What are the benefits of Quality Assurance Testing for web applications?
Improves Performance and Quality
Much like studying before an exam gets students the grade, good QA testing ensures that you put out a top-notch web application. This is the phase where you get a sense of how the application performs, what you can do to improve product usability, and any changes that may be necessary before releasing a version of your application.
Secures the Application
Security issues are a top concern for customers and companies alike as the number of threats we have to contend with increases. QA testing can help you identify and manage any potential vulnerabilities in your application before they ever have a chance to wreak havoc.
Reduces Time and Expense
Research shows that 75% of a developer’s time is spent on debugging. (That’s 1500 hours a year!) All that time adds up and can cost your organization a lot of money. If you can catch as many bugs as possible early on, you can more easily free up time and resources that would otherwise be spent debugging down the line. Testing reduces errors and the costs associated with resolving them. It can also help you sort out or uncover potential problems with code quality.
Before a product release, there is a critical step that no team should overlook: Quality assurance. Here at Unosquare, we understand the importance of QA and the elements of the testing strategy that can help you put your project on the path to success. Keep reading to find everything you need to know about QA testing and what steps you can take to create an application that meets quality standards.
What is Quality Assurance?
QA assurance for apps is really a form of quality control, delivering the best possible outcome for the end-user of your web app. Organizations are looking for anything that may impact the effectiveness of the software or negatively impact the experience that people have with the application. This testing phase can make or break the way your application performs.
As we walk through these best practices, we have a series of tips about QA and how it fits in the development cycle. After you’re done checking out this post, you can find information and learn how to keep quality assurance in mind by reading additional posts on the Unosquare blog.
Benefits of Quality Assurance Testing for Web Applications
There are many benefits to defining and carrying out a QA process for web applications. Before looking at different testing requirements, we’ll put the “why” of QA in context. Here are three of the top reasons why you can’t afford to overlook quality assurance:
Improves Performance and Quality
Much like studying before an exam gets students the grade, good QA testing ensures that you put out a top-notch web application. This is the phase where you get a sense of how the application performs, what you can do to improve product usability, and any changes that may be necessary before releasing a version of your application.
Secures the Application
Security issues are a top concern for customers and companies alike as the number of threats we have to contend with increases. QA testing can help you identify and manage any potential vulnerabilities in your application before they ever have a chance to wreak havoc.
Reduces Time and Expense
Research shows that 75% of a developer’s time is spent on debugging. (That’s 1500 hours a year!) All that time adds up and can cost your organization a lot of money. If you can catch as many bugs as possible early on, you can more easily free up time and resources that would otherwise be spent debugging down the line. Testing reduces errors and the costs associated with resolving them. It can also help you sort out or uncover potential problems with code quality.
6 Best Practices for Quality Assurance in Web Applications
Now you know a little bit more about how QA plays a role in helping you deliver high-quality products. Next, let’s take a look at a handful of best practices and testing activities you must take into consideration as part of your QA process.
1. Start QA Early
In some cases, the perception around QA is that happens late in the development process, testing before a deployment or release. However, it’s in your best interest for your development team to understand that the goal is to test early and test often. This is the best way to keep your product on track, ensure it meets your business requirements and avoid performance issues.
2. Functionality Testing
It’s no secret that you have to make sure your app works before you send it out into the world, but proper QA takes this a step further. Check all of the different components of your web app, including links, forms, and workflows to ensure that everything is working the way it needs to. Every element of the app matters, as they all come together to create an experience for your users.
3. Performance Testing
Being confident that everything in your app works is a good first step. However, you also want to see if it can perform as expected under pressure by stress testing. You may find that when you do load testing, you may find that your app crashes under different kinds of conditions. Understanding and addressing that at this stage will make your app more stable going forward.
4. Ensuring Browser Compatibility
It’s likely that people will access your application from several different browsers and apps. To provide the best possible user experience, it’s important to ensure that your application is responsive on all common browsers. That way, end-users won’t have any problems with access or experience technical issues.
5. Usability Testing
Your application can only do well if your target audience can actually use it without getting lost. Does the app meet quality requirements for the user? Are the features you put into the app to help users actually working as you intend them to? Is there anything that may have gotten lost in translation that you should address? These are important questions to ask before releasing your web app.
6. Making QA a Team Effort
The purpose of QA is simple: to improve overall product quality. It’s important that everyone, including every party that has any involvement, is on the same page about QA and why it’s so critical. Make everyone aware of the testing effort and bring your team, employees, contractors, and any potential partners together on this initiative. This will make all of your testing processes easier and more productive.
This team effort involves the your engineering counterparts as well. The best results will come from a collaborative approach and QA’s understanding of the requirements for the end user. Keeping an open line of communication with the development team will help ensure a successful development cycle.
Ready to augment your team with quality assurance delivery professionals?
Don’t stress over the ins and outs of quality control. QA testing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You can choose to outsource to a company with excellent quality assurance delivery professionals. Here at Unosquare, we have over 2,000 successfully completed projects, over 600 engineers, and more than 120 distributed teams. We know what it takes to meet and exceed project needs. Want to learn more about what Unosquare can do for your company? Check out our blog here.
