Transcript MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format

Quality Assurance
For Museum Web Sites:
Benchmarking Survey
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath, BA2 7AY
Email
[email protected]
URL
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Benchmarking Survey
A number of surveys carried out:
• Over small number of museum-related Web sites
• Analysed various objective factors including:
HTML compliance
 CSS compliance
Broken links
 Accessibility (partial)
Server software / HTTP errors
Aims of surveys:
• To identify common problem areas
• To discuss testing tools and strategies
• To inform discussions on strategies for fixing and
avoidance of problems
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Notes
The following Web sites were surveyed:
• mda
 24hourmuseum
• Bath Postal Museum  American Museum
• Natural History Museum
• National Museum of Science and Industry
The aim of surveys is to demonstrate the methodology
and discover common problems
This is too small a sample for any valid conclusions to
be drawn
If PC facilities had been available for a hands-on
workshop, you would have had the opportunity to
assess your own Web site
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HTML Compliance
Compliance with HTML standards is needed to ensure
Web sites work effectively and can be repurposed.
Findings:
• Only 1 (of 6) entry points compliant!
• 3 entry points had no DOCTYPE (if no DOCTYPE,
validator can't spot errors)
• 1 entry point had 63 and 1 had 155 errors
• 1 entry point had no character encoding
• The 3 entry points with a DOCTYPE used HTML 4
Comments
It is important to address the workflow and tools in order to
include DOCTYPE and character encoding.
ThereA is
a need to consider migration to XHTML www.ukoln.ac.uk
centre of expertise in digital information management
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CSS Compliance
CSS should be used to define the appearance of HTML
elements. Use of CSS helps the accessibility of
resources. Compliance with CSS standards is needed to
ensure Web sites appear correctly effectively.
Findings:
• CSS used by 4 of 6 Web sites 
• Only 2 of the 4 Web sites use compliant CSS 
Comments
There is a need to make even greater use of CSS.
CSS needs to be validated!
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Accessibility
Compliance with accessibility guidelines is needed to
ensure that resources can be used by people with
disabilities and to avoid contravening SENDA legislation.
Findings:
• Only 2 entry points complied with WAI A
• Five entry points had 1 error (but multiple
instances) – typically missing ALT text
Comments
Use of Bobby is a flawed approach for checking accessibility.
There is a need for manual testing and greater coverage.
However the survey indicates problems which need to be
address in the workflow.
There is also a need for organisations to think about how they
A centre
of expertisethe
in digital
information management
should
approach
challenge
of Web accessibilitywww.ukoln.ac.uk
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Links
Broken links can be annoying for end users. Certain
types of broken links can also prevent Web sites from
functioning correctly.
Findings:
• 2 entry points had broken links
• A recursive check of up to 150 pages finds a small
number of pages with broken links for 5 sites
• 1 site could not be analysed recursively
Comments
The W3C validator validates not only <A HREF=".."> elements
but also <LINK HREF=".."> used to link to external stylesheet,
Javascript,
etc. files.
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Server Software
Mis-configured server software can sometimes cause
access problems. A comprehensive survey can identify
the most popular server software, identify trends, etc.
Findings:
• No server problems found
• 2 sites use MS IIS and 4 use Apache
• 1 uses MS ISS 4.0; 1 uses MS ISS 5.0; 4 use
Apache 1.3; 0 use Apache 1.4 or 2.0
Comments
As well as spotting mis-configured server software a more
comprehensive survey would enable early adopters of
software to be spotted, significant trends, etc. This may help
in sharing
support,
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of expertise in digital
information …
management
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404 Error Pages
404 error pages are problems one of the most popular
pages on your Web site! A properly designed 404 page
can help users to find the resource they are looking for.
Findings:
• Only 1 of the 6 sites had a tailored 404 page
• The NHM provides a good example <http://www.nhm.ac.uk/foo>
Comments
A well-designed 404 page will:
• Have the organisation's branding
• Will have navigational bars, search facilities, help, …
• May
beofpersonalised
A centre
expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
9
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive may contain old copies of your Web
sites. This may be of interest from an historical
perspective.
Findings:
• All sites are available in the Internet Archive
Comments
The Internet Archive is an example of repurposing of your
Web site. If your site is not available, this could indicate
problems which could affect other types of tools.
Alternatively unavailability could indicate that you were
A centre
of expertise
in digital
information
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banning
robots
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your
Webmanagement
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NetMechanic
This commercial tool reports on several areas, including
HTML errors, browser problems, spelling, page sizes, etc.
Findings:
• 1 site has broken link on home page
• 3 home pages have HTML errors
• Load time of home page appears to range
from 2.07 to 43.9 secs
Comments
How reliable are these findings? Remember to ask if the
figures appear reasonable.
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Review
We have:
• Used a number of freely-available Web-based
tools for checking aspects of a number of Web
sites
• Identified a number of problems
• Explained why the problems need to be addressed
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Any Questions?
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