Testing the Waterhouse

It's about a year since I started writing blogs, so thought it would be nice to look back and say how blogging has improved me. Firstly, there have been numerous times when I've thought I wrote a blog post about that, let me dig it out, and use it as my own reference or even for someone else, so it has definitely made things like that easier. It has also made me more knowledgeable about topics that I have written about, if I'm going to write a blog post about something I want to be sure that: I know what I am talking about It's all correct It's articulated in a way that people will understand That's lead to me researching things more, and actually delving outside of my comfort zone a little bit. Then there's reading other peoples blogs to ensure that I'm not just copying what others have written, so becoming more knowledgeable that way, reading other blogs also helps give me ideas about what to write about and ensures that I don't ru...

I recently got asked by a fellow QA, what is the difference between testing a web service and testing a website is? So here is the answer in as simple a way as I can put it... Firstly, what is a web service? It's effectively a function that can be accessed by by other programs over the web. For instance, the asos website has a "basket" web service that enables users to add to their basket on the product page. I understand that from coming from somewhere that only tests a website to somewhere that requires QA to test against web services it can be very daunting, but with the right tools and the right mindset it can be simpler to test a web service than a website. Why is that? you may ask... Let me begin. One of the problems with testing User Interfaces or websites is that there are so many things that could potentially go wrong, you're interacting with the end product. Look at it like switching on Christmas tree lights in the old days, when if one light was b...