1. Testing web applications

2. Terminology Some definitions:
Testing: An activity conducted to evaluate the quality of a product to improve it by identifying defects and problems.
Error: the actual result deviates from the expected.
Our expected results should (theoretically) come from our requirements definition.
Most often, the goals/concerns/expectations of stakeholders serve as the testing basis.
Test case: a set of inputs, execution conditions, and expected results for testing an object.

3. Test Objectives Main objective: find errors, NOT show that none exist.
Complete test coverage is impossible, so testing focuses on mitigating the largest risks.
Where’s the greatest potential for loss?
What are the sources of this risk?
Start testing as early as possible – even with restricted resources and time.

4. Test Levels
Unit tests: test the smallest testable units (classes, Web pages, etc.), independently of one another. Unit testing is done by the developer during implementation.
Integration tests: evaluate the interaction between distinct and separately tested units once they have been integrated. Integration tests are performed by a tester, a developer, or both jointly.
System tests: test the complete, integrated system. System tests are typically performed by a specialized test team.

5. Test Levels (Cont..)
Acceptance tests: evaluate the system in cooperation with or under the auspice of the client in an environment that comes closest to the production environment. Acceptance tests use real conditions and real data.
Beta tests: let friendly users work with early versions of a product with the goal to provide early feedback. Beta tests are informal tests (without test plans and test cases) which rely on the number and creativity of potential users.

6. The Tester Role The ideal tester has a “destructive” attitude.
Very difficult for developers to “destroy” their own work.
However, Web projects focus heavily on unit tests, making them more prone to errors.
Thus, some guidelines:
Have others in the Web team perform tests.
Best tester is the one who gets the most bugs fixed.

7. Test Methods and Techniques
Link Testing : Finding broken links, orphan pages etc.
Browser Testing : variety of browsers exists. Thus need to test.
Load Testing: Does the system meet required response times and throughput?
Stress Testing: How does the system behave under abnormal/extreme conditions?
Continuous Testing : Typically, running the operation a few times doesn’t produce an error, hence the need for continuous testing.
Security Testing:
- Is our SSL certificate working?
-What happens if I try to access a protected page/site in a non-secure way (i.e.,

8. Web Project Management

9. Web project management
Definition: It is a science in that it relies on proven and repeatable processes and techniques to achieve success.

10. Objectives of Software Project Management
It extends the technical product development cycle (planning – implementing – checking) to economic and social tasks, like managing, developing, and monitoring.

11. Objectives of Software Project Management

12. Conflicting Areas in Projects
The important aspect about this point of view is that none of the three parameters can be changed without entailing a change to one or both of the other parameter values.

13. Traditional software project management VS web project management
parameter
software project management
web project management
Main objective
Create a quality product at lowest cost
Create a usable product in shortest possible time
Project size
Medium to large (10 to 100 people and more)
Usually small (6 +/− 3 people)
Duration
12 to18 months on average
3 to 6 months on average
Development approach
Based on requirements; structured into phases; incremental;
documentation-driven
Agile methods; assembly of components; prototyping
cost
several million dollars
several thousand dollars
Technologies
OO methods, CASE tools
Components-based methods; visual
programming; multimedia
Processes
CMM, ISO, etc. (“rigid”)
ad-hoc (“agile”)
Staff profile
Professional software developers
with several years of experience
Multimedia designers; Web
programmers (Java, etc.);
PR/marketing people

14. Challenges in Web Project Management
Leadership Challenges
Unique software systems: the experience from the past project is too little to be able to make reliable cost estimates.
Extremely technical leadership perspective: dominated by technology freaks.
Poor planning: many projects are characterize by unclear or incomplete planning objectives, frequent changes to planning objectives, defects in project organization.
Development Challenges
Individuality of programmers
High number of alternative solutions
Rapid technological change
Monitoring Challenges
The immaterial state of software products

15. The Web Project Team
Teams formed to develop Web applications are characterized by three important properties:
Multidisciplinary: Different special domain experts (content, hypertext structure, presentation).
Parallelism: Many parallel development have to be coordinated.
Small size: Due to short development cycles and limited budget, web teams are composed of small numbers of team members.

16. Specific Risks in Web Engineering
Unclear definition of objectives: many web applications are created without clearly explaining the purpose.
Wrong target audience: heavily oriented to the wishes of corporate management.
Development-oriented page structure: the easiest way for developer to create the content is by following contractor’s organizational chart.
Lacking consistency due to outsourcing: if outsourced to different companies, there is a high risk in the contents and navigation aids.

17. Specific Risks in Web Engineering (cont.)
Lacking budget for maintenance: it is higher for web due to quickly changing contents and technologies.
Content recycling: content extract from traditional document sources is not feasible.
Poor linking: recycling of linear content leads to the problem that links are often added artificially.
Mixing Internet and intranet: internet presents a company to the outside, while with intranet productivity is the goal.

18. Specific Risks in Web Engineering (cont.)
Confusing marketing research and usability research: marketing research assesses the wishes of users. Usability research finds out how users handle a web application.
Underestimating the strategic significance of the Web: ignoring this communication channel will lead to significant competitive disadvantages.