In this article, we discuss how to write test cases for slow website. By slow website we mean a website which is harder to access on normal internet speed. We take a look at various scenarios under which the test cases can be derived.
There are times when you find that accessing the website becomes slow. You’d find that specific website is either getting too slow or you’re not getting any access at all. In such case there could be many variables that leads to such issue. You have to isolate each scenario and find out the reason behind the slow speed to access the website. There are many ways to handle this question, and depending on the context of the interviewer you can try to come up with test cases accordingly.
Network
If you’re applying for a position in a network company then chances are there that this question has context to latency engineering. And for that you have to understand few networking terminologies. That you can find out if the issue is with the server latency in the company. It could be possible that some of the time issue could be with the network latency from the ISP (Internet service provider). In such case you can talk about lot of possible scenarios under which you can test this. You need to have some knowledge of networking tools such as – powershell, network monitoring commands and tools. You can even talk about commands such as ping, tracert and traceroute. There are many other commands you can talk about to get closer towards the resolution. From interview point of view, you have to be more context specific here.
Here are some of the possible test cases for checking network :
- Open new browser tab and point to another URL. Check if that URL is quickly accessible.
- Open alternative browser. Check if websites are opening in that.
- Check if the website is accessible using proxy connection.
- Check if the website is accessible using VPN network with different IP.
- Check if the website is accessible using mobile network connection.
- Check if the cable is connected with the desktop for network.
- Check if the Wifi router is on and sending data.
- Check if the PING commands returns the data properly.
- Check if the torrent connection is slowing the network down.
- Check if there are too many connections creating load on server.
- Check if the system itself is slow to use.
- Check if there is network congestion within home network.
- Check if any server policy changes are affecting other computers.
- Check if local system policies on the system are affecting the computers.
- Check name-servers of the domain are reachable or not.
- Check if the hosting company servers are online or offline.
Browser
As much as the network issues are likely to be the culprit here, It could be browser that stops users from accessing website. You have to check all possible scenarios in which browsers are not causing this. Here are some of the test cases that you can use to check if the website is slow due to browser.
- Disable all the extensions (add-ons) and access the website.
- Disable proxies or VPN and try to access the website.
- Enable proxies extensions and try to access the website.
- Try to open alternative website in new tab.
- Try to open same website in incognito mode.
- Clear browser history and try to access the website.
- Use proxy to access the website.
- Use alternative browsers to access website.
- Use portable browser with custom settings to access the websites.
Driver
In case of Windows you’d find that corruption of the Winsockets and network driver causes such issues. And for that those scenarios can’t be ignored. And depending on type of operating system you’re using you may have to either reinstall the operating system or specific driver to fix this issue. And those steps can be included into the test cases. Here are some of those test cases in such scenarios.
- Check Windows system scan to see if any driver is corrupted.
- Check if the network driver is missing or not in Device manager.
- Check network tools if any driver or file is missing to connect the network.
- Check if the Wifi module driver tries to connect to other connection types apart from existing connection.
- Check if any module restricts driver from connecting to the network.
Security
Some of the security tools have this feature set of stopping network connection. If such tools get corrupted, they may end up stopping entire network connection. You need to check firewall entries of your browser. This way you can understand what stops your browser from accessing specific website. Here are some of the test cases that you can check for security issues.
- Check if any virus or security leak stops you from connecting to network.
- Check if any specific website has been added into firewall block.
- Check if the internet security settings are corrupted or not.
- Check if the website is accessible under Google DNS or OpenDNS.
- Check if the spyware has affected the browser.
- Scan the system and browser for security issues and repeat the website opening steps.
Conclusion
These are some of the possible scenarios that you can check for accessing the website. Depending on how you’re allowed to access the website and the possible scenarios mentioned above, you can test the website speed accordingly. There are many other scenarios under which you can write test cases. Please feel free to share such scenarios and test cases in comment. And please let your friends in testing domain know about this website and ask them to comment here. 🙂