The Ultimate Website Testing Checklist For 2022 [+ Infographic]

You can’t wait to share the great design, user interface, and engaging content you’ve worked so hard on with the public? Most people often make their site live in a hurry without even checking essential factors. Later on, they will receive negative feedback from the users, and that’s inevitable for sure.

To help you launch your site, avoid any mistakes, and maintain qualities, such as being informative, accessible, and user-friendly, we have created an ultimate website testing checklist that will help you launch your new website smoothly.

We will cover all you need to know before getting your website live. This process is known as Quality Assurance website testing.

What Is Website Testing?

Before making a web-based system available to end-users, it must be extensively tested from beginning to end.

A website testing checklist ensures the proper functionality, security, and usability of websites for a better user experience and getting them ready for real-time use. It is a way of checking for potential issues before it is deployed into the production environment or made live.

Quality Assurance Website Checklist

1) Functionality Testing

2) Interface Testing

3) Usability Testing

4) Performance Testing

5) Compatibility Testing

6) Security Testing

7) Responsive Testing

8) Database Testing

9) Change Related Testing

10) Have a Backup Solution for Disaster

1. Website Functional Testing

To identify needed items to check for website functionality, first, we have to be familiar with the purpose of functionality testing.

What Is Functionality Testing?

Functional testing is done to make sure that each website function works in accordance with the requirements.

Website functionality testing reveals how the system works. This is done to ensure that all of the website elements work as they should. Functionality testing verifies that all the web page’s links, forms, and database connections are operating correctly.

a) Link Testing

This testing is quite useful and might be helpful to your page’s SEO. If you have a broken link in your content, it can not satisfy the aim you are looking for, and it will hurt your SEO.

When a user clicks on an external link on your website, they expect to find more information on the given subject. If the link is not working, it would be confusing for the user and may frustrate them.

• Internal Links: This testing ensures that internal links on your page are properly linked to relevant pages of your website, such as the Home Page, Contact Us, About Us, and so on.
• External Links: These are links that take users away from your website and into another online platform.
• Email Links: You must ensure that if a user clicks on the email link, the default email client opens with the “To” address already filled.
• Broken Links: Broken links are also referred to as dead links. All of the above-mentioned types of links may be referred to as broken links. Such links are generated with spelling mistakes in the URL or the linked page removed and no longer exists. You may use online tools to identify broken links on a website.

Link Testing Checklist

• Verify that all of the links are clickable.
• All internal links should be tested.
• Jumping links on the same page should be tested.
• Test the links that are used on website pages to send emails to admins or other users.
• Inspect all of the above-mentioned URLs for broken links.
• Check whether there are any orphan pages.
• Check to make sure none of your links goes to an empty page.
• If you remove any page, or if pages are no longer available, check to see if the custom 404 page works properly.

b) Forms Testing

Because online forms are the most often used features on websites, they are one of the most significant parts of the website testing checklist. Forms are a type of interactive contact. As a result, the following should be inspected:

• The validation of the input data: there are several field validations, such as Email Id, user financial information, and so on. All of these validations should be performed.
• Fields that are optional versus required.
• Is the input longer than the field’s maximum length?
• When a scrollbar is necessary, does it appear?
• Are forms structured to make them easier to read?
• Inspect the fields for default values.
• What is incorrect data in each field?
• Options for forms in which data can be deleted or modified in any way

c) Cookies Testing

Cookies are small files that are saved on the user’s computer after they visit your website.

Here’s what you should test:

• What happens if a visitor deletes their cookies while on the site?
• What happens if a user deletes cookies after visiting a website?
• Test a website with cookies deactivated.
• Check a website with cookies allowed.
• Check that the cookie is encrypted before it is written to the user’s system.
• If the cookies have a length limit, they should be checked to see if they’re still active after that limit has passed.

d) HTML/CSS Validation

HTML/CSS validation is critical for optimizing your site for search engines. Test HTML and CSS to verify that search engines can easily scan your page:

• Check for HTML syntax errors.
• Check to see if your website has an accurate site map in both XML and HTML format.
• Verify that the color scheme is readable and meets the standards.

e) Testing Error Messages

In a well-designed website, error messages are extremely helpful in guiding visitors through successful and unsuccessful situations. Poorly crafted error messages may easily mislead end-users when navigating through the website.

2. Interface Testing

We have to know about a website’s interface to be able to do a good job of writing a checklist for testing it.

What Is Interface Testing?

Another critical component of the website testing checklist is interface testing. Interface testing ensures effective compatibility between multiple servers, resulting in improved interaction and error handling.

