Web Application Load, Stress and Performance Testing Using WAPT

March 9th, 2011 Automation Testing, Software Testing Tools, Web Testing

Why most of the manual testers fail when testing websites for performance? There are couple of reasons. - They dont have proper tools to test website for performance and - They dont have required skills for performance testing. Does that mean you should wait till your stakeholder report the performance glitches in web application you developed? Definitely not. Many testers are good at testing websites manually and they report almost every defect while testing under standard tests. BUT, when same tester performs load or stress tests they stuck either at resource (required tools) or skill level. I suggest not to take any risk if you are committed to defect free service. Ask for required tools and train your staff for necessary skills. Today, Im going to review load, stress and performance testing tool for websites. The tool is called WAPT Web Application Load, Stress and Performance Testing a cost effective and easy to learn web load testing tool. Continue reading 17 Comments

12 Best Cross Browser Testing Tools to Ease Your Browser Compatibility Testing Efforts
November 30th, 2010 GUI Testing, Software Testing Tools, Web Testing

Cross Browser Testing can be the biggest pain for Software testers. But thanks to all cross browser testing tools available online which help to minimize testing efforts. Ive written this post mainly for software testers but designers can also refer crossbrowser testing methods and tools mentioned in this post. Heres a handy cross browser testing checklist you can refer while testing your web project on different browsers and operating systems: 1) CSS validation 2) HTML or XHTML validation

3) Page validations with and without JavaScript enabled 4) Ajax and JQeury functionality 5) Font size validation 6) Page layout in different resolutions 7) All images and alignment 8 ) Header and footer sections 9) Page content alignment to center, LHS or RHS Continue reading 60 Comments

SQL Injection How to Test Web Applications against SQL Injection Attacks
January 17th, 2009 Security testing, Web Testing

Security testing of web applications against SQL Injection, explained with simple examples By Inder P Singh. Many applications use some type of a database. An application under test might have a user interface that accepts user input that is used to perform the following tasks: 1. Show the relevant stored data to the user e.g. the application checks the credentials of

the user using the log in information entered by the user and exposes only the relevant functionality and data to the user Continue reading 61 Comments

An approach for Security Testing of Web Applications

November 17th, 2008 Security testing, Web Testing

This is guest article by Inder P Singh Introduction As more and more vital data is stored in web applications and the number of transactions on the web increases, proper security testing of web applications is becoming very important. Security testing is the process that determines that confidential data stays

confidential (i.e. it is not exposed to individuals/ entities for which it is not meant) and users can perform only those tasks that they are authorized to perform (e.g. a user should not be able to deny the functionality of the web site to other users, a user should not be able to change the functionality of the web application in an unintended way etc.). Some key terms used in security testing Before we go further, it will be useful to be aware of a few terms that are frequently used in web application security testing: What is Vulnerability? This is a weakness in the web application. The cause of such a weakness can be bugs in the application, an injection (SQL/ script code) or the presence of viruses. Continue reading 126 Comments

7 basic tips for testing multi-lingual web sites

July 23rd, 2008 Testing Skill Improvement, Testing Tips and resources, Web Testing

This is a guest article by: Inder P Singh These days a number of web sites are deployed in multiple languages. As companies perform more and more business in other countries, the number of such global multi-lingual web applications will continue to increase. Testing web sites supporting multiple languages has its own fair share of challenges. In this article, I will share seven tips with you that will enable you to test the multi-lingual browser-based applications in a complete way: Tip # 1 Prepare and use the required test environment If a web site is hosted in English and Japanese languages, it is not enough to simply change the default browser language and perform identical tests in both the languages. Depending on its implementation, a web site may figure out the correct language for its interface from the browser language setting, the regional and language settings of the machine, a configuration in the web application or other factors. Therefore, in order to perform a realistic test, it is imperative that the web site be tested from two machines one with the English operating system and one with the Japanese operating system. You might want to keep the default settings on each machine since many users do not change the default settings on their machines.

Tip # 2 Acquire correct translations A native speaker of the language, belonging to the same region as the users, is usually the best resource to provide translations that are accurate in both meaning as well as context. If such a person is not available to provide you the translations of the text, you might have to depend on automated web translations available on web sites like wordreference.com and dictionary.com. It is a good idea to compare automated translations from multiple sources before using them in the test. Tip # 3 Get really comfortable with the application Since you might not know the languages supported by the web site, it is always a good idea for you to be very conversant with the functionality of the web site. Execute the test cases in the English version of the site a number of times. This will help you find your way easily within the other language version. Otherwise, you might have to keep the English version of the site open in another browser in order to figure out how to proceed in the other language version (and this could slow you down). Tip # 4 Start with testing the labels You could start testing the other language version of the web site by first looking at all the labels. Labels are the more static items in the web site. English labels are usually short and translated labels tend to expand. It is important to spot any issues related to label truncation, overlay on/ under other controls, incorrect word wrapping etc. It is even more important to compare the labels with their translations in the other language. Tip # 5 Move on to the other controls Next, you could move on to checking the other controls for correct translations and any user interface issues. It is important that the web site provides correct error messages in the other language. The test should include generating all the error messages. Usually for any text that is not translated, three possibilities exist. The text will be missing or its English equivalent will be present or you will see junk characters in its place. Tip # 6 Do test the data Usually, multi-lingual web sites store the data in the UTF-8 Unicode encoding format. To check the character encoding for your website in mozilla: go to View -> Character Encoding and in IE go to View -> Encoding. Data in different languages can be easily represented in this format. Make sure to check the input data. It should be possible to enter data in the other language in the web site. The data displayed by the web site should be correct. The output data should be compared with its translation.

Tip # 7 Be aware of cultural issues A challenge in testing multi-lingual web sites is that each language might be meant for users from a particular culture. Many things such as preferred (and not preferred) colors, text direction (this can be left to right, right to left or top to bottom), format of salutations and addresses, measures, currency etc. are different in different cultures. Not only should the other language version of the web site provide correct translations, other elements of the user interface e.g. text direction, currency symbol, date format etc. should also be correct. As you might have gathered from the tips given above, using the correct test environment and acquiring correct translations is critical in performing a successful test of other language versions of a web site. It would be interesting to know your experience on testing multi-language web sites. 56 Comments

Mozilla firefox 3.0 release is available for testing now

May 23rd, 2008 Testing News, Testing Tips and resources, Web Testing

Mozilla released its Firefox 3 release candidate internet browser to public for testing purpose only. Mozilla Firefox is the most popular internet browser after Microsofts Internet explorer. By releasing this Firefox 3.0 version to developers and testers community, company wants to make sure product is fully ready for final release. Company is taking feedback from testers and web developers to improve and fix most of the bugs before advancing to next version. This is a good opportunity for beginners and experts in web testing. You can test this Firefox browser version 3 on your machine. As many of our readers asked me how to and from where to test the web applications, this would be a great example of testing web product. Test Firefox 3 preview version from all testing aspects like UI, functionality, installation/ uninstallation, different plugin management in Firefox, browser security, performance, memory and load testing. Do it manually or use any automation tool. Report your feedback to Firefox team.

Here is how to start guide: 1) Download the Firefox release candidate 3 version. Download from here. You can download Firefox 3.0rc1 from above download page. You can also download other language packs if you are familiar with other languages if any. 2) Read the Firefox 3.0rc1 release notes and known issues here. From this page you will get idea of different testing scenarios and how you can test this application. 3) If you find any bug then report that bug to Firefox team usingonline Bugzilla. Before reporting any bug please read all known issues and bug filing instructions. You can also use this feedback form to send your feedbacks.