What is Quality Assurance in Web Development?
Quality Assurance in web development is a combination of manual and automated techniques that are aimed at determining bugs, errors, potential vulnerabilities, and any other discrepancies on the website before it is available for end-users. QA helps to ensure that all the points of tech requirements, best practices, and security guidelines are completed.
Besides the Quality Assurance procedures during the web development process, QA is also an inevitable part of the continuous website support & maintenance. It helps to determine and address any potential bugs and vulnerabilities before it's too late. Functionality failures, bugs, or security vulnerabilities might appear on any platform over the course of time due to changes in functionality or design, lack of security updates, outdated code, and more. Thus, it is crucial to keep abreast and monitor the website regularly.
Website QA Checklist
Website QA includes multiple stages and might differ based on the project’s size, complexity, and tech requirements. In this blog post, Drupfan QA specialists share a short checklist on general website Quality Assurance points that affect the website operation and overall health.
QA of website functionality
Website functionality testing is a key QA procedure during web development. During functionality testing, a QA specialist makes sure that the website operates as expected for end-users.
- Testing the operation of core site functions.
- Testing the operation of all user forms (all buttons, registration, authorization, submitting web forms, etc.).
- Verification of compliance with tech requirements and documentation.
- Testing search and navigation features.
- Testing links and redirects.
- Checking content posting and display.
- Testing image loading.
- Checking the mail configurations.
QA of website UX/UI design
UX/UI design testing is a check-up of a website's interfaces and layouts on different devices and screen sizes, as well as their correspondence with the documentation and requirements.
- Verification of compliance with web design & documentation.
- Browser compatibility testing.
- Checking mobile responsiveness.
- Checking the website layouts for pixel-perfect correspondence with the design (if required).
- User Interface (UI) testing.
- Checking if the website is user-friendly.
QA of website performance
Website performance is crucial for a positive user experience and high SEO rankings. Site performance includes but is not limited to page loading speed, media loading time, and the site’s ability to handle high traffic and multiple requests in a real-world situation.
- Testing overall website performance.
- Testing mobile and desktop page loading speed.
- Checking media loading speed.
- Checking a website can handle high traffic.
- Testing how a website responds to multiple user requests at a time.
- Measuring website’s scalability.
- Checking hosting provider specifications (as it might directly influence site performance).
QA of website security
Website security is a crucial element of any online platform, as hacker attacks or malicious code injections are a pain point for website owners in 2024. If a website is not properly secured, you risk losing sensitive data and files, having user data leaked, or getting broken functionality.
- Checking if the CMS (Content Management System) is updated to the latest version.
- Checking if the latest security updates are installed.
- Verifying SSL certificate is installed and up-to-date.
- Checking status reports for any security error messages.
- Checking permissions for different roles.
- Auditing server configurations.
- Testing website code for security vulnerabilities.
QA of website accessibility
Web accessibility guarantees that all users, especially those with physical impairments, can access all the website content and functionality. Ideally, the website should be compliant with WCAG guidelines. In general, the QA specialist tests the following points of web accessibility:
- Checking alt-text to non-text website content.
- Checking media quality.
- Testing web color schemes and contrast ratio between elements on the site.
- Checking if all the navigation elements can be accessed via the keyboard.
- Checking zoom functionalities and ability to resize page elements.
- Testing if all the content is available for screen readers.
