Testing? Your website is up and running, but why test it you may ask? Testing is an important part of understanding your platform and making it work for you. Yes, everything may work as you expect, but whether it be a quick change or large overhaul there are always places to look to improve. Of course, you should keep an eye out for bugs, but why stop there. Why not make your perfect platform? Take a moment and review your site with fresh eyes and look for some of the items we list below.

Performance
So your pages load properly and everything looks good, but is it fast enough? You should always look to increase performance, because faster load times means less time wasted looking at a blank page. There are several factors that impact your site’s performance, whether it is large amounts of data, or complex functions, the more speed you are able to squeeze out of your site the better.

User Interface Improvements
Your site looks nice, but how many clicks of the mouse does it take to get where you want to be? When testing, you should look to remove any unnecessary information, and reduce the number of clicks it may take to reach the desired page. The more concise your UI is, the quicker you are able to navigate across pages and improve your overall workflow. You can also look to consider features such as predictive search, which will assist you in navigating large amounts of data quickly.

Validation Improvements
If your site deals with secure data, this one’s for you. You may have few users or many, but when dealing with more secure data, you can never be too careful. When testing you want to look for things that you may want to change that could improve your overall security. Two-factor authentication for your admin, alerts for logins from suspicious IP addresses for your users. These simple things you can look to add to further reduce the common problem of phishing and other hacks that your site may come under.

There are many things you may run into when testing your site, but like many things these days, tech moves fast. Just because improvements have been added doesn’t mean it can’t get better, and keeping your eyes out for more than just bugs will keep your site moving. After reviewing your site, if you think you need help with any of these items, just reach out to your OPG Account Manager for assistance.