Quality Assurance Testing: A Must Follow Prerequisite Before Website Launch [Updated]

While launching a new website, there is a sequence of quality assurance checks that every company should conduct or mandate to ensure that the website is safe, secure, and user-friendly.   

As people have short attention spans, a single site anomaly in the user journey might lead to a user bouncing or a chaotic experience that can cause a loss of possible revenue. Hence thorough website quality assurance testing should be a mandatory aspect for every business.   

Website QA testing checklist typically involves the following steps:  

1. Requirement analysis  

2. Test planning  

3. Test case development  

4. Test environment setup  

5. Test execution  

6. Defect tracking  

7. Regression testing  

8. Test closure.  

Each step ensures thorough examination of software quality and helps identify and address any issues or defects before release. 

In this blog, we will learn about website testing quality assurance and certain QA checks that quality testing services involve leveraging web experience.  

Let's begin!!  

Why Is Website QA Testing Essential?  

According to a study, one out of three customers will stop interacting with a specific website if they encounter a terrible user experience. Besides, 60% of the users do not recommend a business without a good mobile website design. On top of that, 88% of customers using online portals say that they are less likely to return to a website if they've had an overall negative experience in the first place.  

Website QA testing is used to ensure that a website: 

• Functions as intended, meets user requirements and performs well 

• Compatible across different devices and browsers 

• Provides a positive user experience while maintaining security and reliability. 

Needless to say, how important is web testing before website launch!!     

What Website Quality Assurance & Testing Could Offer? 

The increasing complexity of websites with advanced features and technologies makes website testing necessary to ensure optimal performance. Besides, the growing reliance on websites for business operations and customer engagement demands higher quality standards. In other words, the rise of mobile usage and the need for responsive design have further emphasized the importance of QA testing to deliver seamless user experiences.  

With that, here are a few things that you could yield with website quality assurance and testing: 

• Ensure Cross Browser Compatibility  

Rendering engines differ between browsers. A website's likelihood of rendering differently in different browsers is very high. Additionally, the rendering engines used by various browser versions may vary. Simply put, other browsers or browser versions may cause the appearance of a website to become inconsistent.  

QAs must carefully test their websites across different browsers to prevent these discrepancies in the viewing experience.   

By doing so, teams can fix rendering issues for particular browsers and maximize the website's viewing experience across all popular browsers. Certain technologies in this case can be helpful in this situation because it rapidly gives QAs the ability to run cross-browser tests across 3000+ actual device browser combinations.  

• Test for Responsiveness  

A responsive layout acts as a catalyst in enabling websites to resize themselves dynamically as per the screen sizes for different users in which it is viewed. According to statista.com, nearly 60% of incoming website traffic comes from mobile devices. In short, when you need to create a responsive web experience, it is necessary to foster QA testing services in time. 

• Mobile users can't be overlooked  

Developers must ensure that their websites are mobile-friendly or responsive so that end users have an optimal overall experience across different screen resolutions. Additionally, a mobile-responsive design is essential because the giant Google has moved to a mobile-first indexing algorithm. This means opting for a responsive design will eventually elevate your SEO efforts.   

However, it is critical to remember that responsive design can also introduce issues, like misaligned buttons or links that are difficult to tap. To fix those issues in advance, one can use an online responsive tool that helps you view your websites across distinct device types or could simply hire a quality assurance testing services provider.  

Need To Know How Automated Web Testing Works?  

Read Here: Key Considerations For Automated Web Testing  

• Functionality Testing  

This is the most essential yet critical website QA testing concept, where a QA must thoroughly test all the UI elements, thereby considering maximum use case scenarios.   

Validating the UI elements includes testing:  

• Forms for data input validity and login procedure  

• Dropdowns  

• Text Files  

• CTAs  

• Dropdowns  

• Header Navigation  

• The Search Box   

• Critical User Flow  

• Formatting   

• Spacing  

Testing all the above elements manually might be convenient for a smaller website. However, comprehensive UI testing for larger websites can be a formidable task which may require partnering with QA testing services company. Else, internal teams could simply reach out for the test automation tools like Selenium to run automated parallel tests. It helps validate UI functionality faster. Leveraging an automated UI testing platform can help teams achieve their test goals faster and quickly release a robust website.  

• Check for Broken Links  

Broken links can create an extremely chaotic experience for website visitors, especially when searching for crucial and authentic information. Moreover, broken links also adversely affect the SEO of a website. All in all, QAs must look at the methods to ensure that all the links are directed toward the intended landing pages or documents.  

• Teams can use speed optimization plugs to identify and further fix all the broken links.  

• Once a broken link is traced, it is imperative to add the appropriate link or a redirect to send the visitors to the intended page.   

In addition, even if the essential links are not broken, QAs must ensure that they are pointing to the correct page. As an illustration, check that all the links in the header navigation led to the desired landing pages.   

