,
This is very usefull website for me. I learnt a lot of techniques. May be this is not much usefull site for some people but for me it’s very usefull and meanning full site. I’m very thankfull to owner of this site for providing me a really good learning platform.
Thanks for all
Hi,
good effort!
Please add cross site scripting, sql injection etc information. that will be more helpful for newbies.
A wonderfull and very informative site for web testing.Thanks a lot
Good information about web application testing.
We can always go the next level detail of how to perform different kinds of testing mentioned above…
But a good article to begin with…
Essential online tips for website testers…. thank you for this useful information.
plz tell me web testing in qtp
Hi
This site is really good.I didnt understand following description about security testing.Pls reply me
Web directories or files should not be accessible directly unless given download option.
Test the CAPTCHA for automates scripts logins.
Test if SSL is used for security measures. If used proper message should get displayed when user switch from non-secure http:// pages to secure https:// pages and vice versa.
All transactions, error messages, security breach attempts should get logged in log files somewhere on web server
@ bhavya, i am not a tester yet but i would try to answer you. for example in a bank’s website, there should be a link to download a loan application pdf file and any user should not be able to access this or any other file by directly typing the address in the browser.
If it is accesible, it is non-secure and vulnerable.
CAPTCHA are challenging questions generated by machines to be responded by humans and not by machines, to make sure that the attempt to access is by a human and not by a bot. If CAPTCHA is enabled in a web login, it has to be tested.
SSL is a cryptographic protocol for securing HTTP communication over the internet. When user switches from HTTP to HTTPS or vice-versa, a message window is pops up to inform about this switching and do you want to continue.
Log files should be maintained to recording and future analysis of all web activities, so that corrective and preventive measures could be taken.
@ For Vijaya and all testers, please correct my knowledge, where wrong.
@ manjula (manu), i am not a tester yet but i would try to answer you.
Builds are program codes which developers deliver from time to time to the testers, while version is the complete application delivered to the end users.
Adding to this, there are also multiple releases with slight improvements in a version.
@ For Vijaya and all testers, please correct my knowledge, where wrong.
can any one tell me about database testing in a clear way.
Hi All,
If any of u is working on Unit test then Pls help me out , act. i need to develop a test case on unit testing, I have the SRS as only thing with so Pls tell me how to procced.
Hopeing for early reply!
Thanks
Vishal
call: 09830704327
mail: bishalchaperia@gmail.com
Hi All,
Hope this helps…
Q: What is the difference between client-server testing and web based testing and what are things that we need to test?
Ans: Projects are broadly divided into two types of:
2 tier applications
3 tier applications
CLIENT / SERVER TESTING
[a] This type of testing usually done for 2 tier applications (usually developed for LAN)
Here we will be having front-end and backend.
The application launched on front-end will be having forms and reports which will be monitoring and manipulating data
Eg : applications developed in VB, VC++, Core Java, C, C++, D2K, PowerBuilder etc.,
The backend for these applications would be MS Access, SQL Server, oracle, sybase, mysql, quadbase
The tests performed on these type of applications would be
- user interface testing
- manual support testing
- Functionality testing
- compatability testing & configuration testing
- intersystems testing
WEB TESTING
[b] This is done for 3 tier applications (developed for Internet / intranet / xtranet)
Here we will be having Browser, web server and DB server.
The applications accessible in browser would be developed in HTML, DHTML, XML, JavaScript etc.,
(we can monitor thru these applications)
Applications for the web server would be developed in Adv Java, ASP, JSP, VBScript, JavaScript, Perl, Cold Fusion, PHP etc.,
(all the manipulations are done on the web server with the help of these programs developed)
The DBserver would be having oracle, sql server, sybase, mysql etc.,
(all data is stored in the database available on the DB server)
The tests performed on these type of applications would be
- user interface testing
- Functionality testing
- security testing
- browser compatability testing
- load / stress testing
- interoperability testing/intersystems testing
- storage and data volume testing
A web-application is a three tier application.
This has a browser (monitors data) [monitoring is done using html, dhtml, xml, javascript]-> webserver (manipulates data) [ manipulations are done using programming languages or scripts like adv java, asp, jsp, vbscript, javascript, perl, coldfusion, php] -> database server (stores data) [data storage and retrieval is done using databases like oracle, sql server, sybase, mysql] .
The types of tests which can be applied on this type of applications are:
1. User interface testing for validation & user friendliness
2. Functionality testing to validate behaviors, i/p, error handling, o/p, manipulations, services levels, order of functionality, links, content of web page & backend coverage’s
3. Security testing
4. Browser compatability
5. Load / stress testing
6. Interoperability testing
7. Storage & data volume testing
a client-server application is a two tier application.
This has forms & reporting at front-end (monitoring & manipulations are done) [ using vb, vc++, core java, c, c++, d2k, power builder etc.,] -> database server at the backend [data storage & retrieval) [ using ms access, sql server, oracle, sybase, mysql, quadbase etc.,]
the tests performed on these applications would be
1. User interface testing
2. Manual support testing
3. Functionality testing
4. Compatability testing
5. Intersystems testing
Desktop:
01. Application runs in single memory (Front end and Back end in one place)
02. Single user only
Client/Server:
01. Application runs in two or more machines
02. Application is a menu-driven
03. Connected mode (connection exists always until logout)
04. Limited number of users
05. Less number of network issues when compared to web app.
Web:
01. Application runs in two or more machines
02. URL-driven
03. Disconnected mode (state less)
04. Unlimited number of users
05. Many issues like hardware compatibility, browser compatibility, version compatibility, security issues, performance issues, etc
see friend when we consider the security testing, both application should well secured to internal and external threat.
As per difference in both the applications come where, how to access the resources. In client server once connection is made it will be in state on connected, whereas in case of web testing http protocol is stateless, then there comes logic of cookies, which is not in client server.
More for client server users are well known, whereas for web any user can login and access the content, he/she will use it as per his intentions.
so, there are always issuses of security and compatibility for web application.
Regards,
Vijay
This one very useful to me.it’s nice one
Thanks for details.
how to do load testing manually? without any testing tools? is it possible?can anybody give sample of the testcases ?
thanks.
hi
thnks for providing useful info on web testing. its really nice.
can anybody explain web testing wit a simple example?
thx
nice article i got lots of information from this article
very nice article………….
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