Developing any digital product is a multi-part process. A sophisticated website or app may start as nothing more than a few notes on a scrap of paper, eventually making its way to prototype and eventually to commercial release. But a crucial part of the process before it’s released to the public is QA testing — i.e. quality assurance testing. So let’s take a look at how QA testing works and how to do QA testing.
“QA testing” is deliberately broad in its definition. It essentially encompasses any process — or likely, processes — used to determine whether a product is ready to be released to the product. At a very basic level, it’s intended to spot any bugs or flaws in programming prior to release, but it can also be more sophisticated in its approach.
In practice, this means many different people are involved in the process of QA testing. Internal staff try to spot obvious issues as early as possible and correct them. In the case of a website, this may be something like a pop-up not working when clicking a particular icon is meant to trigger it. These issues may be due to genuine mistakes in the coding process or problems with the design itself being uncovered once the technical staff get their hands on the brief.
Once these issues have been addressed, it’s important to involve members of the general public prior to QA testing too. Though there’s a lot that can be tested in a workplace environment, it’s critical to determine whether any other QA issues arise once a more general user has their hands on the product.
QA testing is a little different for UX designers. Although they’ll certainly note bugs and errors if they find them, UX designers tend to be more focused on how well products will work from a user perspective. This ranges all the way from large-scale concerns like the main visual interface, down to very granular concerns — for example, is this particular animation smooth enough? Is this font large enough?
Typically UX designers will be involved prior to showing the product to the general public, though they need to have further input depending on how well general users receive the product.
The exact steps and processes vary from project to project, but most modern websites and apps will follow a similar model to the steps below:
QA testing can occur at any of these stages, but it’s most commonly associated with steps 1 and 2, due to the influence these have on the overall user experience.
QA testing is typically done quite late in the process of product development — but ideally, it should be carried out as an ongoing process throughout. The sooner problems are identified, the easier it is to fix them before major structural or coding changes need to be made.
However, if it’s not possible to do this, it’s important to allow ample time before release for testing. The amount of time will vary depending on the specific scope of the project, but allowing at least a month or two prior to release — to allow for any changes and re-testing to occur — is wise.
QA testing is an integral part of any UX research and design project. Whether you’re designing or developing a website, it’s important to have the right partner working alongside you to guarantee a product that’s not only highly polished but also offers an intuitive user experience. So why not get in touch with Bapple today? We’re an experienced, Sydney-based agency that can aid you throughout the QA testing process.
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