There are abundant grounds why your business, no concern it maybe, requires a website. Think in this way, it will not have a abrogating effect but only beneficial for your business.

When a domain is registered for your business it certainly enact creditibility for your firm. Having a website online gives you complete freedom to let your customers know about your business on online directories such as yellow pages, Local listings etc. Getting listed in these directories certainly maximize potential customers to your business.

In a website, you have the capability to add(Information) what ever you want. Working Hours, Business days, marking your firm on the map is credible to help your customers identify easily & save time on calls every day.

Consumers are liked to be briefed about offers & will search on the internet for the best buys. Why don’t you have your website so that you can win potential customers & increase your sales online.

Like traditional shops, websites do not have any business days & is always unshut. This allows customers to find out your business 365/24/7. You could be making sales online even when you are asleep. How superb is that? Even if they are not buying online they will come to know about your company & the business hours to purchase & location to buy.

The content/information you have published can be changed, deleted at any time you prefer. By this, you can update your business needs, sales updates, job offerings etc.

Having local business(pursuit) & consistent customers, you need to advertise to nourish. With your website you can advertise on local searches that may earn you new sales. The website can provide huge amount of traffic from local searches who are anticipating to buy.

Answering a phone call while interacting with a customer can be a hassle or may be annoying at times. Having a website can lessen your calls by providing a FAQ or most of the answers in the web page. By this, time & money can be saved.

Conventional advertising methods can be expensive. Reduce these methods & post your products online. You can give a detailed explanation as well as promote with your website. I’m not here to say the traditional methods are not useful but lessening those with increase of advertising using website can actually reduce cost & money.

“Comments” are the most vital thing for any business. Most businesses except for restaurants do not have them. With a website, a customer can leave a response/feedback in the website, on seeing that, lot of new consumers too get anxious to buy your product. This will certainly create curiosity among new customers to go for your product or service.

A website can let people know the modes of contact to reach you. With couple of actions by forms or e-mail, customers can get in touch you easily. This will definitely improve your business. Internet enabled computers are growing briskly, so why not your firm/business too grow with that. A professionally designed website will be very useful for your business for a long time.

In this article we would like to highlight key points to be considered while testing web applications & websites. Hereby below are website & web application testing checklist,

Essentials of Functionality Testing:

Check the status of all links in the web pages, establish connection with the database, acquiescence of forms in the web pages, login information, cookies & sessions testing.

Make sure with the links:

Test for all the out links in the domain for all the web pages.

• Check whether all the internal links are working correctly.
• Test whether all the anchored links within the page works correctly.
• Check links that sends e-mail for the admin or other users.
• Check if there are any orphan links found.
• Lastly & most importantly, check for any broken links present.

Test all the forms in all the web pages :

Forms are the most important part in any web site. Generally, forms are used to get information from the users & keep in touch with them. Hence, what needs to be tested in forms?

• Basic, Firstly, check all the field validations are correct.
• Test the default values in all the fields.
• Input incorrect & null values in all the fields.

Take an example, in an search engine project, you might have affiliates & advertise signing & login, then, each step will be different & and will be related for the next step. In that case, the work flow needs to be tested accurately.

Testing Cookies:

Cookies are small entities stored on the user’s machine. They are mostly used to maintain login sessions. Make sure when the cookies are stored they are encrypted. Check the application by switching on/off the cookies in the browser. Login to the application & delete the cookies & check the status of the application. If you are using session cookies, check if the cookies expire after session time.

W3 HTML/CSS Validation :

If you are developing a web site search engine optimization is very important. Make sure your web site is validated using w3 to make sure the web site is crawlable by the search engines.

Testing Database:

constancy while storing & retrieving data is very important in web application. Test if any error occurs on modifying & deleting , or any Database functionality. Test whether all the queries executes & update correctly.

Importance of Usability Testing:

Check whether the web site or web application is easy to use. Test whether the usage manual is understandable & satisfies the needs. Main menus needs to be accessed from all the web pages.

Examining Content:

Content should be related to the web site & should be easily understood. Check for spelling mistakes. Back ground color & the text color should not more or less the same. That might not provide comfort while reading. Check for font size, BG colors, other colors, frames if used.
Check whether all the links are working properly in the content. When images are placed check whether all the images are of correct sizes.
These are the essentials(basic) needs to be followed in the web development.

