Transcript PowerPoint format

Institutional Web Management Workshop 2004:
Transforming The Organisation
QA For Web Sites –
What Goes Wrong And How
Can We Prevent It?
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
[email protected]
QA Focus Web Site: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/>
UKOLN is supported by:
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Draft Timetable
16:00
16:10
16:20
16:30
16:45
17:00
17:15
17:25
17:30
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About This Session
What Can Go Wrong (group exercise 1)
About QA
Applying QA (group exercise 2)
QA Focus Methodology
Further QA (group exercise 3)
QA Focus approaches
Embedding QA (individual/group exercise 4)
Conclusions
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Talk 1
About The Session
Aims of the session:
• To explain how quality assurance (QA)
procedures can help to minimise problems
• To describe how QA can be used in the
context of Web sites
• To outline QA resources which have been
developed by the JISC-funded QA Focus
project
• To explore the potential for embedding QA
into your Web development work
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Talk 1
About Us
Brian Kelly:
• UK Web Focus
• Project Manager for QA Focus
Amanda Closier:
• Working on QA Focus since Jan 2004
• Involved in other JISC project work
This session will be based on our QA Focus
experiences. We will primarily be addressing
technical issues, although non-technical issues
may be raised.
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Exercise 1
In small groups:
• Introduce yourselves
• Outline key areas in which things can go
wrong on your Web site
• Group these into:
 Mission-critical problems
 Significant problems
 Minor problems
• Choose a reporter to give a brief report
back
Spend about 10 minutes on this exercise.
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Talk 2
What Can Go Wrong?
Pages displayed
Pages not incorrectly
Inaccessible
displayed
Web site
Broken links
Backend systems
don't work
Usability
problems
Forms don't
Possible
work
Problems
People issues
Security problems
Workflow
issues
Poor performance
Wrong
Out-of-date content
functionality Incorrect or
misleading content
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Talk 2
What Are We Seeking To Achieve?
The QA Focus work was based on the notion that
projects would be seeking to achieve the following:
• Functionality of the project deliverables: the
deliverables will do what they are supposed to do
• Wide accessibility for the project deliverables:
the deliverables will be accessible in a wide
range of environments and to people with a wide
range of disabilities
• Interoperability of the project deliverables: the
deliverables will be interoperable with other
services, including services not envisaged at the
start and services not yet available
• Ease of deployment of the project deliverables
Note that aims of accessibility and interoperability are key QA
the Web
itselfinformation management
Aaims
centre of
of expertise
in digital
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Talk 2
Why Do Things Go Wrong?
Things can go wrong for several reasons:
• Lack of clarity of the purpose of the service
• Use of inappropriate standards and technical
architecture (possibly due to lack of knowledge)
• Too high expectations
• Failure to monitor developments
• Thinking things are going fine when they're not
• Lack of formal checking procedures
• Limitations in checking procedures
• …
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Part 2: About
2
TalkQA
About Quality Assurance
Quality Control:
• Spot an error and you fix it
• Fire-fighting
• Failure to learn
Quality Assurance:
• Documented policies (you know what you are
seeking to achieve)
• Systematic compliance checking procedures
• Audit trails
• Learning from experiences
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Exercise 2
Exercise 2: Simple Web QA
In your groups:
• Summarise simple QA policies for the
technical aspects of your Web site
• Outline appropriate compliance testing
procedures
Spend about 10 minutes on this exercise.
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Talk 3
Simple Web QA
QA Focus has developed simple QA policies and
procedures covering HTML & CSS formats and links
Policy example
Policy: Web Standards
Standard: XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0
Architecture: Use of SSIs and text editor
Exceptions: Automatically-derived files
Checking: Use ,validate after update
Audit Trail: Use ,rvalidate monthly and
document findings
Please note that this is a template – you can add
additional headings
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Talk 3
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Make Testing Simple
You should aim to ensure
that checking compliance
with your policies is
simple to achieve
We recommend the
,tools approach for:
• HTML & CSS
compliance
• Link checking
• Recursive checking
•…
This approach is:
• Simple to implement (redirect in Apache conf. file)
• Requires no additional software
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• Can be used by anyone
Talk 3
Fitness For Purpose
Aim for fitness for purpose and not perfection:
• It would be nice to have compliant HTML version
of PowerPoint slides
• But MS's HTML conversion creates dodgy HTML
• Rather than (a) not having resources available or
(b) wasting time fixing errors we can define our
policy accordingly
Note that:
• We do ensure that the HTML version is
acceptable to all browsers
• If a better conversion tool becomes available we
can tighten up our policy
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Talk 3
Limitations Of Testing
Sometimes testing tools can be flawed:
• Bobby will not tell you if your site is acceptable
(you need manual testing to do that)
Link validators:
• Sometimes only check for <A> and <IMG> tags –
and fail to spot problems in <LINK> tags to
external style sheets, JavaScript files, etc.
• Proprietary processing in MS XHTML gives
misleading broken link for MS PowerPoint files
• Might not be able to access personalised pages
(user agent negotiation, environment factors, …)
• Server errors, proxies, etc may give mistaken
broken links
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Talk 3
The QA Approach
The QA approach:
• Simple and understandable
• Achievable!
