Website Regression Testing
Regression testing aims to verify that things which worked correctly before any updates were carried out still work correctly afterwards.
... ensures that things which worked correctly before any updates were carried out still work correctly afterwards.
What is Regression Testing?
Regression testing is safety measure which is also sometimes referred to as sanity testing
Very often, changes, updates or fixes to one thing can have impact other things.
Therefore regression testing is used to ensure that things which were functioning correctly before any coding updates still work as intended afterwards.

What is the purpose of regression testing on a website?
The main purpose of regression testing is to confirm that the updates have not negatively impacted other features, causing them to either function or display in ways which are unintentional, or even fail completely.
Regression testing is not exclusive to website development, but also to apps and software development in general, including Chatbots and Digital Assistants.
Why is regression testing important?
The main reason that regression testing is important is that the addition of new features or functionality, or updates to existing features and functionality can cause unwanted changes elsewhere.
When defects (also commonly referred to as bugs
) are found and fixed, confirmation testing should be carried out by re-running test cases to confirm that the defects have been fixed. Then regression testing should be carried out to ensure that the any code changes which were carried out to fix the defects did not introduced any new issues.
By re-executing relevant test cases or test suites, regression testing helps ensure that the software still functions correctly after changes have been made. Regression testing can therefore be very repetitive, which explains why many companies with larger websites use automated regression testing tools.
But web developers shouldn't make mistakes, right?
It's a cynical question, but would we need regression testing if web developers didn't make mistakes by accidentally messing something else up?
Firstly that's a bit harsh on web developers, and secondly, even in the absence of mistakes, there is always a possibility of unforeseen problems arising.
For example:
- Database entries might suddenly start causing unpredictable things to happen on the website. In other words something in the databases in the
back end
cause strange things to happen on the website at thefront end
- Changes to styling definitions (in the CSS which the website uses) may have been updated for the new feature, but has impacted another feature which shared some of those styling parameters.
- With many websites using plug-ins and external font and styling libraries, those external sources are often outside of the control of the website being tested. If those change or break, they could have unforeseen consequences on your website!
It's not my fault!
These might not necessarily be mistakes on the part of the developer, but also bear in mind that many large website platforms undergo a number of separate project implementations at the same time, and those might be handled by different developers who are working in isolation.
Then, despite each of those separate projects being tested successfully under a process known as Acceptance Testing
when those individual projects (or updates) come together on the same platform, there might be some incompatibility issues.
Regression testing could find those issues, and then bugs can be reported, tracked, fixed, and then regression tested again before the project can proceed along the path towards being released into the live environment.
Levels of regression testing
Regression testing can be performed at various levels, such as:
unit testing
(testing individual components or modules),integration testing
(testing the interaction and compatibility between components), andsystem testing
(testing the entire system as a whole)
And as already mentioned it can be carried out manually or automated using testing tools, depending on the complexity and scale of the software application.
Thoughts, suggestions or comments?
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I'm Daron Harvey, founder of TargaWeb, specialising in AI chatbot implementation, website testing, auditing & consultancy. I am now in my 28th year of professional website production, testing and eCommerce best practices, and excited about the opportunities that AI chatbots and digital assistants can bring to ourselves, our customers, and our customer's customers.

I'm Daron Harvey, founder of TargaWeb, specialising AI chatbots, testing & consultancy.