Web applications are on the rise. They’re easy to use, simple to maintain and work on any platform. And for businesses, they’re a speedy and cost-effective solution. But due to web apps’ unique traits, web application testing can get tricky for QA services. Yet, this isn’t a warning. It’s an encouragement and a complete guide by a web app testing company to conquer web projects.
Web Apps’ Unique Trait
Web applications work, essentially, by building a dialogue with system components and external platforms. This means that for web apps to deliver value to users, they need reliable performance and effortless communication processes. Here’s an illustration of such software’s “chat-like” operations.
- User interaction. The user opens a web browser and accesses an app via a link.
- Request sent. The browser sends an HTTP request to the server, specifying the desired resource or action.
- Server processing. The server receives and processes the request by retrieving data from a database, performing calculations, or executing business logic.
- Dynamic content generation. Once the server processes the request, it generates dynamic content (via HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) based on the user’s input and the app’s logic.
- Response sent. The server sends the generated content back to the user’s browser as an HTTP response.
- Client rendering. The browser receives the response and renders the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to display the app’s interface.
- User interaction and data submission. The user interacts with the app by clicking buttons, filling out forms, or performing other actions, triggering additional requests.
- Client-server communication. The client and server continue communicating, exchanging data and instructions as needed.
- Application state. Web apps can maintain state either on the client or server side. They store data in the user’s browser or on a server, associating it with a user’s session or user account respectively.
- Continuous cycle. The user interacts with the app, and the client-server interaction repeats as necessary until the user completes their task or closes the application.
To test a product thoroughly is to know its particularities. And apart from web apps’ platform independency, their most prominent trait is reliance on continuous and fast communication.
How To Test Web Application: Testing Types & Checklists
All promising web applications have something in common. They capitalize on comfortable usage and speed, effectively elevating user experience. For customers, UX is the deal-breaker when it comes to web applications.
Think Google Office Suite. Why do most prefer Google’s apps? Because they are:
- Simple to use.
- Quick to load.
If this vital pair breaks, the web application becomes a ghost option on the market. So these two aspects are your priority in web-based application testing. Yet they are not more important than other tests.
Functional Testing
- Review all interactive features, such as form submissions, buttons, and links.
- Verify user authentication and authorization processes.
- Check input validations to ensure proper error message display for invalid data.
- Validate data manipulation operations (create, read, update, delete).
- Test the integration of different system components.
Usability Testing
- Evaluate the clarity and readability of the content and ensure its user-friendliness.
- Test the ease of navigation and findability of information.
- Assess the responsiveness and user-friendliness of the user interface across different devices and screen sizes.
- Validate the intuitiveness of interface elements and interactions.
- Gather user feedback through surveys or usability tests to identify areas for improvement.
Interface Testing
- Verify the proper integration and communication between the web server, database, and other external systems or APIs.
- Test data transfer and synchronization between different components.
- Validate the compatibility and consistency of data displayed across various interfaces (frontend, backend).
- Investigate the responsiveness and real-time user interface updates during data changes or events.
- Confirm proper error handling and display of error messages in the interface.
Database Testing
- Test database connectivity and ensure proper authentication and authorization mechanisms.
- Validate the integrity and consistency of data stored in the database.
- Assess the efficiency and performance of database queries and data retrieval operations.
- Verify the handling of concurrent database transactions and potential conflicts.
- Check database backup and restoration procedures.
Performance Testing
- Test the app’s response time under different user load conditions.
- Validate the scalability by simulating a high number of concurrent users or transactions.
- Evaluate the efficiency and performance of database queries and operations under different load scenarios.
- Verify web pages’ responsiveness and loading speed, especially for resource-heavy elements like images or videos.
- Assess the impact of caching mechanisms and optimize their configuration for improved performance.
Compatibility Testing
- Investigate app behavior on different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and their versions.
- Validate the compatibility of the app with distinct OSs (Windows, macOS, Linux).
- Secure the responsiveness and proper rendering of the app on various devices and screen sizes.
- Verify compatibility with different network conditions (3G, 4G, Wi-Fi).
- Test the app’s compatibility with assistive technologies for accessibility compliance.
Security Testing
- Test for common security vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF).
- Verify secure authentication and authorization mechanisms, including password policies and session management.
- Validate the implementation of secure communication protocols (HTTPS).
- Ensure secure handling of user input and prevention of code injection attacks.
- Check access control mechanisms and proper user permission levels.
18 Web Application Testing Tips
Each software type and industry have some tricks up their sleeves. But there is nothing a QA talent can’t conquer. Web apps are primarily challenging in six areas. And you can facilitate their testing with these practices.
Browser Compatibility
- Apply support matrices: structure your testing environments. Always test the app on popular browsers and their different versions first. This way, you can secure business-crucial environments earliest.
