Website Testing EIT, Author Gay Robertson, 2018

Website testing Make sure your website meets all the requirements in the brief Website testing is one of the most important stages in website design Much like how a new appliance or car should work and function the way it is designed, your website should work and function the way it was designed Website testing is how to ensure quality control - although a website is not a physical object it is still a product that the client has or is paying to receive There are a range of ways to test your website

Code validation Code validation is a way to test that the code written for the website matches the rules of the code language This tool is very useful as it will pick up errors, misspelling or typos within the code and point out any problems within the code Code validation does this better than humans as sometimes all it takes is one tiny character or space to cause big problems - it can be harder for us to see this amongst a lot of code There are many forms of validation services available, we will be using the HTML and CSS validation provided by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) click on this link http://www.css-validator.org/ and submit a css file for validation eg sweet.css click on this link https://validator.w3.org/ and submit an HTML file for validation eg napier.html

Possible Errors in Code It is very easy to make mistakes when you are typing up your code. If your page is not displaying as intended or the validator indicates that errors are present, check your code for the following: HTML Missing tags Missing end tags Mispelled tags Incorrect nesting of tags Incorrect closing of elements CSS Misspelled words Missing semi colons at the end of rules Missing curly brackets The same selector styled more than once Class and ID confusion

Content checking Remember that the content of a website is the heart of a website Content full of typos or grammar problems can reflect on the business the website is representing, making it seem unprofessional or untidy It is essential that all content is checked and proofread before being published The more people going over the material the better Not only the spelling and grammar should be checked but the information such as the contact information, business operating hours, product information There are many cases where simple typos or errors have caused major problems for companies If the content is provided, make sure that it is used as intended in the correct place

Link checking It is important that all hyperlinks within your website work on each individual page For example your “Contact Us” link might work fine on your Home Page but not on your “About Us” page Broken links can cause frustration for users leading them to exit your site It also looks unprofessional, like the website was rushed or is incomplete which can reflect negatively on the organisation your website represents

Cross browser testing As discussed earlier, users don’t just browse the web on the home computer, they are using lots of different devices, with different screen sizes and different web browsers Testing on different browsers and various devices is essential to ensure your site can reach the widest audience, problem free You may find that the site behaves fine on most common browsers but not on some uncommon browsers Being aware of this is important and being aware which browsers are most used and ensuring your site works on them is essential to reach the widest audience possible The most common web bowsers (As of 2016) are: Google chrome Mozilla Firefox Internet explorer (replaced by Edge on windows 10 in late 2015) Safari

Testing plan A Testing Plan is a written document with checklists and\or tables that are filled in as you test your site The goal being to show a record of the testing conducted, and to ensure all areas such as presentation, functionality, accessibility, validation etc are all completed Another section might show what errors or problems were identified and how they were remedied - you are keeping a record of the website for future reference It might be later that an error appears or it might have also happened during development, having a record can show how to remedy the error again

Client Consultation and signoff You will have been in communication with your client during the planning process as a way to ensure that what you are planning to create meets their requirements The client should have been involved in: The initial consultation and approval of brief Approval of mock-ups and feedback on proposed design Changes to design or content requested by client must be documented Final Review of site Acceptance and approval of completed site Project complete? Client sign off and payment received!

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