In the modern era, technology is growing rapidly, which in turn is giving rise to a sense of competition to keep doing better in terms of these technologies. As web applications are developed, there are possibilities of security breaches, defects, and bugs that may negatively affect user experience. Performing web device testing across various devices, browsers, and operating systems helps in finding errors, bugs and ensures the compatibility and functionality of web applications, and provides a good user experience before it’s released to the end-user.

This article will provide complete knowledge on how to get started with web application testing. It will include types of web application testing, a step-by-step guide to getting started with web application testing, challenges of web application testing along with some best practices and conclusions. Before doing that let’s first start with what web application testing is.

Web application testing

Web application testing refers to the process of evaluating web applications or websites to find different types of possible problems, issues, and virus attacks before their release. In the development process, it is a critical step that ensures the reliability, functionality, usability, performance, security, and compatibility testing of web applications and also its user-friendliness across different browsers, devices, and platforms.

It is a complex system due to multiple technologies, frameworks, and integrations. It is constantly evolving with new features and updates making testing crucial to ensure they continue to work correctly and mitigate risk.

Importance of web application testing

Web application testing offers the user several advantages that make it easier for the tester to provide functional, secure, and user-friendly web applications. It enables testers to create web applications that ensure the overall quality of the application, reducing downtime and errors, preventing data breaches, and protecting from unauthorized access.

Moreover, a well-tested web application enables testers to comply with regular requirements which reduces the risk of non-compliance along with associated penalties. It creates a competitive advantage by providing a high-quality and reliable user experience and improves application performance by ensuring that the application can handle a large number of users and transactions.

Types of web application testing

There are various types of web application testing. Some of them are mentioned below.

Functional testing- Functional testing is a testing technique for determining the functionality of web applications. It is a black-box software testing practice where the internal application structure is ignored. This testing helps the testers and developers verify the workability of web applications and compare the outcomes with the expected result to identify and report problems and issues. It makes sure that the applications work according to the predefined functional requirements and satisfy the user’s needs.

Performance testing- Performance testing is the non-functional application testing technique that assesses the performance of applications regarding their reliability, stability, speed, and responsiveness under various workloads. This testing aims to analyze the quality and capability of the application and provide users with a smooth experience while using it.

Security testing- Security testing, that can be done manually and also with automated tools, checks whether an application is secure in order to determine vulnerabilities and threats associated with it.

This testing aims to ensure that the application is safe and secure to use. It protects sensitive data and prevents breaches before attackers do. It also ensures compliance with security regulations and increases application reliability and trustworthiness. Thus, decreasing the risk associated with financial loss and damage to the reputation.

Usability testing-Usability testing is a technique of testing the functionality of a website or web app by observing real users. It determines issues, user experiences, and satisfaction and gathers feedback for iterative design improvement. It ensures accessibility for diverse user groups. By conducting usability testing, testers create more effective web applications along with user satisfaction

Compatibility testing-Compatibility testing is the most popular testing technique that ensures the functionality of web applications. The testing can be done both manually, and automatically across different browsers, devices, and platforms. Testers can also use automated cross-browser compatibility testing platforms like LambdaTest to ensure that their web applications work correctly and properly on different browsers and operating systems.

LambdaTest is an AI-powered test execution platform that allows testers to run both manual and automated testing of web and mobile applications quickly and efficiently at scale. It also helps testers reduce the time to market, manage costs, decrease the risk of defects and issues, and improve the user experience.

Testers can leverage LambdaTest’s cloud-based infrastructure to perform cross-device testing across more than 3000 environments, and real mobile devices online. This helps in evaluating how well an application works with various browsers, devices, and operating systems.

It is the best option for testing web applications. The primary capabilities of this platform include geo-location testing across different regions and provide support for RWD testing allowing users to test web applications for responsive design issues across different devices and screen sizes. Furthermore, it can be successfully integrated with popular tools like JIRA, GitHub, and CircleCl to streamline compatibility testing.

Step-by-step guide to getting started with web application testing

Getting started with web application testing involves several steps to ensure the quality, reliability, and accuracy of our web application and to run the test smoothly to meet all the objectives.