Other helpful information:

Like search options, FAQ, Working manual, sitemap needs to be present in all the web pages. Test whether all the links are working correctly in the site map. If have a search, make sure all the criteria are met when the results are fetched.

Interface Testing:

Test all the reciprocal action of Application, Web, Database servers are executed properly. Make sure all the errors are handled properly. If database server turns back any error message make sure the users get the appropriate messages. Test what happens when a connection is reset in between a transaction & what happens when the user does the same.

Need of Compatibility Testing:

Compatibility testing is the most important part in web testing.

Cross Browser compatibility:

Few application might be dependent on browsers. Generally browsers configurations & settings are differentiated. Hence, make sure the web site & web application are compatible with all the popular browsers. Performing security testing & validations might vary from browser to browser. So test the web site with or web application with Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera.

Operating System(OS) compatibility:

There might be scenarios where the web application might not be compatible with operating systems like the designing, API integrations, interfaces. Hence, it is very essential to make sure the web site or web application works with all operating system(Windows, Linux, MAC, Solaris)

Mobile Testing:

Test whether all the web pages appear correctly in the mobile browsers. There can be lot of compatibility issues on mobile.

Need of Performance testing:

Load & stress testing are part of performance testing.
Test web application using various internet speed. Test the application by accessing with lot of users(Atleast Virtually). Check whether the application is able to sustain the load. DB connection & large load requests should be handled by web application.
Test the application till how much the system is able to handle. Dismantle the web site with huge amount of stress & test when the application crashes.

Security Testing:

Check when the post login url is passed in the browser it should be failed without entering proper login information. Try changing the url parameters after login in Eg. Change the login ID & try give different login ID & test whether the system allows you to login. Test whether the FTP/Web directory is accessible. Test the captcha automation. If SSL used, make sure the user is accessing the url with https:// instead of http://. Make sure all the activities are tracked in the log files.

Below mentioned are general guidelines to be followed in website development:

• Develop an website with new code & make sure it can be reused & easy to maintain.
• Separation of scripts(Templates, CSS, JS …) into different files for faster load. Content should be easily modified by any non-technical user with an visual editor.
• Complete support for the latest w3 standards.
• Dependency on plugins can be avoided. Instead develop new concept.
• Unwanted graphics needs to be avoided. No use of special graphics for text especially.
• Develop new code based on w3standards & make sure it supports all the browsers rather than improvising for particular browser. Good coding standards might support old browser version too.
• Developers are expected to work with text editor supports code highlighting. But working with dreamweaver/WYSIWYG editor/Front Page can be avoided to improve the coding standards of the developer.

Technically :

• All the website pages must be developed using XHTML DTD except for rare instances.
• All the website pages(HTML & CSS) must be validated using w3 validator.
• All the styling must be witten in separate Cascading style sheets. Using inline styles needs to be avoided.
• All client side scripting(Eg. Javascript) files needs to be saved as separate files.

There are times when it is not possible to play games always, but it does not mean that we should not get the information of gaming (or) developing a new game. There are pretty good websites where one can come to know about the upcoming game releases to trailers, demos etc… Game lovers would definitely want to check out these websites mentioned below,

get the idea from Metacritic :

Lot of reviews are available in this website about most of the games. This will give an user a good information which game is worth to buy or not. But a major drawback is, it is purely depends on every persons view. But the metacritic tries to overcome with the ratings of the user. In that way, it might be very useful to know the review of a game.

perceive from Playfire :

In this modern world, social networking might be the hottest usage on web but for us not so much when it comes with games. This is not a big surprise when you consider about Sony PS, Nintendo, Xbox, Gamespy because they already provides the basics of social networking. Still, if one wants to know about a gamer social networking is best & playfire is one of the best for gamers.

catch the drift with GameTrailers :

If you are excited about the upcoming new games (or) you would like to check out the existing/available games then gametrailer might be the website you would love to check out because it just does not gives a glimpse, but more than that. Game reviews, videos, clues, game plans/strategy, whats most important & whats not, all those can be checked with this website.

Get acquainted with Steam :

Steam makes your life easier to check out games at your place instead going to a store. The best part of steam is that it combines the online store with social networking. Lets you play trailers & even links with metacritic website if the scores are available.

Experience gaming with Mashade :

This is a awesome website for gamers. Mashade allows you to take clips from different games & join them together. Cool sound tracks can be chosen & add some effects as per the users wish & finally create a funny small video.