- Secure responsive design: ensure the app is responsive and adapts well to various screen sizes. Test the application on diverse devices, including laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, to ensure consistency.
- Use cross-browser testing tools: employ cross-browser testing tools like Selenium WebDriver, BrowserStack, or Sauce Labs for automated testing of web applications and simplify the testing process.
Broad Integrations
- Identify key integration points: determine critical integration points between the app and external systems, such as APIs, databases, payment gateways, or third-party services. Prioritize testing these integrations thoroughly.
- Mock or stub external systems: use mock objects or stubs to simulate the behavior of external systems that may not be readily available or stable during testing. This allows you to isolate and test specific integration scenarios.
- Validate data flow and communication: verify that data flows correctly between the app and integrated systems. Ensure the integration adheres to expected data formats, protocols, and error-handling mechanisms.
Weakened Security
- Conduct regular security audits: perform regular security audits using tools like vulnerability scanners or penetration testing frameworks. Strive to address vulnerabilities as soon as possible.
- Adhere to secure coding practices: follow secure coding practices, such as input validation, output encoding, parameterized queries, and proper authentication and authorization mechanisms.
- Adopt security testing tools: utilize security testing tools like OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, or Nessus to scan for common security threats. These services can help identify and mitigate potential security risks faster.
Degraded Performance
- Define performance metrics: set clear performance objectives and metrics to measure the app’s responsiveness, speed, and resource usage. Identify key transactions or user actions to optimize for better performance.
- Conduct load and stress testing: simulate real-world user loads and stress conditions using performance testing tools like Apache JMeter or LoadRunner. Test the application under different load levels to assess its performance and identify any bottlenecks or degradation.
- Optimize code and resources: collaborate with developers to identify and optimize performance bottlenecks in the application code, database queries, or resource usage. Employ techniques like caching, compression, or code refactoring to improve performance.
Subjective Usability
- Define user personas and scenarios: understand your target users and define user personas representing their characteristics, needs, and expectations. Create realistic user scenarios that reflect their typical interactions with the app.
- Implement authentic feedback: engage users or representative users to perform usability testing. Observe and gather feedback on the app’s ease of use, navigation, layout, and overall user experience.
- Iterate and improve: continuously iterate and improve UI and UX based on user comments and usability testing results.
Top 7 Web App Testing Tools 2023
Testing tools can become your best friends and offer immense help. You need to choose wisely and pick those that you are most comfortable with.
Katalon Studio
Katalon Studio is a free, comprehensive test automation tool for web, mobile, API, and desktop projects. It is easy to use yet inclusive enough to help you work on advanced projects. It fully incorporates the capabilities of Selenium and is packaged as a straightforward and reliable solution for continuous testing (CT).
Testim
Testim is an AI-powered, end-to-end (E2E) test automation platform for web apps. It offers self-healing and auto-improving Smart Locators to stabilize tests and minimize maintenance. Testim allows executing parallel, cross-browser tests on its grid or third-party grids. It also has plugins to integrate tests into a CI/CD Jenkins pipeline, Jira, and personalized grids for execution.
Tricentis Tosca
Tricentis Tosca is an AI-powered, no-code, and E2E automation tool that supports 160+ technologies and enterprise applications for web application testing. It offers a unified experience for CT and fully integrates with other products in the Tricentis platform.
Mabl
Mabl is an AI-powered, low-code, and unified platform for web app testing. It enables high-velocity software teams to tightly integrate automated E2E tests and optimize their pipeline to deliver quality code faster. Mabl also offers load testing seamlessly integrated into its SaaS platform, enabling teams to maximize the value of existing functional tests and reduce infrastructure and operations costs.
Appium
Appium is an open-source, cross-platform automation testing tool for web, native, and hybrid apps. It allows you to write UI tests using the same API for multiple platforms. It supports different programming languages and frameworks for mobile automation testing. Plus, Appium enables code reuse between Android, iOS, and Windows test scripts or suites.
Selenium
Selenium is a free, open-source automation testing suite for web apps. It supports ample browsers and OSs, making it a powerful tool for web app automation. Selenium is easy to use and offers a playback tool for authoring functional tests across most modern browsers without the need to learn a test scripting language.
LambdaTest
LambdaTest is a cloud-based web application testing platform that lets you run manual and automated tests across 3000+ browsers, real devices, and OSs. LambdaTest offers a range of complimentary features that make online cross-browser testing smoother and help developers and QA engineers ship code faster.
To Sum Up
In the ever-evolving landscape of web app testing, you hold the key to unlocking flawless UX. So don’t doubt yourself, but question your skills. Try, fail, and try again. You will get better, you will become a master of QA resources. Remember, your impact goes far beyond lines of code – it shapes the digital world we rely on.
Good luck, and keep learning.