Performance and accessibility testing

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Performance and accessibility testing

Performance Testing

Performance testing is a non-functional type of testing to determine the system responsiveness i.e. speed, stability, reliability and scalability. Performance Testing is a generic term which is used to describe a category or suite of tests, which includes

• Load Testing – It is performed to test the application behavior at various load levels within its acceptable limits. Main parameter to focus during Load testing is “Response Time”.
• Stress Testing – Stress testing is performed to find out the break point where application performance deteriorates. Main parameters to focus during Stress testing are “Response Time” and “Throughput”.
• Soak/Endurance Testing – It is performed to determine if the application can handle continuous load for an extended period of time. Main parameter to focus during Soak testing is “Memory”.
• Volume Testing – It is done to determine the application performance against sudden user increase. Main parameter to focus during Volume testing is “Response Time”.
• Scalability Testing – It is performed for measuring the system capability to scale up. Main parameters to focus during Scalability testing are Response Time and Transactions per seconds.

Performance Testing Cycle – Typical Performance testing cycle consists of

• Run the performance test to determine the application performance parameters
• Analyze results to examine whether the application is fulfilling the performance goals or not
• Optimize the application to resolve the performance bottlenecks

These three steps performance testing cycle is repeated unless the performance goals are achieved.

Common problems which are shown by performance testing are

• Long user response time
• Long server response time
• Memory leaks
• High CPU usage
• Too many open connections
• Length queues for requests
• Too many table scans of database
• Database deadlocks
• Erroneous data returned
• HTTP errors
• Pages not available
• Page check errors

Accessibility Testing

Web accessibility is about making your website accessible to all Internet users (both disabled and non-disabled), regardless of what browsing technology they’re using an accessible website can reap huge benefits on to the e-commerce website and business. There are evaluation tools that help with evaluation. However, no tool alone can determine if a site meets accessibility guidelines. Knowledgeable human evaluation is required to determine if a site is accessible. Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) is an approach for determining how well a website conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

WCAG-EM provides guidance on using the methodology and considerations for specific situations. The conformance evaluation procedure is detailed under 5 main steps:

• Define the scope of the evaluation – defining what is included in the evaluation; the goal of the evaluation; and the WCAG conformance level (A, AA, AAA).
• Explore the website – identifying key web pages; key functionality; types of web content, designs, functionality, etc.; required web technologies.
• Select a representative sample – guidance on structured and randomly selected web pages when it is not feasible to evaluate every web page on a website.
• Evaluate the selected sample – determining successes and failures in meeting WCAG 2.0; accessibility support for website features; and recording evaluation steps.
• Report the evaluation findings – aggregating and reporting evaluation findings; making evaluation statements; and calculating overall scores.

Few guidelines used for accessibility testing are

• Page titles be shown in browsers tabs when there are multiple web pages open and to be read by screen readers.
• Presence of text alternatives (“alt text”) which convey the purpose of an image, to blind persons.
• Text, images, and other content doesn’t overlap with zooming.
• Check that the tab order follows the logical reading order
• Using a screen reader to test for accessibility