What is the goal of testing in this instance? Well, between now and the end of the appendix, we want to go from where we are (thinking everything is working) to knowing we have a fully functional, and most importantly, live and operational site. In order to get there, we need to ensure not only that everything works as expected from the customer's point of view, but also that the site is properly implemented and that we can administer it with no problems.

To give you an example of the type of thing that might rear its ugly head, take a look at the following error message I received the first time I tried to do a bit of administration on the live site:

Can you spot the problem straight away? Drupal is complaining that it cannot write to a files directory that should be contained within C:\apache2triad\temp. It's not surprising that this should be the case, because on the live site, there is no C:\apache2triad\temp directory. In fact, the only reason this fully qualified path is here is because I initially enabled the private download method (to a folder outside the document root), despite the fact that public access to files is suitable.

This means that we need to re-enter the settings that were made with the development machine in mind to reflect the specifics of the live system:

Assuming the requisite permissions are set so that Drupal can write and read in these folders, this particular problem is solved. (If you already have files on the site, then you might need to move them to the directory specified here.)

Now, all that's left is to test out everything else in the administration tool to ensure it works correctly, as well as redo the Site Checklist shown earlier in the Appendix to confirm that users will not encounter any problems when browsing. Often, users will find a way to encounter problems and providing a webmaster's email address is a good way to let them complain if they do. Open lines of communication between you and your users will help foster strong ties and improve the quality of your site.

Before we finally finish, there is one last thing that is yet to be done. Can you guess what it is? I'm sure you remembered to set the cron…