Your e-Business Quality Partner eValid™ -- Automated Web Quality Solution
Browser-Based, Client-Side, Functional Testing & Validation,
Load & Performance Tuning, Page Timing, Website Analysis,
and Rich Internet Application Monitoring.

eValid -- Why Is Browser Mode Operation Important?
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Summary
Tests of any web enabled application done from the client side -- i.e. from a browser -- will simulate user interactions by stimulating the server to produce and deliver various files based on requests made by the client (the user's browser).

This is what happens when, for example, you click on a hypertext link to request that the server deliver you (the browser) a new page. The server generates the page and sends it to the browser. In turn, the browser may request additional pages based on what it was just sent. For example, pictures or style sheets or JavaScript files are requested automatically by the browser if the page to which you just navigated references them (there are many ways pages can make requests for secondary pages).

While most simple navigation activity does not involve the browser having to remember anything from moment to moment, almost any activity other than that does require "memory" on the part of the browser. Getting and keeping that information internally is how the browser "maintains state" for your session.

Browsers Require More than HTTP/HTTPS
Websites are designed to interact with client-side browsers via the HTTP/HTTPS protocol. Recordings made using only HTTP/HTTPS can emulate session navigation activity with good fidelity, and some simulations include generating requests for secondary pages. But some website activities aren't directly recordable and/or can only be "simulated" with great effort. Among these are:

Specific Usages Requiring Browser
Here are some examples of the kinds of critical information that the eValid browser keeps for you -- so that your playback sessions are as reliable and realistic as possible.

The Bottom Line...
Using the eValid browser is a more powerful method of website testing than using "memoryless HTTP protocol" testing. Test scripts that do not involve actual use of a browser cannot maintain state because sessions that involve more work than simple navigation involve more than merely getting HTML files.


Why Is Browser Mode Operation Important?
InBrowser™ Advantages for Site Analysis
Why Is Browser State Dependence Important? [eValid vs. HTTP Recorders]