Most of us believe that when we get our web site built that all we need to do it launch it. Sure, it looks beautiful, you got great content and you are optimized for search engines but have you tested it thoroughly?
Over the course of building web sites these last 15 years (yeah, I know. long time.) the concept of testing has grown in more importance with the need to view web pages across multiple browsers and multiple device types. While they all say they adhere to web standards, they usually have issues that cause errors to happen if there is no proper QA and testing.
Now I know that many of you are building your online business and the terms like HTML and CSS are foreign and you are not here to add web designer to your resume. However, these tools are critical so as your audience builds and people come to your site they don’t get errors and never come back.
Top 20 Tools to Test Your Web Site
Below is a list of 20 online tools that enables you to test your web site. We got the original list from here. We went to all these sites and ran tests on them. Some sites don’t add value, some were software for purchase and some just didn’t work. This got us to the list of 20 sites you see below. If your site is already launched, run the tests to see if your designer needs to make changes. If you haven’t launched your web site yet, my recommendation is to go to each of these sites and run the necessary tests and if you are the designer, this should help you produce an error free site that your client loves. It is separated into Validation Tools, Accessibility, Performance and Cross Browser Testing.
Validation Tools
1- MarkUp Validator
All documents that are in HTML,XHTML, SMIL, MathML, etc format go through their markup validation through this check. The validator look up for any code that is not complying the rules set by W3C and report it to the user.
All documents that are in HTML,XHTML, SMIL, MathML, etc format go through their markup validation through this check. The validator look up for any code that is not complying the rules set by W3C and report it to the user.
2- CSS Validator
Enter the URL of the page you want to check. The validator will show you the existing errors in HTML with CSS or in CSS only, depending on your wish.
Enter the URL of the page you want to check. The validator will show you the existing errors in HTML with CSS or in CSS only, depending on your wish.
3- Links Validator
Type the address of the page or website you would like to run test for. This helps you to check the anchors or links of web pages.
Type the address of the page or website you would like to run test for. This helps you to check the anchors or links of web pages.
4- RSS Feed Validator
This is a service to check the syntax of the Atoms or RSS feeds.
This is a service to check the syntax of the Atoms or RSS feeds.
5- MobileOK Checker
Check the level of mobile friendliness of your website or a particular web page.
Check the level of mobile friendliness of your website or a particular web page.
Accessibility
6- Accessibility-Checker
This is an accessibility checker and it checks the conformance of the web pages according to the accessibility standards.
This is an accessibility checker and it checks the conformance of the web pages according to the accessibility standards.
7- Access Color
This checks the color contrast and brightness for the website and makes sure that the people with visual impairment also access the website with same ease.
This checks the color contrast and brightness for the website and makes sure that the people with visual impairment also access the website with same ease.
8- WebAIM Wave
Instead of generating reports on errors it shows you the error spots on your webpage.
Instead of generating reports on errors it shows you the error spots on your webpage.
9- Section 508 Web Accessibility Checker
Find out if your website is following section 508 standard or not.
Find out if your website is following section 508 standard or not.
10- aDesigner
A help for web designers to ensure that even visually impaired can access their design without any glitch.
A help for web designers to ensure that even visually impaired can access their design without any glitch.
11- ColorDoctor
A color simulating software that displays content according to the color characteristics.
A color simulating software that displays content according to the color characteristics.
12- Colour Blindness Simulator
See the difference in the display of colors to your users affected with color blindness.
See the difference in the display of colors to your users affected with color blindness.
13- Colour Contrast Analyser
Use W3C Colour Contrast algorithm and check the contrast between colors.
Use W3C Colour Contrast algorithm and check the contrast between colors.
Performance
14- Pingdom Tools
Check and monitor your network, server and website using Pingdom AB.
Check and monitor your network, server and website using Pingdom AB.
15- YSlow
Check and see the reason of slow speed of your website.
Check and see the reason of slow speed of your website.
16- Web Page Analyzer
Analyze the page size, download time , page speed and many other things of your website.
Analyze the page size, download time , page speed and many other things of your website.
Cross-Browser Testing
17- Browsershots
Check the appearance of your website in different browsers and in different resolutions.
Check the appearance of your website in different browsers and in different resolutions.
18- Browsercamp
Test your website design in Mac OS X browsers.
Test your website design in Mac OS X browsers.
19- Xenocode Browser Sandbox
A good resource to check the browser compatibility in IE6/7, Safari, Chrome etc.
A good resource to check the browser compatibility in IE6/7, Safari, Chrome etc.
20- NetRenderer
An online tool to show you the appearance of your website on IE 6/7/5.5
An online tool to show you the appearance of your website on IE 6/7/5.5
Any Tools We Missed? Leave a Comment.
So are there any tools we overlooked? Please leave a comment below and let us and other readers know.
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