Facebook :

For any one, Facebook website is the good place to begin with Social Networking. Lot of business have started to concentrate on social media & networking as the marketing methods are very effective & a non-costlier mode to reach the potential buyers for any business.

To get in touch with friends-family-business members, Facebook is the cool/elegant social-networking website. Anyone can join a group in Facebook & find new friends. An user can create his/her own profile & display their information in their friends network. That is, when a person creates a profile it can be viewed among their network of friends.  Information that are included in the profile are: Friends, Friends among friends, Status, Images, Description, Grouping, and The Wall. A person can post their interest, update their photos, discuss among friends & do other good things as well.
If a person is into online business, they can promote their website (or) business online as it is the modern trend in online at present.

Twitter :

Using Twitter is similar of using SMS in a mobile Phone. Twitter allows their registered members to exhange their information among them. Like SMS, Twitter allows 140 Characters(Tweets) to exchange an opinion. But the only difference is, the information shared among members are generally public & works on internet. Anyone among the group can view them. Any user can receive other users messages by using the “Follow” option.

LinkedIn :

The Name “LinkedIn” itself justifies how the website can accelerate your business online. With LinkedIn, visitors can be attracted to your website as well as it is possible to get lot of leads and market lakhs of people around the world. An added contact in the network is considered to be the direct connection, another connection with direct is the 2nd level of contact & with that is the 3rd level of contact. Firstly, it is very important in getting connected with the busniess contacts directly. When you get a invite for a business card at an event, make sure to invite them to join your network. Then expand your network by searching for 2nd & 3rd level you would like to meet. LinkedIn has powerful terms of search(By Location, Industry, Company etc…).

Myspace :

Myspace has reached execellent heights as they have huge user registrants which in turn provides great advertise income. Most of the users are young social statistic & hence, advertisers love to reach them. If you are strong beleiver in using Myspace, you would very well find true organizations & companies who are using Myspace. If you are going to advertise (or) market over myspace, you could find lot of customers not just young, but legitimate potential customers.

Ryze :

Ryze is an another good social networking web site that might help you to expand your business online. Connecting with friends, career make, choice of deals are made easier in this website. One might ask, “Why to go for Ryze?”, the reason it is all about quality social networking. Ryze can help your business expand sooner as the connections are happening around the world. Ryze provides live links to their registered members to directly connect with potential people to achieve their goals.

Why do you want to redesign your Web site?

It is not because the website is old nor bored. It is because to do something new & attract the visitors.

Content: What information to be provided for your goal?

Since you have a existing website, you may use the existing content to serve your goal. Instead come up with a new content based on the existing or new goal. Then decide what content to keep or revise, what content to be created and organized.
It is very important to think about the target audience while preparing the content. What do you want them to tell? Get into their thoughts, format your goal in that aspect, do market research, then develop content for your audience.

Content formats: How can we most effectively convey this information?

In the modern world, everyone is anxious to add media gallery in their web sites to show that they are keeping up with the latest technologies as well as to add interactivity. But adding videos alone will not help at all the times. Content is first and that will help you to determine the what you realy want to say.
When you think about a information you want to share and what site visitors want to do with it, you’ll find that choosing content formats that are far more appropriate than a video clip.

Organization/navigation

Once you have formatted the content, navigational structure of the web site needs to be concentrated. Do not compare with your old web site for guidance at first. Instead look at your goal with freshly. Thinkabout your target audience, and check which content form logical content clusters.

When the new outline is completed, compare it with your old web site. Is the new menu/navigational structure totally different? Or there are only few variations? That might help you to determine the new navigation. Look at your site analytics. What needs to be done to generate traffic.

Technology/code

If your old web site was built in W3C standards compliant HTML using semantic mark-up, it will be easier to re-use any of the old content.

Did Table-Based was used in your old website? Did you use headers for your paragraph elements? Then, recode your web site using CSS and semantic mark-up. That will clean up your code and help with search engine optimization (SEO).

Also check with the latest technolies provided by your hosting provider. (Eg.) (server-side includes) to include repeating elements such as header, menu and footer. Using PHP also makes the web site easier to create unique pages & titles based on the page headers. If the web site includes new features such as media gallery, go for the efficient methods for presenting these. A content management system/blogging software may help.

Graphic Design

Fairly minimal approach towards design is better. Flashy graphics to compete with the message can be used.

Simple color schemes and readable typography is very important.