Web Testing- Key Challenges

Introduction

Web testing is the name given to software testing that focuses on web applications. Web-based application testing before the application is deployed to the market can help the company to determine the issues and it makes an application better before launched.Basically the company launches a beta version of the product before releasing it which helps them to understand the defects in that application on the user prospective.Testing web applications is different because a Web application can handle the large amount of users. Web Applications can also be exposed to a wide range of security threats and it may start the illegal points of entry into the databases and other running systems holding the sensitive information.Factors that are affecting web testing are1.Increasing functionalitya.Business EnvironmentIn web testing the business environment plays a key role in the testing, especially in the case of e-commerce web applications. In those applications the issues like tax calculation, shipping costs determination, completing and executing financial transactions, tracking of customer profiles.b.Testing EnvironmentAnother major challenge is testing under the various Testing Environments. Web-based application testing is very expensive and time consuming because we require the same or a duplicate production environment which are web servers, application servers, and database servers that are basically required to ensure the quality and test the web applications. First, understand the design of the application.It is very important to understand all the components of the application like where is the application basically hosted and how it is connected. Instead understand any of the application components installed in the local machines.2.Frequently changes in requirementsWeb components in an application are developed by various companies and are integrated to the applications based on business need. The integration of these components can result in the malfunctioning in an application, therefore integration testing of these components are very important and the very biggest challenges for the web testers.3.NetworksWeb Applications mainly give errors in slow speed networks, on the other hand the application can perform well on high-speed connections. Basically Images on the application will take longer to download for slower networks, so that the user's perspective of the application may be different that it is not good.4.Security issue In the web application security is one of the major challenges that a application faces because the web-based application is running on the Internet or Intranet and it is open to the entire world. Therefore protection from unauthorized access to the application is very crucial and it will help the application to be protected from hackers.5.Performance issuesOther challenge to testing web applications is compatibility with various browsers because today many browsers are being used in the market and each has its own function and behavior. Sometimes it is not possible for an application to change its look in various browsers. So to ensure the application can work or look as the end user requires, testers need to do compatibility testing.6.Platform coverageAs there are so many platforms so cross plat form testing always goes more difficulty if the tester will spend enough time in the begging carefully considering the design and content adopt across devices, so always think of that as a first step of your process. Once developed a solid enough foundation use browser simulator to see how your site looks like in another operating system and browser, and a responsive plus-in to test different screen sizes.7.Cost-effectiveWeb-based application testing is very expensive and time consuming because we require the same or a duplicate production environment which are web servers, application servers, and database servers that are basically required to ensure the quality and test the web applications.ConclusionIt’s no surprise that these are the biggest challenges because it is very difficult to generate the amount of traffic needed to stress the system from inside the firewall. It’s also impossible to identify the root cause of problems unless you look at the transactions coming from the outside in and can connect the transactions to the problems.Testing can show that defects are present, but can’t prove that there are no defects. Testing reduces the probability of undiscovered defects remaining in the software, but even no defects are found it is not the proof of correctness.Risk analysis and priorities should be used to focus testing efforts.For information about Testing process,phases and challenges please drop an E-mail on  info@oditeksolutions.com