Website Testing Checklist & Template [Updated]

An Overview of Web Application Testing

Web app testing is a methodology of software testing & quality assurance process wherein bugs and errors that may lead to web app failure are identified and fixed.

Web apps are accessed via a wide range of web browsers, OSs, and network types. There are many benefits for digital businesses leveraging web application testing, which ultimately ensures the end users get the best possible UX.

Web application testing ensures no bugs sneak into the final production and the final web app release is bug-free.

Benefits of Web Application Testing

Optimized Efficiency of the Web App

By performing end-to-end web app testing, businesses can improve the web app’s efficiency and ensure the critical goals of scalability, robustness, and seamless app navigation are rightfully met.

Enhances the Overall User Experience

When performing web app testing, GUI testing ensures that the UI of the web app is customer-centric and meets the expectations of the end users. It ensures that the app is verified for common UI errors such as font, color, navigation, etc. Also, it lets the developers and testers identify and fix the bugs that hamper the user experience, converting more users into customers.

Improves App Scalability

Web app testing helps to maintain the optimal user load under varying conditions. Efficient load testing ensures high-speed functioning of the web apps even during peak times such as Black Friday sales or the holiday season.

Prevents Data Breaches

Given the rapid rise in cyberattack incidents today, security is fundamental to gaining customers’ confidence and creating a good reputation. When performing web app testing, security testing safeguards a web app against prevailing security issues such as data breaches, threats, etc.

Ensures Cross-platform Compatibility

When web apps undergo compatibility testing, they are ensured to perform seamlessly across OS and browsers. Since different browsers and OS may follow different Open Web Standards, web app testing ensures the app delivers a seamless and uniform UX even if different browsers have their own means of interpretation.

Increases User Conversions

Usability testing is a crucial aspect of web app testing that aims to optimize the user experience and ensures that app features are easy to navigate. As a result, the app users can easily consume the app’s content without any glitches. They are motivated to perform the necessary action (such as making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, etc.)

Reduces the Time and Cost Consumption

By leveraging automation tools for performing end-to-end web app testing, product companies can reduce the amount of time and resources required to perform the testing. As repetitive test cases run without human intervention and reports are regularly shared with the stakeholders through automated tools, enterprises achieve high-quality web apps with reduced time and cost.

Web Application Testing Checklist: Getting Started

1. Functional Testing

Users should be able to follow the simplest route possible to perform any action. They do not desire a website or web app full of bugs and incorrect features. Application flaws are easily identified through functional testing. If the application’s coding or qualities improve, the Dev team can adhere to the test results and make the necessary changes. Thus, it ultimately results in the web application’s functioning improvement.

Additionally, this test would provide insight into the application’s ability to perform as expected. QA engineers verify that the initial build works as per the predefined requirements. Common features tested in functional testing are links, cookies, HTML & CSS, etc. Read here all about Cookie testing.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Validate signup, sign in, login flow, and functionality.
• Check app response during push notification.
• Ensure calls may be received/declined while the app is running.
• Check app response after intrusion.
• Measure power consumption.

2. Usability Testing

Ideally, Usability tests are executed in the first stage of the design phase during the SDLC. When done early, the Dev team can initiate troubleshooting for any problems sooner, ultimately reducing the cost of fixing the bugs. The longer a digital business waits to perform effective usability tests on the web app, the more the problem becomes a part of the app design, and the more difficult it becomes to remove that issue over time.

One of the primary benefits of usability testing is that it increases the product’s efficiency before launch. By collecting reliable user opinions and identifying their challenges, the project team gets more creative with new solutions and relevant improvements to the current system. Usability testing ensures that the app navigation is user-friendly and the web application’s content is easily accessible.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Create a sitemap and ensure ease of navigation.
• Ensure the web application’s design is user-friendly.
• Ensure the app provides confidentiality when asking for crucial personal information.
• Ensure the app serves a diverse audience, both geographically and physically.
• Look for breadcrumbs in the app.
• Validate the app menu to ensure that it’s easy to use
• Validate app rendering across devices and OS.

