Web-based systems have a different nature as compared to traditional systems Due to the environment difference and challenges of dynamic behaviour, complexity and diversity also makes the testing of these systems a challenge. These systems need to be tested not only to check whether it does what it is designed to do but also to evaluate how well it an pears on the (different) web browsers. Moreover, they need to be tested for various quality parameter which are a must for these systems like security, usability, etc. Hence, a lot of effort is required for planning and test designing.

Test cases should be written covering the different scenarios not only of the functional usage but also the technical implementation environment conditions such as network speeds, screen resolution's etc. Web applications are known to give errors on slow networks whereas they perform well on high-speed connections. Web pages don't render correctly for certain situations but work fine with others. Images may take longer to download for slower networks and end-user perception of the application may not be good.

There may be a number of navigation paths possible through a web application. Therefore, all these paths must be tested. Along with multiple navigation paths, users may have varying backgrounds and skills. Testing should be performed keeping in view all the possible categories of users in view. This becomes the issues in usability testing.

Another issue of great concern is the security testing of web applications. There are two cases. For Intranet-based applications, there are no such threats on the application. However, in case of Internet-based applications, the users may need to be authenticated and security measures may have to be much more stringent. Test cases need to be designed to test the various scenarios and risks involved.

Traditional software must be tested on different platforms, or it may fail in some platforms. Similarly web-based software must be tested with all the dimensions which are making it diverse. For example users may have different browsers while accessing the applications. This aspect also needs to be tested under compatibility testing. If we test the application only on Internet Explorer, we cannot ensure that it works well on Chrome or other browsers. Because these browsers may not only render pages differently but also have varying levels of support for client side scripting languages such as Java Script.

The strategy for testing web-based systems is the same as for other systems, that is, verification and validation. Verification largely considers the checking of analysis and design models which have been and described earlier. Various types of testing derive from the design models only. However, the quality parameters are also important factors which form the other types of testing.

Types of Testing:

1) Interface Testing

2) Usability Testing

3) Content Testing

4) Navigation Testing

5) Configuration Testing

6) Performance Testing