QA For Web Sites: Approaches To Testing

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QA For Web SitesApproaches To Testing

• Brian Kelly
• UKOLN
• University of Bath
• Bath, BA2 7AY

Email B.Kelly_at_ukoln.ac.uk URL http//www.ukoln.ac.
uk/
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Automated Testing

• Automated Testing
• Should be scalable
• Only suitable approach for large Web sites
• Can push (email) information about problems
• Many free automated testing tools available
• but
• Will not spot all usability / accessibility
  problems
• Can provide too much information
• Comprehensive and configurable testing tools can
  be expensive

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Manual Testing

• Manual Testing
• Can spot usability / accessibility problems
• Can make use of ones community / user base /
  peers
• Can use of key pages which will identify problems
  which occur elsewhere
• Particularly useful for testing new Web sites
• 5 users can spot most of your problems
• but
• Not suitable for testing large numbers of pages
• Quality of feedback may be variable
• Often not useful for testing established Web sites

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Approaches To Automated Testing

• Automated testing can make use of
• Desktop tools
• Web-based tools
• UKOLN has made use of Web-based testing tools
• Monitor accessibility, HTML, CSS, compliance,
  page size, links quality, nos. of links, etc.
• Benchmarking approach provides comparison with
  ones peers
• See, for example, lthttp//www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-foc
  us/events/conferences/ucisa-tlig-2002/benchmarki
  ng/gt

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Benchmarking (2)
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Peer Review

• Peer Review
• Give me comments on my Web site and Ill also
  test yours
• Can help in community-building
• Particularly useful for programmes in which
  project Web sites being developed at same time
• But
• Can be difficult in processing unstructured
  responses
• Need to manage process

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Managing Peer Reviews

• UKOLN is developed a peer review system to
  support its advisory service for NOF-digi projects

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Conclusions

• To conclude
• There is probably a need to make use of both
  automated and manual approaches to testing
• You can use these approaches within your own
  department / organisation
• There are advantages to be gained in working with
  ones peers
• How should we do this?