QA Focus – a JISC-funded advisory service supporting JISC 5/99 projects QA Focus Surveys QA Focus carried out a number of surveys of project Web sites in September 2002 in order to identify compliance with standards and best practices. The surveys have used Web-based tools which enable projects to repeat surveys without needing access to specialist tools Compliance with HTML standards Compliance with accessibility guidelines 404 error pages Availability in Internet Archive Web server analysis QA Focus Surveys

QA Focus – a JISC-funded advisory service supporting JISC 5/99 projects Survey of HTML Compliance The W3C’s HTML validation service was used to analyse compliance with HTML standards for project entry points Only 10 entry points appeared to comply with HTML standards, with 32 entry points failing to comply Comments In order for HTML resources to be processed by automated tools, it is highly desirable that the HTML type is documented. XHTML resources are more easily repurposed. Compliance with HTML/XHTML standards is needed to ensure maximum interoperability for resources. No fewer than 22 entry points do not have a DTD. Of those that do, HTML 4 is the most popular (used in 14 cases) followed by XHTML 1 (6 cases) and HTML 3.2 (1 case)

QA Focus – a JISC-funded advisory service supporting JISC 5/99 projects Compliance with Accessibility Guidelines The Bobby accessibility testing tool was used to analyse compliance with W3C WAI guidelines for project entry points Findings 19 entry points appeared to comply with W3C WAI A guidelines and 24 with AA guidelines. 19 entry points fail to comply with W3C WAI guidelines. Discussion It should be noted that the Bobby accessibility testing tool was used to analyse only accessibility aspects which could be identified by automated tools. A more thorough accessibility survey would require manual analysis in order to identify problem areas which automated tools would not detect.

QA Focus – a JISC-funded advisory service supporting JISC 5/99 projects Projects And The Internet Archive The Internet Archive can provide historical access to Web sites. Findings 19 Web sites are available in the Internet Archive. 19 Web sites are not available in the Internet Archive. 2 Web sites ban robots from accessing the site. Discussion Although project Web sites often provide valuable information about the project (including access to project deliverables, publications, etc.) Web sites can disappear after project funding finishes. If a project Web site disappears the Internet Archive may provide access to useful resources. In addition if a Web site is available in the Internet Archive this indicates that the Web site is accessible to robot software.

QA Focus – a JISC-funded advisory service supporting JISC 5/99 projects Project 404 Error Pages 404 error pages can be an important navigational feature for Web sites. Findings 14 Web sites have tailored their 404 error message. 28 Web sites use the server default error message. Example An example of a 404 error page which contains the project’s branding and provides useful navigation features is shown. Additional Features Additional features for 404 pages include: ● Access to search facilities ● Context-sensitive information ● Automated or manual notification to page author

QA Focus – a JISC-funded advisory service supporting JISC 5/99 projects Web Server Technologies HTTP headers were analysed in order to profile the server technologies used. Web Server Software 37 Web sites made use of the Apache Web server and 4 used Microsoft’s IIS server. Web Server Version 33 Web sites used Apache v 1.3, four used Apache v4, two used IIS v 4 and two used IIS v5. Further surveys will aim to profile technologies such as scripting environments. This information will be useful in certain cases when establishing the requirements for deploying projects into a service environment.

QA Focus – a JISC-funded advisory service supporting JISC 5/99 projects Discussion Discussion Of Surveys The survey tools may provide incomplete information or the findings may need careful interpretation Some Web sites provide access to deliverables, others are the deliverable while others are intended for intra-project communications The surveys only cover a very limited area of project Web sites Limitations of survey tools Relevance to projects Completeness of surveys Use of third-party Web tools The surveys make use of third-party Web sites which may disappear or change their terms of use