Manual Testing Checklist

October 19, 2016

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As we know manual testing is a process of finding bugs in a software application which is done by a group of test engineers who have an eye for innovation and have the foresight to dig inside an application's niceties, to be able to fetch relevant information. The major focus area for a manual tester is to execute set of test cases to figure out the number of bugs within a software system and the possibility for such an occurrence.

Manually testing a software has been a traditional way of finding out bugs and errors within an application.

Manual Testing Checklist:

• General Validations - This validation strategy takes into account the overall architecture of a given software application. Few points can be listed as follows :
  1. Verify whether navigation toolbar is working with the help of 'Tab' button.
  2. When we land on a page, the cursor must blink on the login field, which is an indication to the user to input something.
  3. The fields or menu items that are disabled must not be clickable or in a workable condition.
  4. Fonts that are used in a website, must be uniform across all browsers.
  5. Scroll bars, either vertical or horizontal, must not appear unless appropriately required.
  6. There should be proper alignment of controls in the window.
  7. Each control such as status bar, field prompts, error messages or pop-up messages must adhere to correct spelling.
  8. The cursor should be placed in the very first text field, whatsoever, of a web page.
  9. The controls must also follow naming conventions, that is, names assigned to a control must convey a meaning of the function it is expected to perform.
  10. To check various security aspects like what happens in case a user refreshes or clicks on the back button while payment process is under progress.
  11. Size of buttons, menus and text fields must be of an appropriate measurement and should be aligned with other controls as per height and width of the page.
  12. Check if there is any broken link within the application.
  13. Does a text field follow range constraints, that is, if a password field is programmed to not accept characters more than 10, then it must display an appropriate message on an incorrect input.
  14. On the event of signing up as a new user, he should be prompted with a 'registration successful' confirmation message.
  15. Session time out activity is an important check if any user is inactive for more than a defined time period.
  16. Check for SEO, by verifying Meta tags - title, keyword, description.
• Field Level Validations - Aims to test the fields like dropdown, checkboxes, textboxes, list boxes etc.
  1. A dropdown should enlist the items in an alphabetical order.
  2. Alphabet wise selection of an item from the list.
  3. A button's name must be meaningful enough to convey the task it should perform.
  4. In case of a text box, it is important to mark the fields that are mandatory, for record keeping, so that a user's credentials could be used in the most appropriate manner and we do not miss out on the most essential details of the user.
  5. In case of a text field that prompts a user to enter phone number or postal code or any other numeric input, validation checks are done to ensure that a user enters only numbers and no other character. A valid error message must pop up In case of any other entry.
  6. An email field must perform email validity check by prompting the user if he is entering the correct email id or not.
  7. Password field must display message regarding adherence to the defined format of password including its length, type of characters that are allowed.
• Database Validations - It can be thought of as one of the most important activity of the entire application. A database forms the backbone of a software application, as the requests are processed by fetching the results from the backend, i.e, the database. Few database validation checks include -
  1. A column must not allow null unless a constraint states so.
  2. Whether data is saved in the right format and in the right way into the database.
  3. Check for password encryption.
  4. Verify how much does it take for a stored procedure to execute a command.
• Security Validations - A security loophole can jeopardise a well-planned software application. Therefore we need to identify the key areas which are prone to security breach.
  1. Make sure that all data is transmitted over the web using 'https' for instance payment information, passwords etc.
  2. Sensitive data should never appear in the URL.
  3. Once a user session is over, the same user should be prompted again to login.
  4. Keep a check on Denial of Service (Dos) attacks.

Conclusion:

Manual testing requires one to possess an inherent quality of inquisitiveness that shall bring out the best of opportunities for a tester, being able to uncover the odds.