Synopsis
The Web Testing Handbook is the definitive resource for testing Web sites and Internet-based applications. Many developers and testers are making the transition from traditional Client/Server, PC, and/or Mainframe systems to testing rapidly changing Web sites and applications. The Web Testing Handbook can help make this transition easier by explaining these new technologies and suggesting test cases and techniques that can be included in a Web site's Functional, Performance, Compatibility, and Usability test plans. Readers will gain an invaluable overview of the most common technologies being used to build Web sites and applications. You will learn proven tips and techniques for testing these Web technologies, obtain a reference of representative Web testing tools, and explore numerous case study checklists that demonstrate effective Web site/application testing. The companion Web site featured in The Web Testing Handbook opens a window into a hands-on, interactive Web testing environment. Readers who put into practice the testing tips and techniques covered in this book will gain real-world Web testing experience.
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About the Author
Steven Splaine is a Chartered Software Engineer with over 20 years' experience in developing software systems: Internet/Web, Client/Server, Mainframe, and PC. He is an experienced project manager, developer, and tester, who has consulted at over 100 companies in North America and Europe.
Stefan P. Jaskiel is an Information Manager experienced in the development of technical documentation. He has developed a wide variety of reference manuals, online help systems, and multimedia CD-ROMs for Hardware and Software Applications in Client/Server, Web, and PC environments. Stefan has also led the design and development of Data Warehouses and other systems for managing and disseminating technical information.
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Preface
Except for the simplest of Web sites, it quickly becomes apparent that some sort of test planning is needed. All too often, the initial number of bugs found from ad-hoc testing is large enough that not all of them are fixed the first time they're detected. This puts an additional burden on the people who test the Web site or application. Not only must they conjure up imaginative new tests, but they must also remember how previous tests were executed in order to reliably re-test the Web site/application, and ensure that known bugs have been removed and no new bugs have been introduced. Quite frankly, "post-its" are not an adequate solution.
In our experience, the easiest way to plan (or design) the testing of a Web site/application is to develop a series of Test Plans. These plans help ensure that the Web site/application is comprehensively tested and can be reliably re-tested. Each test plan is focused on a different phase of the testing process (e.g., unit testing, system testing, or post-implementation testing), while the individual test cases within each test plan are grouped into categories that focus on a single aspect of testing (e.g., usability, compatibility, performance, etc.) A by-product of this approach is that several teams can work in parallel, which provides a significant advantage when working in "Web Time." Additionally, having several documented and well-scoped groups of test cases makes outsourcing some or all of the testing effort much more controllable.
This book has been designed with this strategy in mind. The intention being that each chapter focuses on a different aspect of testing a Web site/application. Each of the chapters can be read individually or in any sequence, however, we recommend you read the Introduction chapter first. The checklist(s) at the end of each section can be used as a set of candidate test cases, and the tools that are referenced in each chapter provide a method for automating many of these test cases.
Of course, at test execution time, there's nothing to prevent you from scheduling test cases from different categories and executing them together. You may consider, for example, running some of the functional integrity checks while the Web site is also being stress tested. Some test cases in one category may actually be duplicates of test cases in another category, but from a test design perspective, this is perfectly acceptable. It's better to have 120% test coverage than 80% test coverage. Obviously, from a test execution perspective, running duplicate tests is less than optimal. A Master Test Plan is a common approach taken to reduce this problem and provide a framework for coordinating all of the various activities defined in the individual test plans. In addition, a master test plan can be used to help identify many of the planning risks associated with testing Web sites/applications and subsequently document the potential contingencies that could be employed to mitigate! each risk, thereby reducing the overall risk of the project.
This book seeks to help developers and testers who are making the transition from testing traditional client/server, PC, and/or mainframe systems to testing rapidly changing Web sites and applications. This book explains the technologies that are typically used to build these Web sites/applications and suggests test cases and techniques that can be included in a Web site's test plans to ensure that the technology has been implemented correctly. However, this book stops short of recommending a formal high-level testing strategy such as a process or methodology, as this topic alone could easily form the basis of an entire book.
Rather than restrict ourselves to the content that we could include in the pages of this book, we decided to provide the reader with two additional resources. The first resource is a Web site, which has been designed and built for the specific purpose of providing our readers with the opportunity to practice the testing tips and techniques covered in this book, thereby gaining real-world hands-on Web testing experience. The second resource is a series of test plans, developed for the companion Web site using the information covered in this book and the IEEE 829-1998 software-testing standard. The purpose of these test plans is to provide examples of how the information in this book can be used to develop a set of test plans for a specific Web site. These test plans are not intended to be the perfect test suite for all Web sites/applications, nor do they attempt to drive down to the low-level details of platform specific test execution (e.g., how to turn off JavaScript on browser X or the latest performance quirks of Web server Y). Any examples covering such a rapidly changing subject would most likely be out of date before this book could be published. Instead, we hope that our readers will extrapolate and customize these documents based on their own individual and unique needs.
Finally, we welcome any comments or suggestions from the readers of this book or visitors of the companion Web site. One thing is certain about the Web - it will grow not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of technology and complexity and, consequently, will require even more rigorous testing. We hope that the combined resources of this book and companion Web site will place our readers in a good position to meet the challenges of testing whatever new technology the wizards of Silicon Valley come up with next.
Steven Splaine
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