At DGD Consulting the quality of our websites is a primary concern. We use the Crosby Definition, where quality is defined as “Conformance to Requirements”, or in other words delivering what we agreed!
The W3C Validation icon for HTML Code. Issued for code that has successfully passed through the WC3 Markup
Validation Service.
The W3C Validation icon for CSS Code. Issued for code that has successfully passed through the WC3 Markup Validation Service.
Full functional and non-functional testing is carried out to include both success and error pathways.
The look of your website can be highly influenced by the browser that is being used by your visitor’s computer. The behaviour of browsers can be very dissimilar. Different version of the same browser can have different facility sets, interpret the W3C standards differently or even (as in the case of Microsoft's Internet Explorer Version 6) be notorious for its errors.
Until recently, 19/02/2010, according to the BBC, over half the world's internet users, used Microsofts Internet Explorer (IE). However, following a legal agreement between Microsoft and Europe's Competition Commission, in December 2009, European users were given the option to choose an alternative browser, starting 1 March 2010. Users were presented with a choice screen, giving details and download links for a whole range of browsers. With such a wide choice of browsers and versions available, it is impossible to test every possible browser choice that may be out there and so testing is restricted the latest version of a limited subset to give a maximum return from our validation effort:-
Microsoft Internet Explorer | Market Share | 59.5% |
There are 3 significant versions of Internet Explorer in current usage:
At present we test on Version 7 (the most popular) and Version 8.
FireFox | Market Share | 24.5% |
This is the descendent of the Netscape Navigator browsers. It is a free and open source web browser managed by Mozilla Corporation. Its popularity, despite the marketing strength of Microsoft, is due to its quality and it’s “not owned by Microsoft" status. HAving a smaller market share, it is also perceived as not being as popular a target for virus and trojen attacks as Internet Explorer.
Chrome | Market Share | 6.7% |
This browser is provided by Google and as such is backed by the advertising power of the world’s most powerful Search Engine and Google Corporation’s perceived altruism. It is currently the main beneficiary of opening up IEs dominance.
Safari | Market Share | 4.7% |
Produced by the Apple Corporation it is designed with their products in mind. It provides testing of a MAC orientated product. Apple also uses this software in their handheld browsers.
Opera | Market Share | 2.7% |
The fastest browser on Earth. Secure, powerful and easy to use, with excellent privacy protection. A small but significant market share.
Testing on versions not in our deafult set can be tested, but there will be a charge on a time and materials basis for testing and correcting any browser type/version problems.
Remember that you have the ultimate responsibility to confirm that the software behaves as you want it to and that it will not cause you problems. You should therefore carry out "Acceptance Testing" where you test out the website as thoroughly as possible, before being ready to accept it.
As a minimum you should check that:-
Testing should not all be left to the last minute. As part of our service, finalised and sometimes part-finished pages may be placed on our web-server for viewing. If you see something you don’t like, the earlier it is addressed the easier it may be to fix!