• Recognises and addresses real world difficulties
• Not a specification for a preferred solution
• Measurable:
Compliance measures
• Easy to implement
• Supported by training
• Limitations of compliance checking procedures
documented
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Exercise 2
Exercise 3: Further Web QA
In your groups choose 1 of 3 exercises:
• QA for accessibility
• QA for Web site metadata
• QA for software (selection of, use of and
development of software)
In addition if you have time give some thought to QA in
'softer' areas such as:
• QA for Web development processes
• QA for usability
Summarise relevant QA policies and procedures
Spend about 20 minutes on this exercise.
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Report Back
Please give us your approaches
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Talk 4
Exercise 3A: QA For Accessibility
Web Accessibility Policy
A simple, understandable approach would be to say:
• The University Web site will comply with WAI
WCAG AA guidelines
But:
• Is this realistic?
• How do you measure compliance?
• Will it drive out other important aspects – e.g.
usability, learning objectives, …?
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Talk 4
Exercise 3B: QA For Web Site Metadata (1)
QA Focus's policies:
• Purpose of metadata:
To pull in appropriate style sheets
Resource discovery – potential for fielded searches
(author, document type, abstract, etc.)
• Architecture (management):
Metadata defined in PHP fragments ($author="Brian
Kelly") and pulled in and transformed to HTML/XHTML
• Architecture (deployment):
Metadata will be deployed as <meta> tags embedded
in XHTML.
Note although this architecture allows for metadata transformation &
reuse, it is poor for metadata management & control of content.
However the QA must reflect the real system which has been
implemented and not a desired alternative.
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Talk 4
Exercise 3B: QA For Web Site Metadata (2)
Policy - Purpose:
Metadata will be used to (a) define structure of Web site
(Documents, Presentations, …) for visual identity and
allow potential for fielded searches and (b) to support
resource discovery
Policy – Content:
Structural metadata will be chosen from set of keywords
Resource discovery metadata will be based on a brief
abstract and a small number of appropriate keywords. A
similar style will be used across all resource
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Talk 4
Exercise 3B: QA For Web Site Metadata (3)
Checking Procedures:
• Structural metadata will be checking visually to
ensure that the correct style sheet is used
• Resource discovery metadata will be reused in
the printed QA Focus handbook. Visual checking
of the printed resources will be used to ensure the
accuracy and appropriateness of the metadata
• HTML validation procedures will ensure the
<meta> tags comply with HTML
Learning Experiences:
• Metadata management to avoid data duplication
• Tools to spot incorrect structural metadata
• Searching for common content errors (e.g. null
fields, template data, …
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Talk 4
Holistic Accessibility
UKOLN & TechDis are seeking to
develop a holistic approach to
accessibility
Need to address:
• Usability
• IT accessibility
• Learning objectives
• Learner's needs (as
opposed to universal
solutions)
• Resource issues….
This approach will be explained in talk on Thursday morning
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Talk 4
Exercise 3C: QA For Software (1)
Choosing Software:
• Open sources vs licensed issues
• Possible dangers of sustainability if nonmainstream
• See Top Tips For Choosing Open Source
Software briefing document
Creation Tools:
• Need to ensure that output (e.g. metadata creation
tools) complies with appropriate standards
• Need for systematic checking of output
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Talk 4
Exercise 3C: QA For Software (2)
Workflow:
• Need to ensure that workflow does not corrupt
data
• Need to validate output against range of inputs
(e.g. MS Windows characters (©, —, £) input to
newsfeed authoring systems
Web Forms:
• Need to ensure that Web forms work – esp. if
used for critical systems such as online bookings
• Need for systematic checking – e.g. names with
unusual characters; non-standards browsers;
JavaScript disabled; …
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Talk 4
Exercise 3D: QA For Web Development
This are has not been explored by QA Focus
Appropriate solutions based on QA model will include:
• Clear specification: if you don't know what you're
supposed to be building you'll have problems
• Agreement with stakeholders: Will your users want
what you intend to build?
• Structured usability testing: Systematic procedures
for testing the usability of your Web site
• Agreed acceptance procedures: Are users happy
with what you've provided; is the work finished?
There are clear parallels with QA:
• the need for documentation
• The need for procedures to ensure that
you've successful achieved your aims
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Talk 5
Embedding QA
We have explained the QA Focus methodology and
sought to apply it in a number of areas
We now welcome feedback on how your may envisage
deploying this approach (if at all)
Please complete forms:
• The QA Methodology
• Gap analysis - what else could we do
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Talk 5
QA Focus Resources
The following QA Focus resources area available:
• Documents addressing digitisation, Web/access,
metadata, software, service deployment, …
• Over 70 briefing documents
• Over 30 case studies
• QA toolkits, which help you to address the key QA
areas
• Eight QA Handbooks which package the above
The resources are freely available at stable URLs on the Web.
We are seeking to provide a Creative Commons licence for the
resources to allow you to use and tailor the resources for noncommercial
use, provided due acknowledgements given
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Questions
Any questions?
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