What is the difference between web site and web application testing?

Before discussing the main topic i.e., the differences between website test and web application testing, we should know the difference between the two basic terms i.e., web site and web application.

What is a Website?
- A website can be defined as the collection of web pages that contain videos, text, images and other related digital assets.

- A website is generally hosted on a web server and is accessible via an internet connection or network address called “uniform resource locator” or URL.

What is a Web Page and Web Application?
- A web page can be defined as a document usually written in a plane text formatted with the formatting instructions of the HTML (hyper text mark up language) or XHTML (eXtensible hyper text mark up language) language.

- Suitable mark up anchors can be used to incorporate elements from other websites in to a web page.

- HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol) is used to access and transport the web pages.

- The web pages may employ HTTP secure (HTTPS) to provide extra privacy and security for the person who is going to use that web page content.

- The content of the web page content is rendered on to the display by the web browser according to the HTML instructions of the web page.

- A web page can be easily accessed through its URL usually called its home page.

- The URLs organize the web pages in an appropriate hierarchy order and the hyper links on the pages provide the site structure to the user and guide the user towards the right navigation link.

Now let’s describe web application in contrast to the web site.
- A web application can be defined as an application that is accessed through a network like intranet or internet only.

- It can also refer to a software application that has been coded in a language like java script that supports browsers and it is combined with HTML.

- The application is executable through a web browser.

- The ubiquity of the web browsers is what makes the web applications so popular among the users.

- It also provides the convenience of using a web browser as a thin client. They exhibit cross platform compatibility.

- Some common web applications are online retail sales, wikis and web mail.

- A large world wide audience of a web application or web site, its quality and reliability prove to be a crucial factor for the success of a web application or web site.

- Similarly, the characteristics and behavior of the web applications and web sites pose many challenges during their testing.

- Web site testing and web application testing invariably vary in their methodologies of testing.

- These needs are met by tools that meet these specific needs.

- A web application is a bit difficult to test as compared to web site since in a web application test the tester does not has much control over the web application.

- The application is first loaded on to a server (the location of the server might be known or unknown) and then it is installed on the client’s server and tested.

- The application is tested on various web browsers as well as on different operating systems for browser compatibility, OS compatibility, static pages, error testing, load testing and back end testing.

- Like any other the web site testing forms an essential part of building a successful web site.

- Web site testing involves validation of CSS and HTML code.

- There are two ways of validating the HTML code. First is by URL of the web page and secondly by uploading from the computer itself.

- It also involves testing of all the links on the web site to ensure that they are working properly.

- The web site should well exhibit the cross browser compatibility. Other factors that contribute to the success of a web site are speed of the web page and download time.