Chapter 10
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. This expectation is not limited only to business. Most churches, civic groups, schools, and governments all have Internet presences to serve their patrons.
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 and retail stores, while others have business-to-business applications such as supply chain or sales force management. Development and user presentation/user interface strategies vary for these different types of websites, and, as you might imagine, the testing approach varies 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 ...