The primary interfaces are:

• The interface between a web server and an application server
• The interface between an application server and a database server

Check that all interactions between these servers are carried out and that errors are handled correctly. In response to a query, the website database or web server may return an error message. In such situations, the application server should catch and show these error messages to users in an accurate way so that the user becomes aware of the problem.

Interface Testing checklist:

• What happens if a user interrupts a transaction in the middle?
• Check what happens if the connection to the webserver is lost.
• If plugins are utilized, will the site continue to work if they are removed? 
• Check if linked documents can be opened on all platforms.
• Can the system respond appropriately if there are issues or errors during a download?
• Does the copy and paste function properly?
• Is there a recovery mechanism in place if the application crashes?
• Is it possible to use the site without enabling plugins?

3. Usability Testing

The definition of usability is “the ease of use of something.” Let’s see what does it mean for a website user.

What Is the Usability of a Website?

In web-word usability is defined as “the simplicity with which your visitors explore and accomplish their goals within your website.”

Users want to be able to pinpoint the information they want as quickly and easily as possible. They have a low threshold for complicated and slow sites. It just takes them 10 seconds to leave one website in search of a better one.

What Is Usability Testing?

Usability testing enables you to determine how user-friendly your website is. It guarantees that people can easily use and interact with the website.

During this testing, the navigation is tested to determine that visitors can easily navigate through the website’s pages. People will leave a website if it is difficult to use or if the content or elements of the page are difficult to read or understand. As a result, website usability is one of the most vital aspects for users. You should use website visitor tracking tools for this.

What Are the Different Types of Website Usability Testing?

Although there are numerous web usability testing methods for measuring website performance, the following are some of the most often used:

• Heatmaps (click tracking) allow you to track users’ clicks on the screen.

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• A/B testing compares the experiences of two different versions of the same website.
• Surveys are a quick and easy method to gather direct feedback from visitors on the usability of your website.
• Paper prototyping helps developers to test websites throughout the development phase, saving them time and effort.
• You can utilize eye-tracking gadgets to track the movement of visitors’ eyes as they navigate the website.

Usability Test Checklist:

The usability website testing checklist is divided into different sections: accessibility, identity, navigation, and content. Consider the following while testing your web application for usability:

a) Accessibility

• Site loading time should be reasonable.
• The font size and line spacing on the site should be optimized.
• Use Flash and add-ons with caution on the website.
• All visuals on the website should have appropriate ALT Tags.
• If an internal link is broken, a “404 error” or “Not Found” page should be shown.

b) Identity

• The website logo should be clearly displayed, just like on the top left side of the page.
• A suitable tagline is required on every page of the website that clearly introduces the purpose of the page. You can use a free tagline generator to create an appropriate tagline for your page.
• Contact information must be clearly stated to help in the identification of the company information.

c) Navigation

• All pages should access the main menu.
• If numerous navigations are used, the user should know the reason clearly.
• Simple and direct navigation labels should be utilized.
• Add a search bar (usually on the right top side.)
• Use links and buttons properly to avoid confusion.
• As a general rule, the company logo should be linked to the website’s home page.

d) Content

• Informative and clear headings should be used. The heading tags are used by search engines to display pages in search results. If you provide the wrong titles, the user will skip your website link and go to other websites.
• Proper header tags, such as H1, H2, and so on, should be used for SEO purposes.
• Key content should be presented on the first screen in average resolution.
• Ensure there are no grammatical or spelling errors.
• Make sure images are appropriately positioned and sized.
• Visuals should have alternative descriptive text.
• Check the site’s color palette and font sizes for optimization.
• Content should be useful, easy to read, well-structured, and logically related.
• The instructions should be simple to follow and contain truthful data.
• Using user-friendly and relevant keywords in URLs will benefit both the user and search engines in understanding navigation.
• Having consistent font styles and colors throughout the website assists users in recognizing that they are still on your site.
• Throughout the website, the text should be correctly aligned.
• All fields and buttons should be positioned correctly and in a consistent format and size.
• Deactivated fields should be grayed out.
• Keyboard shortcuts should be available for all textboxes, dropdowns, radio buttons, and other fields and buttons.
• Examine the page at various resolutions within the same browser.

Recommended Reading: How to Do Better Content Testing in Less Time [Methods & Tools]

4. Performance Testing

Performance testing is a critical component of the website testing checklist that determines the success of the website.

What Is Performance Testing?

Performance testing is used to assess a system’s or component’s compliance with defined performance requirements under a range of load conditions. The primary goal of this testing is not to uncover problems in the system but to eliminate bottlenecks and determine the amount of load/stress that the site can withstand. Performance testing is used to determine the scalability of the application, points of failure in load balancing, the response time between user requests, and the server response.

It is suggested to test the website’s performance on various internet connection speeds.