3. Compatibility Testing

The compatibility of a system, application, or website is built with various factors and objects, such as databases, web browsers, hardware platforms, operating systems, users, mobile devices, networks, etc. Compatibility testing, as the name goes, measures the web app’s compatibility across a wide range of environments.

Compatibility testing ensures that the web app meets all the predefined business requirements of both the developer and the end user. This stable web app improves the credibility of the associated organization. There is no denying that quality web apps improve a business’s sales and marketing efforts and optimize customer engagement.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Test buttons and links across devices and platforms.
• Test for any resolution, image, application cache, and performance issues across devices.
• Test for text alignment, dropdown, and issues with alignment of other elements.
• Test for web app’s scalability to fit according to size, tables, and borders.
• Verify fields and their inputs.
• Check app behavior when autocomplete is on or off.
• Check app background color across all screens.

4. GUI Testing

Testing the user interface or UI of the web app is called GUI testing. This form of testing allows testing the functionality of a web app from a user’s perspective. Sometimes the internal functions of the web app may work correctly. However, the user interface does not allow a user to perform necessary actions.

Other types of testing would miss such incidents of failure, so GUI testing is recommended. It ensures the UI of the web app meets the customer’s requirements and that the app is seamlessly accessible to users.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Test the key GUI elements such as size, position, length, etc.
• Ensure the error messages are displayed correctly.
• Ensure the fonts are readable and aligned.
• Test the quality of the images used.
• Check the positioning of GUI elements for different screens.

5. Cross-browser Testing

When any web application or software is ready for release, it is expected to be implemented well in all browsers. However, it is not the case because every browser is not equal. Some browsers are designed in such a way that they will work with a certain operating system, and some have boasting features.

As human beings, browsers also interpret things differently, and codes are not interpreted similarly in all browsers. Therefore, with cross-browser testing, the form and the functionality of a website are tested in various browsers and devices.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Ensure the app loads on all browsers.
• Ensure the elements (such as buttons, forms, and menu) are visible.
• Test the clickable elements on the app page.
• Ensure the page content is visible on all devices.
• Measure the time taken to load the webpage on different browsers.

6. Database Testing

Database testing checks the integrity and consistency of data by verifying the schema, tables, triggers, etc., of the application’s database that is being tested. In Database testing, we create complex queries to perform the load or stress test on the database and verify the database’s responsiveness. Database testing helps ensure the database’s efficiency, stability, performance, and security.

During database testing, we can understand the behavior of complex transactions and how the system handles such queries. It ensures that only valid data values and information are received and stored in the database. Database testing protects the web app from vulnerabilities like data loss, saves aborted transaction data, and prevents unauthorized access to information. This testing includes reporting errors found while executing queries and maintaining data integrity while managing data in the database.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Ensure the data is logically organized.
• Ensure the heterogeneous databases are consistent with the overall application mapping.
• Test the length and naming convention of the database fields.
• Check the size and length of the required fields and indexes.
• Check the database server configurations as per the business requirements.

7. Performance Testing

The performance testing process helps evaluate the stability and responsiveness of websites and web applications. Performance testing is executed to ensure the web app loads fast enough, does not crash under varying loads, and the overall performance enhances the user experience.

Performance testing validates the web app against different load and stress conditions and at different internet connection speeds to ensure proper scalability of the web app.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Test app loading time.
• Test app performance over multiple devices and OS.
• Test battery consumption.
• Test network scalability.
• Test memory and CPU utilization.
• Test app performance under varying load.
• Test app behavior during network fluctuations.

