Website Testing: Everything You Need to Know

When you’re developing a new website, you understand that it has to go through several stages of testing. After all, you want your website to function properly when your customers use it, and the only way to do that is to test it. Website testing not only searches for various bugs and issues that could arise in your site, but it also ensures quality user experience and user interface design.

What is website testing?

So, what is website testing? Put simply, it is all of the quality assurance tests that you run for your website to ensure functionality, reliability, and performance. It also checks for these three factors on various devices, browsers, and operating systems.

Why do you need it?

You’ve designed and built your website; now you can just set it live, right? Not so fast. Website testing is necessary to ensure that customers can actually use your website. After all, humans are not perfect, and sometimes bugs and issues can arise no matter how careful we are. Website testing checks for these errors; it also checks for UX and UI issues. As such, by performing extensive website quality assurance tests, your site will launch seamlessly with no costly bugs. This will keep your customers happy, and it will also save your bottom line.

How do you do it?

Website testing is not just one type of tests. As previously stated, it is a series of quality assurance tests that you perform to eliminate bugs and enhance usability. Depending on your website application, you could use a wide variety of website tests. However, these are the most common:

• Functionality test: This tests various parameters including APIs, database testing, security testing, user interfaces, server testing, and other basic functionalities of your website (such as links).
• Usability test: Usability tests your UX design. It determines how user-friendly and easy to use your website is. It’ll check things like your site’s navigation, content, and more.
• Accessibility test: All websites and apps need to follow 508 Compliance. Accessibility testing ensures this.
• Compatibility test: Your website needs to work on various browsers and devices. However, these browsers and devices have their own rules and limitations. Compatibility testing ensures that your website will perform well no matter the browser or the device it is used on.
• Performance test: A performance test makes sure that your website will perform well under all loads. It’ll test response times at different connection speeds, load times, and more. It’ll also perform a stress test to see what your website’s breaking point is.
• Security test: Every website is a potential target for hackers. Security tests will ensure that your website is secure from external or internal threats. This is especially important for e-commerce sites that store customer data.

Do I need to keep testing?

YES. Just because your site has launched doesn’t mean you can stop testing. One day, whether it be tomorrow or a year from now, you will make changes to your website. Quality assurance tests will ensure that those changes won’t break your website or make it vulnerable to cyberattacks. Continuous testing is crucial for every type of software, whether it’s a website or an app.

At Beta Breakers, we have five separate website testing labs with all available browsers, operating systems, and devices. To learn more about our website testing services, contact us today.