One of the challenges we face, both in developing software and in developing websites, is trying to test the product as a real user would. When we test software, we often take it around the office from one PC to another to install and run it under different conditions. We try to delete or rename existing libraries that might affect the installation, because we cannot assume that the user will have the same files on his operating system. We still get errors from our first installations, but the more we test and the more "assumptions" we eliminate, the smoother it goes. We cannot assume that the user has special knowledge, or knows when it's perfectly okay to hit the "Ignore" button or the "Escape" key. If the application is supposed to be foolproof for an inexperienced user, I have trouble sometimes finding a "dummy tester" in our office to give it a good trial - everybody's too computer literate! A friend who walks into our office might be roped in and asked, "See if you can follow the instructions on this diskette."
Websites are even trickier, because once you have viewed a website the first time, the graphics and text are saved in your cache and you will probably never experience "first visit" problems again. Yet, it is very important for visitors to websites to get a good impression on the first visit! Many of the sites you run across with embarrassing errors and graphics that are slow as molasses look great on the computers in their home offices! The owner of the website, even the designer, may have no idea that there is a problem.
Our website designer tests on different versions of Internet Explorer, on Netscape, and on the America Online browser. A webpage that looks just fine on one may turn out to be a real mess on the other. If you have a company website, you should look it up when you are in someone else's office, or at a computer store - I guarantee you will get a surprise, and I hope not a bad one.
If you discover to your horror that your web site visitors are waiting forever just to see your company logo or a picture of your product, maybe you should give us a call for a quick graphics analysis. We can take a look at your site and give you specific figures for improvements. A lot of web graphics can be improved to five times their loading rate with no detectible loss of quality. Maybe yours are at maximum efficiency, maybe not.
Nothing will ever replace testing and more testing to ensure quality. It's not as much fun as development, but it's just as important.