Web Application Testing

Web Application Testing Services

Over the past few decades, with ubiquitous Internet access now global, a parallel explosion for Web sites and applications has followed. Today, the goals and functionality offered by web apps, as well as the technologies used to implement them, have evolved considerably. Utilizing a heterogeneous environment of hardware, software, and middleware components, web apps have become increasingly complex in their makeup and functionality.

As most organizations seek to offer their services and products online, the imperative for high-quality Web applications satisfying security, scalability, reliability, and accessibility requirements has grown steadily. For any organization doing business in the 21st Century, ensuring the quality of their web applications should be a crucial component of their operations and overall strategy.

Web Application Testing encompasses a range of myriad testing activities undertaken to verify and validate the functional features of the application, user interfaces, navigation pattern, communication between the web application & databases, essentially covering the end-to-end flow of the website. Typical testing would include Functional testing, Usability testing, Integration testing, Database testing, Compatibility testing, Performance testing, Security testing, and User Acceptance Testing.

Getting Started – Test Plan Template for Web Apps

Take a look at our web application test plan template. It’s a great checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything in testing web applications. This document is intended as a template for developing detailed test cases for functional testing of websites and web applications. Applying the template requires input from your specific test case development strategy depending on the domain and web application under test. This template addresses key areas such as validations, links, forms, error messages, and cookies and sessions, web application security testing, and web application penetration testing. A sampling is shown below:

Validations

Includes the validation of all menu and widget functionality as well as HTML and CSS.

Links

Includes the validation of all internal and external links and appropriate user feedback that the action was performed including but not limited to media, phone numbers, emails, and social media.

Forms

Includes the validation of all forms and all fields including but not limited to default values, boundary conditions, user roles, and permissions, ability to create, delete, edit, etc.

Data

Includes the validation and verification of data across the entire system, appropriate calculations, accuracy, and integrity across currencies and data types. Formatting and visibility characteristics within reporting and aesthetics such as font type and size are also considered.

Error messages

Includes the validation, availability, and appropriateness of error messages across the entire system’s functionality such as input field validation, mandatory fields, display errors, and context-oriented messages.

Cookies & Sessions

Includes the validation of the correct behavior of cookies under different circumstances. For example, enabling or disabling cookies in different browsers, affect application security when cookies are deleted, cookie encryption functionality, rejecting of cookies, and persistence behavior checks.

Web Application Security Testing

Includes assessing the typical threats associated with OWASP using wowubuntu’s standard assessment methods using a combination of tools and techniques proven over the last 10 years. Additionally, we assess our own specialized permutations of OWASP threats that we’ve found most prevalent.

User Acceptance Testing

Most formal definitions of UAT have gone out the door with Agile development methodologies. Rather than inviting a set of users to use the app for a specified amount of time, UAT has now become testing from an end-user point of view. This means not only testing pure functionality, but testing from endpoint to endpoint, enacting scenarios just as a user would, and includes the various negative scenarios because users frequently don’t do what you expect.

User Authentication & Roles

Complex Web Apps have many types of users with different roles and permissions giving them the ability to do different things. This could be based on data or functions amongst other variables. Understanding the different scenarios and developing tests for what types of users have permission to access what parts of the system is critical to keep you out of the news.

Web App Performance Testing

Most organizations make the mistake of testing performance last, when most functionality is already complete, not realizing that if a problem is discovered at that stage, it may take significant amounts of effort not only to discover where the performance bottleneck is but how to solve it. This includes many types of performance issues from transaction throughput to page loading times and concurrent user load response times. Understanding these facets and how they’ll impact the end-user is just as important as key functionality. What good is functionality if the user can’t access it because it’s too slow?

Issues in Testing Complex Web Apps

Besides the typical test plan items that we check off as we go through and develop our test strategy, we’ve gathered a wealth of experience in testing complex web apps that offer their own challenges. For instance:

• Test data preparation is required with a comprehensive understanding of the product and system. By utilizing deep knowledge of the product and its dependencies, we’re able to develop and automate test data preparation as well as utilize API testing and Database testing to facilitate efficiencies when the front end is not operational yet or in a dynamic state.
• Reproducing client issues requires quite an amount of investment from different departments and teams because of the particular environment, data, and settings for each particular client.
• Permutations of possible test paths explode, so understanding how to prioritize for different situations and contexts to test what’s most important within a short time is critical as testing is always pushed to the end. In these cases, we’ve found that targeted regression testing combined with test automation can increase effectiveness manyfold if done judiciously.
• The number of website users may increase over time, thus the total number of users is likely to exceed the originally designed upper limit. This will inevitably lead to poor response time and adversely affect the user experience so it’s important to benchmark performance for key user functions and scenarios on a regular basis.
• Compatibility issues with different operating environments used by users, such as different computer operating systems, different browsers, even different resolutions used, etc… will change over time. While some platform combinations become less used, other new ones may become predominant. Understanding when to cross some platforms off the list, while adding new platforms can save significant amounts of effort.

Web App Testing Services – Case Study

wowubuntu possesses over 13 years of web application testing experience, working with clients big and small, near and far. The selected Case Study below gives a good example of the long-term web testing services we have been providing to clients over the years.

BlackLine (Case Study) is a leading provider of cloud-based solutions that transform Finance and Accounting (F&A) by automating, centralizing, and streamlining financial close operations, intercompany accounting processes, and other key F&A processes for large enterprises and midsize organizations.

The Blackline Continuous Accounting platform integrates a complex array of applications covering account reconciliations, task management, journal entry, transaction matching, variance analysis, compliance, smart close, and an intercompany hub. Partnering with wowubuntu since 2008 has allowed BlackLine to benefit from a wide range of wowubuntu’s software and web testing solutions and expertise, such as test automation with platform compatibility, full and targeted regression testing, internationalization testing, functional testing, usability testing, and API testing.

Web application testing is an integral part of developing a high-quality high performing website. Contact wowubuntu today to empower your testing and get ahead of your online competition.