Test not effective since it ignores invisible timings

Name: Detlev Fischer
Email: detlev.fischer@testkreis.de
Affiliation: 3needs
Document: TD
Item Number: G5
Part of Item: Tests
Comment Type: general comment
Summary of Issue: Test not effective since it ignores invisible timings
Comment (Including rationale for any proposed change):
Since timings affecting the user may be hidden (a meta refresh or a server side timeout) and become only apparent after interaction, e.g., when the site responds with a time-out message after a form is submitted, the test in G5 is not really effective. It would either need to limit itself to clearly visible time-dependent interactions (as in interactive games) and openly represented timings (as in online banking numerical or visual count-down displays that are reset with every activity) or it would need a test procedure as complex as the one recently suggested for F61 (Wait 10 times the average duration, check whether content / context is still available).

Proposed Change:
Limit G5 to visible timed events, or extend test procedure to account for hidden (e.g. server side) time-outs that may affect the user interactions (such as form submission) but are not observable without a procedure as lengthy as the one recently suggested for F61.

Received on Thursday, 24 May 2012 12:48:16 UTC