Every developer needs a good suite of tools to stress-test their web sites in all necessary areas. From loading speed to potential hack vulnerabilities, a good developer ensures all things work as smoothly before handling the website to the client or team members. Given the amount of things that need to be tested, it is a relief to see a host of web development testing tools that have been created to make testing a lot more easier and faster. Below is a roundup of some of the more essential testing tools that I feel are needed by developers. If you have more to recommend, please feel free to do so in the comments section.

 

#1:  Browserstack – Test website on different browsers

One of the more used tools is browserstack. As the title implies, this is a great tool for developer to easily load up the website in different browsers to see any variations or problems that might arise from the different browsers. In today’s environment, this is a must to ensure a uniform viewing experience for your visitors.

 

#2:  Pingdom – Test website DNS and loading speed

Another aspect of website development is to see if there is any loading issues. One of the easiest way to do that is to use a tool like Pingdom that can help to monitor any DNS or loading issues that might cropped.

 

#3:  SEO Spider – Test website with SEO

SEO is part and parcel of website development. This tools help developers to test of any potential SEO optimization issues including missing alternate text for images, page title etc. If you are developing a large site, this is especially useful .

 

#4:  Link Checker – Test website for broken links

Testing your website for broken links is not only for SEO purposes. Broken links are also a turn off for visitors so a good website develop should test that every link in their website is fully functional and active.

 

#5:  Loadimpact – Test website for high traffic

Once the website development is completed, you will want to stress test its performance. This can be done via high traffic simulation tools such as loadimpact to test how the website will perform under stress.

 

#6:  Powermapper – Test website for accessibility

This is not always tested but for those who are concerned about accessibility, especially for visitors who have color blindness or are visually impaired, you can use this kind of tools to check for accessibility.

 

#7:  Powermapper – Test website for sql injection vulnerability

One recent trend in website hacking is sql injection vulnerability. This refers to use a web interface to insert sql commands for your website. Smashinghub has encounter such a hack before where the website was hacked so that the hackers can inject random links into my footer, presumably for SEO purposes.  To prevent this, a website developer can test for sql injection vulnerability using the above tool. It is of course not going to be 100% proof but it does help you relief some of the more mundane task.