Accessibility Testing

[Me]:- Guruji, what are the accessibility questions that I can ask myself while testing the Accessibility aspect of any application

[Guruji]:- You ask variations of these questions

1.       After reading Section 508 (the Rehabilitation Act Amendment [RAA]) of the Workforce Investment Act of 1988, do you notice particulars that apply to your application?

2.       Will your application be made Section 508 compliant?

3.       Can the application be used without a mouse? This means keyboard-only navigation and the use of the Tab key to navigate. Try placing the mouse behind the computer to force you to try this.

4.       Is the tab order through the application logical (TabIndex attribute)?

5.       Does the focus default to the most logical place when a user enters a page?

6.       Are there any keyboard shortcuts in the product (AccessKey attributes)?

7.       Are these shortcuts unique on each page compared to any other access key, browser hotkey, or system command? You cannot have duplicates.

8.       Do all pages, tables, columns, frames, forms, graphics, links, animations, applets, and controls have a descriptive real-language label (ALT text and TITLE text)?

9.       Do all tables have header attributes? (<TH> with a real-language description.)

10.    Do all links, buttons, and graphics have tooltips?

11.    Do all images used as anchors for links have a text-based alternative?

12.    Is the application able to function with all graphics turned off? With the sound turned off?

13.    Can the application function when the user has turned off style sheets in the browser?

14.    Is color or sound the only method of communicating information to the user in any place?

15.    Are the user's specified colors of fonts, links, and the background applied?

16.    Are the user's specified font face and size applied?

17.    Can the application be used while in High Contrast mode?

18.    Does the application or site provide the appropriate properties for the controls in MSAA?

19.    If any text edit boxes are used, can you change the value in the box and have MSAA recognize the new input?

20.    What level of MSAA is the application standardized to (v1.3 or v2.0)? The standardization is a good marketing point and worth at least a mention on the Web page. More information on Microsoft Active Accessibility can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/enable/.

21.    Do included video or animations have closed captioning, narration, or text equivalents?

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Usability testing

[Me]:- Guruji, what are the usability questions that I can ask myself while testing the Usability aspect of any application

[Guruji]:- Asking questions to your self is an effective method to generate and test the applications. Well’’ to start off you can begin asking the following questions

1.       Does the user interaction for this feature make sense? Will the user easily figure out how to use it?

2.       Are Help files provided?

3.       Are error messages to the user helpful?

4.       Will server errors (such as 404s) be given a more usable interface when delivered to the user?

5.       Can the user easily find the necessary navigational controls, or are the application controls easily confused with the browser's controls? (For example, if users are looking for the Help pages for your application, do they instead click the Help for the browser?)

6.       What is the result of each click? Where does it navigate to?

7.       What happens if the user right-clicks? Is this disabled or is there a special menu that appears? Is it supported?

8.       Is the information architecture clearly mapped out with content topics mapped to it?

9.       Would the user try to bookmark the page? Can the user return to a book-marked page of yours? What if the page has been removed? There should at least be a polite general statement and links to the main navigation page of your site/application.

10.    Will there be usability studies performed with typical users prior to the release?

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Risk analysis

[Me]: - Guruji, can you please throw some light on Risk analysis

[Guruji]:- Sure, I can. But before we get there you will need to understand a few terms that are generally used in Risk analysis like –

Risk - Condition that result in loss to an organization

Threat- Trigger that causes risk to become a loss

Control- Threat Eliminator

Vulnerability- Flaw that enables threat to be exploited

Risk Analysis- Evaluation of risks, threats, controls, vulnerabilities

[Me]: - What are the risks that impact testing?

[Guruji]:- Many. I will list out a few for you.

Budget, No.of Resources, test environment, Tools and procedures, Sequence/Increments of code delivery, Low reusability, New technology, Complexity, end user expectations, software risks, security risks and quality risks.

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Base metrics for Performance

Performance metrics	Category
Base set of metrics
Processor	·         Processor utilization
Process	·         Memory consumption ·         Processor utilization ·          Process recycles
Memory	·         Memory available ·         Memory utilization
Disk	·         Disk utilization
Network	·         Network utilization
Transactions/business metrics	·         Transactions/sec ·         Transactions succeeded ·         Transactions failed ·         Orders succeeded ·         Orders failed
Threading	·         Contentions per second ·         Deadlocks ·         Thread allocation
Response times	·         Transactions times

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Performance in Agile

[Me] : - How does the core performance testing activities relate to an iterative or agile model? Do I just repeat all steps for every sprint?

[Guruji]:- Performance testing with iteration-based processes is a common practice in development cycles such as Agile, XP, RUP, and other sources. To be effective, performance testing should be managed correctly in the context of iteration planning and processes. This is how you can relate.

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Performance criteria

[Me] : - But Guruji, how do I identify performance criteria? I mean how would I know that my application satisfies the needs?

[Guruji]:- There are many areas that you can look for. Consider the following key points when identifying performance criteria:

Business requirements

User expectations

Contractual obligations

Regulatory compliance criteria and industry standards

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Resource utilization targets

Various and diverse, realistic workload models

The entire range of anticipated load conditions

Conditions of system stress

Entire scenarios and component activities

Key performance indicators

Previous releases of the application

Competitor’s applications

Optimization objectives

Safety factors, room for growth, and scalability

Schedule, staffing, budget, resources, and other priorities.

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