Performance Website Testing Contains:

Web Load Testing: Can the system handle peak load time? The site should be able to manage several simultaneous user requests, large input data, multiple connections to the database, excessive demand on certain pages, etc.

Web Stress Testing: In general, stress means pushing the system past its boundaries. Web stress testing is used to break the site by applying stress while monitoring to see how the system recovers from crashes. Input fields, login, and sign-up sections are usually the focus of attention.

Performance Website Testing Checklist:

• Testing site behavior at or beyond the planned workload limit (Stress testing)
• Observing site behavior when workload increases (Load testing)
• Testing the capacity to work within or over the allowed time frame (Stability testing)
• Increasing the data volume in the database to evaluate website performance (Volume testing)
• Testing the performance of a website when several people log in (Concurrency testing)
• Testing the behavior of your site when the increased workload is applied on a continual basis (Endurance testing)
• Checking the page load speed

5. Compatibility Testing

Compatibility is the ability of two systems to function together without requiring any changes.

What Is Compatibility Testing?

Another critical factor that must be checked for improved website efficiency is compatibility. The compatibility testing section of the website testing checklist ensures that the web pages are properly rendering in various browsers such as IE8, IE9, IE10, IE11, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and so on. It also checks to see if it works correctly on all operating systems such as Windows XP, Windows 7, Vista, Linux, Mac, and so on, as well as various hardware specifications.

Moreover, compatibility testing includes printing options, device compatibility, and database compatibility. Websites that can function properly on mobile devices will have a higher success rate as mobile surfing grows.

Compatibility Testing Checklist:

The following are the most common compatibility tests that should be considered while evaluating your website:

a) Browser Compatibility

Some websites are extremely reliant on web browsers. Different browsers have different setups that your website should be compatible with. The code on your website should be cross-browser compatible.

Test your website on several browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, AOL, Safari, and Opera:

• Check that the HTML version is up to date and compatible with various browsers.
• Check that the pictures and text show appropriately in different browsers.
• Animated GIFs and videos should be tested on a range of browsers.

b) OS Compatibility

Cross-platform testing helps to evaluate your site’s performance on a variety of operating systems (both desktop and mobile) such as Windows, iOS/Mac OS, Linux, Android, and BlackBerry.

c) Printing Options

If you provide page-printing options, be certain that:

• The fonts, page graphics, and page alignment can all be printed correctly.
• All of your website’s pages match the paper size and the size specified in the printing option.

d) Database Testing

It is carried out to verify the proper operation of your site in various database configurations: Oracle, DB2, MySql, MSSQL Server, Sybase.

6. Security Testing

It is always understood that if we delay security testing until the software implementation phase or after deployment, the expense would be higher. As a result, security testing must be included in the early stages.

What Is Security Testing?

Security testing means identifying any weaknesses and holes in security. Security is a vital factor for every website. This inspection process aids in identifying potential software vulnerabilities or flaws, resolving security concerns, and maintaining the website’s maximum security. It ensures that all data and resources are safe from potential hackers, prevents illegal access, and safeguards all data by providing high-level security to the website.

Security testing determines whether or not private data is kept confidential. The main objective for testing a website’s security is to detect any vulnerabilities and then fix them.

There are nine main types of security testing:

a) Network Scanning

b) URL Manipulation

c) Vulnerability Scanning

d) Password Cracking

e) Log Review

f) Integrity Checkers

g) SQL Injection

h) Virus Detection

i) Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Website Security Testing Checklist:

Some examples of web security tests are as follows:

• Without logging in, copy and paste the internal URL into the browser address bar. Internal pages should not be accessed.
• Log in with your password and username, navigate the internal pages, and try to edit the URL parameters directly. If you update a parameter that isn’t connected to the currently logged-in user, your request should be refused.
• Fill in input fields with incorrect inputs and see how the system reacts to all of the invalid entries.
• Web files should not be directly accessible unless a download option is provided.
• Automated scripts can be used to check if captcha works.
• Check to see if SSL is being utilized for security purposes. When users go from non-secure HTTP:// pages to secure HTTPS:// pages and vice versa, the appropriate message should be shown.
• All transactions, error messages, and attempts at security breaches should be recorded in log files on the server for further examination.
• Examine if the password, credit card numbers, and other data are shown in encrypted form.
• Examine each page in your application that accepts user-entered input to access a database for SQL Injection.
• Check that no vital information is displayed in the error message.
• Verify that unauthorized access to secure pages is prevented.
• After a period of inactivity, verified sessions are automatically terminated.
• Check to ensure that all cookies are encrypted.

