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Evaluation and testing. Testing large websites. Testing should be against agreed requirements For large sites with dynamic pages (Java, ASP, Perl, etc.): Use a development environment such as NetBeans, DreamWeaver or Visual Studio - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Evaluation and testing
1WUCM1
Testing large websites
• Testing should be against agreed requirements
• For large sites with dynamic pages (Java, ASP, Perl, etc.):– Use a development environment such as
NetBeans, DreamWeaver or Visual Studio– Offers debugging services, break points, traces,
variable contents, spying, etc. – Permits remote debugging
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Testing small websites• Start with fully specified checklist
of expected functionality• Greenberg (1999) gives a good
example.
[] 1. Main page loads without errors
[ ] 2. Banner frame loads banner[ ] 3. Hover functionality over each of
the banner links[ ] 4. “About” is a link to about.htm[ ] 5. “Feedback” is a link to
feedback.htm[ ] 6. “Advertise” is a link to ad.htm[ ] 7. “Awards” is a link to
awards.htm[ ] 8. “Rings” is a link to rings.htmetc.
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Browser compatibility tests• Important to test your website using a variety of
browsers– cannot assume it will look/operate the same in all
• Use a range of different browsers and browser versions• Browsers you do not have, e.g. for a Mac? (
www.danvine.com/icapture) shows the ‘look’• Some tools permit you to exercise a range of browsers
– e.g. see the compatibility viewer http://www.delorie.com/web/wpbcv.html
• How do you record your test results? • Very least is a tick in the box, as above
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Web server tests
• Most tests presume the error is in the HTML, ASP, Perl, JavaScript etc.
• Possible that there are faults in the web server configuration
• How to modify site test plan to investigate the server environment?
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Link tracking and checking 1
• Tests should involve the link integrity of the web structure
• Web development systems (e.g. DreamWeaver) usually include a Link Checking option
• Link checking:– Validates your structure– Highlights broken links– Identifies orphan files – Lists external links
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DreamWeaver example
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Link tracking and checking 2
• Employ a 'web weeder' to check for:– Out of date links – Out of date documents
• Check external links:– Tedious to do manually– Automated tools make this chore easier– See the Web Design Group's links page
http://www.htmlhelp.com/links/validators.htm
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Link checking tools 1
• Options for installation:– On your web server– On the service provider’s server– On your development machine
• Examples of external services:– The fee based WebAlarm system
• http://www.linkalarm.com/– NetMechanic
• http://www.netmechanic.com/
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Examples
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Link checking tools 2
• Example – download link checker:– Xenu’s Link Sleuth
• http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html• Someone needs to react to the Link Check
report:– Updating links if the service has moved– Rewriting the pages if the target has been retired– Advising users of problems in the past, so at least
your users are forewarned
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Link checking tools 3
• Users who tried to use your broken links– Use a tool to identify them – 404 errors– Contact them (if identifiable)
• might be good PR?
– WatchFire used to offer a range of white papers• http://www.watchfire.com/
– Check on Google
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Use of log files
• Some common log file formats:– Common– Referrer– Agent
• User defined possible:– Would need you to produce your own analysis
software– Seldom worth the trouble
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Log files 1
• Text in the format string not a place holder; is just sent as plain text
• Placeholders are replaced with their data– LogFormat "Host=%h URL=%U Server=%V Port=%p”
• Log files can be useful to look through, but you will need help
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Log files 2
• Simplest use is to just filter and display the most recent entries – – suitable for a human to monitor
• Benefits of visual inspection:– Check that pages deliverable (no 404 errors)– Check that security is working properly– Check that CGI is working properly– …
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Session logs 1
• Logs that track a single user session– What pages were viewed?– What order were the pages viewed in?– Was a purchase made (or some other goal
reached)?– Was enquiry abandoned?
• Not easy to achieve as web inherently “stateless” – each page is a new transaction!
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Session logs 2
• Techniques – see Nobles (2001):– Cookies – using cookies to capture and log session
data– Database-driven pages – using the code to capture
session data– Parsing server logs [next slide]– Web bugs – hidden <img> tagged files that trigger
unseen activity at the server– often 1 pixel square
– Non-covert <img> tracking – the more polite version of web bugs
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Log file analysis tools
• Many tools available – try a Google search• Analog (free from http://www.analog.cx) is
typical – see Wainwright or Nobles• Analog system is configured with a .cfg file
much like Apache’s• Some examples from the website
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Analog examples 1
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Analog examples 2
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Analog examples 3
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Analog examples 4
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Webalizer example 1
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Webalizer example 2
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Uses of log file analysis
• Qualitative checks:– identify (and then eliminate) any 404 file not
found log entries• Nobles (2001) lists a number of "quantitative"
uses:– How many page views is your site getting per day? – How many user sessions is your site getting per
day? – How long are users staying on your pages?
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More uses
– Which pages of your site are requested the most? – Which pages are requested the least? – What are the top ENTRY pages for your site? – What are your top EXIT pages? – Which pages are being viewed by themselves,
where visitors are not even clicking to go to another page?
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Even more uses
– Are visitors from other countries visiting your site? – Which sites are sending you the most visitors? – What are your top-referring search engines? – Which keywords are searchers using to find your
site? – How many of your visitors are using older
browsers? – Which search engine spiders have visited your site
recently?
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Web usage statistics
• Web statistics suffer from a number of problems:– Caching and proxy servers hide activity– Some users hide behind “anonymising” services– Most web pages built from very many small files –
how to count?
• Distinction between pages and hits
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Load testing
• Need a feel for the behaviour of your web server under different levels of load
• A baseline measurement is vital for:– planning for growth– identifying and dealing with DoS attacks
• Tools include:– Mercury Interactive’s Loadrunner – RSW Software’s E-Load – Segue Software’s Silkperformer
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Evaluation
• Checking to see if the website can be used effectively by its intended audience
• Evaluation in most cases will involve a human in the loop
• For a good technical set of examples see Spool, (1999)
• Not the main focus for WUCM1
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Search engines/directories
• How will search engines and directory services interact with your site?
• Nobles (2001) considers the matter from a number of perspectives, e.g.:– Key words and interaction with spiders or robots– Optimising your site to facilitate search engine
spiders• Deprecated features of HTML
– Web directories and how to get included
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Validation services 1
• Validators can for example check for a number of different features, including: – How usable are your pages to people with
disabilities– Conformance to the HTML specification (World
Wide Web Consortium - W3C.)
• See The Web Design Group list of links to different validation services– http://www.htmlhelp.com/links/validators.htm
WUCM1 32
Validation services 2
• Generally two ways of using a validation service: – Submit your page to the validation service website
and receive back a report page– Mount a copy of the validation software on your
development system, and run your pages through this system
• Like virus checkers, web validators need regular updates
WUCM1 33
Validation services 3
• Two important validation services are:– The W3C HTML conformance validation
• http://validator.w3.org/
– The accessibility validation services• http://www.cast.org/bobby/
– If you pass you get a logo, e.g.
• Review access to 1000 commercial websites– http://www.drc-gb.org/publicationsandreports/2.pdf
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