• Plan the test and determine the goals and objectives- To ensure that the web application testing is thorough, resource-effective, and arranged with the test, planning the test and identifying the goals and objectives are crucial steps.
• Define testing scope and goal- For web application testing first define what will be tested and what will not be tested and the testing approach. Then establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals for testing.
• Choose testing tools and software- Install appropriate testing tools like Selenium, IDE, Virtual Box, Meter, Postman, ZAP, Appium, etc. Make sure that the web application technologies stack is compatible.
• Manage the testing environment- Install ID or code editor with the testing framework, and put in necessary extensions. Manage necessary environment variables.
• Configure test cases- Determine the test scenario and prepare test cases according to test requirements.
• Execute the test- Run the manual or automated test then evaluate the test result and make the report of the defects found.
• Verify the test result- After evaluating the test results, collaborate with developers to resolve defects.
• Repeat the verification process- Again, verify the test cases and testing strategy on results and repeat this continuously to improve the web application.

Challenges of web application testing

Here are some common challenges that testers face when getting started with web application testing.

Ensuring cross-browser compatibility

One of the major challenges in web application testing is to evaluate that web application functions consistently across many browsers. This is because different browsers handle web technologies in various ways, leading to inconsistencies in layout and functionality.

Responsiveness

Web applications must provide a seamless experience across various devices and screen sizes. Fitting the application properly in the device resolution is one of the challenges for testers in web application testing. Responsive design testing like horizontal scrolling, alignment or padding issues, and sizes of font and buttons in different devices ensures the app adapts well to desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.

Data migration testing

Ensuring consistency during data migration in web application testing is another challenge. Testers face difficulty in transferring data from one system to another, leading to errors and data loss.

Scalability testing

Ensuring the speed or optimal performance of web applications is another challenge for testers while testing web applications to retain users and maintain their satisfaction. Responsive and well-performed web applications are needed to work under different user loads. Testers uncover the bugs related to slow pages, loading times, high server response times, memory leaks, or inefficient database issues that affect the overall performance of the application.

Dealing with dynamic content

Web applications usually get data from a server or database and display it dynamically on the user interface. In some cases, when the data is inconsistent bugs may occur due to catching issues, incorrect data retrieval, or improper handling of real-time updates. These bugs result in user confusion, incorrect functionality of web applications, or incorrect decision-making. For testers testing such dynamic elements is challenging as they change rapidly.

Test data management

If the test data is incomplete, inconsistent, or inaccurate then bugs occur and affect the web application which results in the first positive or first negative test results, and an inaccurate assessment of the web application’s functionality and performance. In such cases providing the necessary data for testing scenarios is challenging for testers.

Communication and Collaboration

Communication and collaboration between developers, testers, users, and stakeholders are necessary. Without it, there is a high possibility of misinterpreting the requirements. As a result, the implemented functionality does not match the intended behavior or specifications in web applications which is a great challenge for the testers.

Best practices for web application testing

To ensure comprehensive, thorough,  effective, and efficient web application testing and overcome the above challenges  following best practices must be followed:

Test early and often

Start testing as early as possible during the development cycle to catch bugs and defects. Fixing defects earlier is also cost-effective.

Develop a testing strategy

First outline the objectives, goals, approaches, and schedules for testing. Identify the users and understand how they will interact with the application. Gather all the necessary resources and tools.

Use a risk-based approach

Focus on high-risk areas and critical functionality during testing to confirm that applications meet all the necessary functional and non-functional requirements.

Set up the test environment

To create an isolated test environment use virtualization and containerization that all reflect the productive environment.

Test maintenance and refactoring

Check the relevancy and effectiveness of test cases by refracting them and improve the testing process and procedure by continuously monitoring them.

Use usability, cloud-based, and performance testings

Emphasize usability testing to ensure a smooth user experience. Prioritize cloud-based testing for scalability and flexibility in web applications. To ensure optimal performance use performance testing tools like JMeter and LoadRunner.

Use Agile methodologies

Adopting Agile methodologies like Scrum Kanban and Extreme Programming (XP) in web application testing helps the tester in facilitating iterative testing and emphasizes continuous improvement, flexibility, and collaboration between developers, testers, and stakeholders.

Use automation wisely

Use automation tools like Selenium, Appium, Cypress, and Testcomplete to improve productivity and cover all required scenarios.

Security test

To identify vulnerabilities in web applications perform security testing at key stages of development. Conducting secure coding practices and keeping libraries and frameworks up to date can also decrease the security risks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, web application testing is a crucial step to ensure the quality and dependability of all web applications. To start with web application development,  curiosity is required along with persistence and dedication toward continuous learning.

By following the aforementioned guide and steps and practicing it regularly, testers can become better and be successful in building and developing web applications that are user-friendly, scalable, functional, and reliable. Testers must make sure that the application meets the expected standards. Remember to always test web applications earlier and often and keep practicing to improve encoding.

Also Read: Mobile Website Testing on Low Networks: Ensuring UX and Performanсe on 3G/4G