Web pages and websites have become an integral part of modern civilization. Everyday a new website for some specific application is hosted and joins the bandwagon of the Internet. We may visit a website and may find a good number of web pages designed for specific applications. The quality of a web application must be assured in terms of response time, ease of use, number of users, ability to handle varied spikes in traffic, provide accurate information, etc. Compromise in any of these parameters may compel the customers to move on to the competitor's site. Testing these web pages is a real challenge because conventional testing techniques may not be directly applicable.

WHAT IS WEB TESTING?

The main challenge of testing a web application is not only to find common software errors, but also to test associated quality related risks that are specific to a web application. We should know the architecture and key areas of web application to effectively plan and execute the testing.

Web Application versus Client Server Application

In client-server architecture, the client program is installed on each client machine that provides user interface. The clients are connected to a server machine which serves the client by providing requested information. In client-server architecture the functionality of an application is distributed between the client and a server. For example, business logic may reside on a server machine, user interface may reside on the client machine and database may reside on either client machine or the server.