• Maintain Security   

Websites used for commerce online occasionally ask visitors for personal information, mainly while e-commerce websites are being developed. QA website testing has an SSL certificate to protect sensitive user data.   

As the data is encrypted to thwart hacker attacks, this aids in the establishment of secure connections. Leading payment gateway integrations and credit card companies will mandate this for checkout pages. Additionally, you must ensure that all HTTP traffic is diverted to your website's HTTPS version.  

• Test Payment Gateways  

1. Websites can now easily accept payments online thanks to technological advancements that make exchanging money simple.   

1. Teams must extensively test the integrations with their provider of payment solutions for speedy transactions in order to ensure that clients do not encounter difficulties while making online payments.   

1. Making fictitious payments in a sandbox setting would be the ideal way to test this, along with creating all the necessary test cases beforehand. This would allow you to try out all payment methods.  

• Cookies   

The user's browser contains text files called cookies. These text files include detailed user data, such as login credentials, cart contents, visited pages, IP addresses, etc. One such instance is when you enter a website that adds a cookie for your login session. Later, this cookie is used for various things, such as providing customized adverts to repeat visitors to the website.   

To assess a website's behavior with cookies enabled or deactivated, one must test it using various user scenarios. The best way QAs can ensure everything works as planned is to test the website using popular browsers under actual user settings utilizing a real device cloud.  

Quality Assurance Testing Best Practices 

 When it comes to web quality assurance testing, following best practices can help ensure that your website functions correctly, meets user expectations, and delivers a high-quality user experience. Here are some best practices to consider: 

• Define Clear Requirements: Clearly define the requirements and expectations for your website. This includes functionality, performance, compatibility, and usability criteria. 

• Plan and Document: Create a comprehensive test plan that outlines the testing objectives, scope, test cases, and testing timeline. Documenting your testing process helps ensure consistency and provides a reference for future testing cycles. 

• Test Early and Continuously: Start testing as early as possible in the development lifecycle. This allows for early detection and resolution of issues. Conduct regular testing throughout the development process to catch bugs and ensure ongoing quality. 

• Use a Variety of Testing Techniques: Employ a mix of testing techniques, including functional testing, usability testing, compatibility testing, performance testing, security testing, and accessibility testing. Each technique addresses different aspects of web quality assurance. 

• Test on Multiple Browsers and Devices: Test your website on various browsers, versions, and devices to ensure compatibility and responsiveness across different platforms. Consider using tools or services that can help automate cross-browser and cross-device testing. 

• Pay Attention to Performance: Monitor and optimize website with performance testing. Test for load times, page responsiveness, and resource usage. Performance issues can significantly impact user experience and should be addressed proactively. 

• Focus on Usability: Test the usability of your website to ensure it is intuitive and easy to navigate. Consider conducting user testing sessions to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement. 

• Implement Regression Testing: Regression testing involves retesting previously tested functionality to ensure that recent changes or fixes have not introduced new issues. Establish a regression testing strategy to prevent the reoccurrence of previously fixed bugs. 

• Implement Version Control: Use version control systems to manage code changes and track the history of modifications. This allows you to revert to previous versions if necessary and helps in isolating and resolving issues. 

• Automate Testing Where Possible: Leverage automation tools and frameworks to streamline repetitive and time-consuming tests. Automated testing can improve efficiency, speed up testing cycles, and reduce human error. 

• Collaborate and Communicate: Maintain clear communication channels between the development, testing, and business teams. Collaborate closely to ensure that everyone is aligned with the project goals and testing priorities. 

• Maintain Test Documentation: Keep your test documentation up to date and well-organized. This includes test cases, test scripts, bug reports, and any other relevant documentation. It helps in knowledge transfer, facilitates future maintenance, and ensures consistency. 

• Monitor and Track Bugs: Use bug tracking and project management tools to log and track bugs efficiently. This allows for better organization, prioritization, and resolution of issues. 

• Conduct User Acceptance Testing (UAT): QA solutions involve end-users or stakeholders in the UAT phase to gather feedback, validate the functionality, and ensure the website meets their expectations. 

• Continuously Learn and Improve: Regularly evaluate your testing processes and outcomes. Identify areas for improvement and incorporate lessons learned into future testing cycles. 

Wrapping up   

Suppose you are a beginner in the testing field and ready to test your website. In that case, our web application testing checklist is what you need to adhere to. It can help you deliver a high-quality platform, increase the website functionality, and ensure that the end-users will never get any disappointment while using the web app.    

Before a website goes live or is deployed into a production environment, it must be validated or checked for potential issues using quality assurance testing. Therefore, you should adhere to the above web Testing/QA Checklist to ensure that your website is stable, secure, and fully functional for your customers.   

If you want to address web app security, usability issues in the web design, and other common bugs always found on the website; contact us at info@bugraptors.com.