Surveys Of Project Web Sites QA Focus Surveys Of Project Web Sites Brian Kelly UKOLN

Contents Survey Methodology Surveys: Critique HTML Compliance  Accessibility Repurposing Resources  404 Error Pages Critique Supporting Best Practices: Documentation  Case Studies Conclusions The first session lasts from 14:30-15:30 and is aimed at 5/99 projects The session is repeated from 15:45-16:45 for FAIR and X4L projects

Survey Methodology The approach: Make use of freely-available Web-based auditing tools Allows projects to utilise approach for themselves Methodology is transparent to everyone (no licensed desktop tools which can’t easily be used by projects) Live links to surveys to allow projects to check current findings

HTML Compliance W3C’s HTML Validation service is used to record the HTML compliance of project home pages

Accessibility Bobby is used to record compliance with W3C WAI guidelines: 24 comply with A 5 comply with AA 21 are not compliant Note that only compliance with guidelines which can be monitored by automated tools is recorded

Repurposing Resources Are pages from project Web sites available in the Internet Archive? Can the project Web site be accessed on a PDA?

404 Pages 404 error pages can provide an important navigational feature for Web sites * Rating 3 21% ** Rating *** Rating 8 57% **** Rating 0% Tailored 404 Page 14 33% Default 404 Page 28 67% * Basic ** Simple branding *** Additional functionality **** Full functional

Critique Limitations of this approach include: Project Web sites may be: The project deliverable  About the project For intra-project communications The project deliverable may be, say, middleware Limitations of the analysis tools Limited number of pages surveyed … The surveys are intended to provide a methodology which projects can use for themselves Some Web sites may be the project deliverables The surveys provide a means for communicating best practices Third parties (e.g. JISC) may have requirements as well as projects themselves e.g. preservation

Supporting Best Practices QA Focus is supporting projects by providing advice on compliance with standards and best practices, based on the survey findings

Case Studies QA Focus is commissioning case studies: Document approaches projects have taken in particular areas Describe the problem area, the approach taken, problems experienced and lessons learnt

Questions