8. Security Testing

Billions are lost annually owing to the frequent brute force incidents of cyber-attacks. By 2031, it is expected that ransomware will lead to a staggering loss of $265 billion. Security testing helps identify a web app’s potential vulnerabilities and strengthens its security.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Ensure the app can handle SQL injections.
• Ensure the cookies do not store passwords.
• Ensure the session expires when the user clears the cache.
• Ensure the user is asked to re-login when the session expires.
• Test user roles.
• Test all third-party integrations and vulnerable files.
• Identify functional loopholes.
• Validate exposed sensitive data.
• Identify server-related vulnerabilities.
• Validate the process of data management and processing.
• Perform pen tests and red-team intervention.
• Test the verification capability of the app.

9. Accessibility Testing

Web apps should be accessible to all people, including people with specific disabilities like hearing loss, impaired vision, cognitive disabilities, etc. This testing method ensures that the app follows all accessibility guidelines like W3C’s WCAG 1.0/2.0/2.1/2.2, BITV 1.0, Section 508 & Stanca Act, etc. Accessibility testing ensures equal access to apps for all and helps in expanding the user base.

Accessibility is also required by law in many cases, and many countries have made it mandatory. As per the World Wide Consortium (W3C), there are certain specific guidelines for accessibility testing, which can be classified under the following principles:

Perceivable: The data and UI of the site or app should be presentable so that users may easily perceive it. For example – including Alt text for images.

Understandable: The content on the UI must be legible. For instance, there must be a meaningful message instead of just color-driven instructions.

Operable: Navigation through the user interface must be easily accessible and operable. For example, keyboard navigation, where every link on the page must be accessible with a simple keyboard stroke.

Robust: The UI content must be powerful enough to be accessible to different users. For instance, accessibility of a website URL on the desktop, web, as well as on handheld devices.

Sample use cases to be considered

• Ensure the app design and layout is consistent.
• Ensure the text size is apt as per the end user’s phone settings.
• Test the screen orientation after rotation.
• Ensure the informative text has accessible alternatives.
• Ensure the screen readers can read the headings.
• Test the non-text features like photos, diagrams, graphs, audio/video content, etc.
• Test the transcripts for the audio and video elements.
• Test the audio controls of the app.
• Test the contrast of app elements.
• Check whether the app displays the default language.

Conclusion

Today, web applications have become essential for digital businesses to provide seamless accessibility over diverse operating systems, screen resolutions, and browsers.

However, to achieve the true potential of these web apps, adherence to the web application testing checklist mentioned above will ensure the apps meet the desired scalability, robustness, and performance.

Therefore, these web apps should be tested thoroughly before launching them into the market so that they may deliver the expected user experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Steps to the QA checklist for website testing?

Typical QA checklist steps for website testing include:

Functionality Testing: Ensure that all website features and functions, such as links, forms, navigation, and interactive elements, work as planned. Compatibility testing involves ensuring that the website is compatible with various browsers, devices, and operating systems in order to give a consistent user experience.

Responsiveness Testing: To ensure correct rendering and usability, test the website’s responsiveness across various screen sizes, resolutions, and orientations.

Performance testing involves examining the website’s speed, load times, and responsiveness under various traffic scenarios. Validate the website’s security measures by testing for vulnerabilities, deploying secure protocols, and safeguarding sensitive user data. Review and proofread all website material to ensure correctness, readability, and proper formatting. 

Usability Testing: Evaluate the website’s user-friendliness, accessibility, and overall user experience to ensure it meets usability standards.

How do I create a QA checklist?

Identify Testing Goals: Define your testing process’s unique goals and objectives, taking into account factors such as functionality, compatibility, performance, security, and usability.

List the requirements that the website must meet, such as supported browsers, devices, performance thresholds, and security standards.

Divide the testing process into several areas or categories, such as functionality, compatibility, performance, security, and content.

Specify the various activities or tests that must be completed under each category, such as testing links, forms, load times, or security vulnerabilities.

Set Priorities: Determine the importance and influence of each test on the functionality and user experience of the website.

Create a clear and simple checklist that details the testing areas, tasks, and priorities.

Include checkboxes or status indicators to mark each test’s completion.

Review and Update: Review and update the QA checklist on a regular basis to reflect any changes in requirements, technological updates, or industry best practises.