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The main goal of testing is to ensure that the site meets the client’s stated requirements and to identify errors that negatively affect the operation. Read more about this stage of website development.

Does Your Site Need Testing?

The SECL Group is engaged in creating, modernizing, and supporting sites for our clients. One of the stages of working with the site is testing. Testing is a step that should be performed after completing work with the site, as it allows you to find errors that can negatively affect the work of the resource.

This article will tell you what testing is and determine which is better: automated or manual.

What Is Site Testing?

Site testing is checking the pages and business logic of the project in different ways:

• Checking the quality of pages;
• Loading speed testing;
• Checking the display on different devices and browsers;
• Usability testing, and others.

The main goal of testing is to ensure that the site meets the client’s stated requirements and to identify errors that can negatively affect the operation of the resource.

A dedicated specialist – a QA engineer – is responsible for site testing. He must check the project from start to finish before putting it into operation.

Usually, the testing process runs parallel to the development. When creating a technical task, a QA engineer connects and prepares a testing plan and test cases. As the layout is ready, the specialist tests it as well. After the implementation of the project, the QA engineer performs functional testing and business logic and checks the finished project for compliance with the technical specifications.

What Does the QA Engineer Do at Each Stage of Development?

The QA engineer works at each stage to

• Give his assessment and test the requirements;
• Record important moments of the project (checklists, test cases);
• Reveal particular usage scenarios or user stories affecting accessibility, testability, and edge cases.

Design Stage

The engineer defines priorities and scenarios important for business. He prioritizes risks (things necessary for the client and his company) and determines which of the established functions can increase the chances of their incorrect work and to what extent.

The engineer prepares a project schedule. It’s divided into sections and blocks with a list of leading roles. As it tests, it fills this document with information.

Technical Task Stage

The QA engineer determines the project’s structure by blocks and the list of functions and writes test cases for the project. And for the remaining amount, cases are written and later used for testing and regression.

Standard inspections are checklists for typical situations prepared and repeated from project to project. Their primary purpose is to control the testing of regular functions. They can be presented both in the form of checklists and in the form of decision-making tables.

The standards are fixed for developers in their routine tasks and cover such factors as

• Fulfillment of the requirements necessary for the successful promotion of the site in search engines;
• Fulfillment of requirements for sites of specific topics, for example, medical institutions or auto sites;
• Fulfillment of accessibility requirements.

Testing and Debugging Stage

At this stage, the project is directly tested. The engineer performs his task on all required configurations at the TT stage with the help of checklists, prepared cases, lists according to company standards, decision-making tables, and a project schedule.

Retrospective Stage

This stage aims to analyze internal processes to improve them. The retrospective enhances interaction within the development team, task setting, and release planning. It helps to identify bottlenecks in processes and think about what can be improved, changed, or implemented.

In the company, there are two types of retrospective: one is within the working group, and the other is only for the tester. At this stage, the tester is working on identifying missed defects and opportunities to improve the process.

The retrospective also helps the specialist better understand his qualities as a QA engineer: what was easy, what was difficult, and why it turned out that way. It becomes clear to him in which direction his skills should be developed and improved.

Which Testing Is Better: Automated or Manual?

Many testing types are subdivided according to approaches, goals, and system knowledge. Now, it’s time to compare two popular types of testing: automated and manual. In the case of automated testing, the QA engineer uses specialized programs to develop tests that can subsequently be run automatically. In manual testing, the specialist imitates the possible behavior of the user on the site, and programs are not used.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Automated Testing

Advantages:

• Absence of the human factor: the program will not allow mistakes due to carelessness;
• High speed of verification. The program can process the same volume that would take a QA engineer several hours in a few minutes;
• According to written scenarios, automatic testing can take place during non-working hours, and during working hours, the tester will process the obtained results;
• The report on the results of the inspection is generated automatically.

Disadvantages:

• The development of test scenarios takes a lot of time;
•  If the business logic changes in the project and it affects the tests, then they need to be refined, which increases the amount of time spent;
• To carry out automated testing, a specialist must have high qualifications;
• Automated testing is performed strictly according to the rules, so the program will not see unexpected errors that a specialist would have found.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Manual Testing

Advantages:

• The specialist evaluates not only the functionality of the site but also the design, which allows us to find and eliminate possible shortcomings;
•  A specialist can find errors that the program did not see;
• If your project does not require constant improvements and the introduction of new functionality, then manual testing will save time and reduce financial costs.

Disadvantages:

• There is a human factor and the possibility of mistakes due to carelessness;
• Manual testing takes more time than automated testing, provided the test scripts have already been written. The best option for testing is determined based on the objectives of the project and its development plans.

Site testing is an important stage of development. To successfully run a business on the Internet, the client needs a professional resource sharpened to his goals and objectives. The testing will help find and eliminate problems and shortcomings related to its work even before the full-fledged start of the project. And for guaranteed success, it is worth determining the testing option based on the goals and objectives of the project.