Password Testing 

• Verify that the password rules are applied to all authorized pages, including set password, change password, and lost password.
• Once the password has been changed, users should not be able to log in using their previous passwords.
• Check that users are banned from logging in to the system if they input incorrect passwords more than a specified number of times.
• Check to see whether there is a limit on the number of forgotten password requests that may be issued every day.
• Check that system cookies aren’t saving passwords.

7. Responsive Testing

The number of people who solely use mobile devices for internet access is growing. So, it is critical to check whether the website is mobile-friendly. As a result, regardless of the device used, your visitors should have a seamless experience. They should be able to explore your website simply, whether on a desktop or a mobile phone, or a tablet.

The major goal of this testing is to ensure that the website is easily available on all sorts of operating systems and smart devices with varying screen sizes.

A Website Testing Checklist Mobile-Friendliness

• Check for smartphone and tablet compatibility.
• Make sure the site navigation is as easy to use as possible.
• Enhance your website’s loading time.
• The buttons should be large enough for those with large fingers.
• All picture sizes should be optimized.
• Avoid using flash and pop-ups.
• Use bullet points and brief words to make your point.
• Assure that your phone number is only one click away from being dialed.
• Check that the website can access location through GPS.
• Ensure that all of the elements are properly aligned.
• Check to see if the hover and selection states get highlighted and change colors.
• Check to see if CTAs have an appropriate clickable area.
• Examine the uniformity of shading, color, and gradients (if available.)
• Check to see that the edges are created with the proper padding settings.

• Check to see if the text’s style, font size, and color on each web page are consistent.
• Check the website’s scrolling functions.
• Check to see if all of the pages are perfectly readable at different screen resolutions.
• Check that all of the website’s links are correctly displayed and clickable.
• Check that all of the input and output boxes (if any exist) are visible and that they are taking and giving values according to the user’s command.
• Be sure that there is no horizontal scroll bar on the web page since everything should be scaled to match the screen size and resolution.
• While rotating the device, all of the website’s content must be rotated and shown evenly and without problems.

8. Database Testing

Backend records that have been inserted through web or desktop apps are evaluated in database testing. The data presented on the website should correspond to the data saved in the database.

What Is Database Testing?

A database is an essential component of every online site, and it must be tested properly. To perform the database testing, the tester should be aware of the below-mentioned points:

• The tester must be familiar with the functional requirements, business logic, application flow, and database design.
• The tester must understand the application’s tables, triggers, store methods, views, and cursors.
• It is critical for the tester to consider the ripple effects while executing DML procedures.

Database of Website’s Testing Checklist:

• Database name
• Tables, columns, and column types
• Check to see if the column accepts null values.
• Check the main and foreign keys in the tables.
• Check the required parameters.
• Test stored procedures with simple queries.
• Check to see whether the stored procedures return any results.
• When using the DML operation, double-check the data.
• Check the encrypted data.
• Check each query’s response time.
• Check the data presented on the front end and compare it to the back end.
• Check to see whether any issues are reported when running queries.
• Check to see if the data integrity is preserved while conducting a CRUD operation.
• Verify that the data retrieval is as intended.

9. Change Related Testing

This section of the website testing checklist includes two parts:

• Ensure that all discovered issues have been effectively solved (re-testing or confirmation testing). In a nutshell, you should run the test cases that originally discovered the flaws again, and this time they should pass without a problem.
• Ensure that no new errors have developed as a result of the revisions (regression testing). Aside from the test cases that detect problems, it also includes ones that examine all of your site’s functions.

10. Have a Backup Solution for Disaster

Nobody wants to lose their website data once it has been launched since they have worked hard to create it. Install a backup solution just in case of emergencies. Check the backup strategy thoroughly before launching the site. This will allow you to assess the backup solution and will spare you from pain if something bad happens with your site after launch.

Conclusion

Platforms such as WordPress and Wix, and its alternatives have made it easier to create and launch a website. However, it is not easy to ensure if it meets Google’s requirements and will rank well on all search engines. That is why, before publishing your site, you must thoroughly test each and every feature.

After reading this article, you are now familiar with all of the main aspects and elements of the website testing checklist that you must review before making your website available to users. These tactics lead to improving website functionality and providing a high-quality platform that consumers like.

Remember that it is the end-users who must be pleased, therefore do user-side testing to ensure there is no risk of disappointing them.

In order to build the best user experience possible, it’s critical to know about your users: what they’re doing, where they’re getting stuck, and what they need next in order to find success. WatchThemLive is a behavior analytics tool that helps web platforms do just that. It shows you how your users interact with your website by recording every action on your website. The result is that you get detailed session replays of each user, showing clicks, scrolls, and even mouse movement.

While many tools are available for this purpose, WatchThemLive is still one of the best ones around. It helps you understand what your users do before and during conversions in order to help you create a better user experience. Begin your adventure to be the best in your field! Sign up now!