A Checklist for Web Form Testing

Web forms such as Registration form, Contact form, Lead Generation form, Survey form, etc. are an indispensable part of every website these days. Web forms are a crucial part of any website because they act as a communication bridge that allows a user to communicate with a company and vice versa.

A web form is a medium that allows your visitors to get in contact with you and to send information, such as an order, a query, etc. which is passed on to your database. The smallest error in the web form execution can lead to a huge loss of data or communication.

To avoid this I have created a small checklist which covers all scenarios for testing a web form:

• Verify if the labels on the Web Forms are readable and understood
• Check if Asterisk (*) or “Required” should be visible for the mandatory fields
• When a user fills up all the fields and submits the form, check if the right validations are applied for - email fields, phone number fields, fields with character limits, etc.
• Check if data is saved in the correct fields of the database when a user submits a form 
• Verify that entry is not generated for partially submitted forms
• Check if the validation message is shown when the user tries to submit the form with no data
• Check if no errors are thrown for optional fields
• Verify if validations are applied for all input fields
• Verify if an error message is displayed when the user exceeds the maximum limit of an input field. For example, if the limit for any textbook is 150 characters, check what happens when the user is trying to exceed beyond this limit.
• Check if the user can upload the files specified in WebForms such as PDF, image, etc. with proper validation checks added for the same.
• Check if the user can remove the file attached or uploaded in WebForm.
• Check if all the fields within a form are cleared when a user clicks the browser back button.
• Check if fields are cleared when the user clicks on the ‘Clear’ button.
• Date fields validation depending upon the purpose of the webform.
• The country name, state name, and city names populated correctly in the address fields
• Check if the CAPTCHA on the web form is working as intended

             - If the CAPTCHA box is unchecked, the form should not get submitted

             - Voice should work

             - If a user enters incorrect captcha, an error should be thrown

             - When a user clicks on “new image” new text should be displayed

• If the password field is part of the webform, make sure initially it is displayed as ***** and that “Show Password” option is by default unchecked
• For security reasons, make sure when any incorrect input is entered in any of the input fields, all the previously filled input fields should get reset and the user has to start over again

There are a couple of advanced checks apart from the ones listed above:

1. When you are submitting a form, go to the developer options of the browser -> Network Tab and check for the API request and response.
2. Check the logs for any error encountered during the WebForm submission

Conclusion

Web forms are very essential for establishing a connection with customers and capturing their feedback. Users fill up forms that are easily accessible, usable, effective, and enable submissions. This can be achieved through dedicated quality assurance and testing practices adopted during the development cycle.