The Art of Software Testing, Second Edition

Chapter 9. Testing Internet Applications

Just a few years ago, Internet-based applications seemed to be the wave of the future; today, the wave has arrived onshore, and customers, employees, and business partners expect companies to have a Web presence.

Generally, small to medium-size businesses have simple Web pages they use to tout their products and services. Larger enterprises often build full-fledged e-commerce applications to sell their wares, from cookies to cars and from consulting services to entire virtual companies that exist only on the Internet.

Internet applications are essentially client-server applications in which the client is a Web browser and the server is a Web or application server. Although conceptually simple, the complexity of these applications varies wildly. Some companies have applications built for business-to-consumer uses such as banking services or retail stores, while others have business-to-business applications such as supply chain management. Development and user presentation/user interface strategies vary for these different types of Websites, and, as you might imagine, the testing approach varies for the different types of sites as well.

The goal of testing Internet-based applications is no different from that of traditional applications. You need to uncover errors in the application before deploying it to the Internet. And, given the complexity of these applications and the interdependency of the components, you likely will succeed in finding ...