UKOLN "Benchmarking Web Sites" Workshop



Brian Kelly facilitated an Effective Web Site Training workshop on Benchmarking Web Sites for EMMLAC (East Midlands Museums, Libraries and Archives Council). The workshop was held in Leicester on Friday 23th April 2004.

Abstract

This event will provide an opportunity for cultural heritage organisations in the EMLAC region to benchmark their Web site by making use of a range of Web-based tools. Participants will compare their findings in order to try to identify examples of best practices and areas in which improvements may be made. Following the hands-on session there will be a presentation outlining some of the issues associated with this approach to benchmarking. The event will conclude by a group discussion on possible follow-up actions, including quality assurance techniques which can be deployed in order to ensure that Web sites comply with appropriate standards and best practices and strategies for disseminating such approaches across organisations.

Format

The workshop will consist of presentations, hands-on exercises and group discussions.

Requirements

The workshop will require a networked PC and projection device for the facilitator. Since the workshop is an interactive one a PC room containined networked PC and a Web browser will be required.

Numbers

The workshop is suitable for between 12-30 participants. Each participant should have access to a PC.

Target Audience

The workshop is aimed at Web managers and developers in cultural heritage organisations in the EMMLAC region. It may also be possible, sugest to discussions with EMMLAC to include participants from related commercial bodies, such as Web developers involved in work for the cultural heritage sector.

Materials

Slides

Benchmarking Web Sites
[HTML format] - [MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format]
QA For Web Sites
[HTML format] - [MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format]
What Next?
[HTML format] - [MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format]

Exercises

Benchmarking Exercises
[MS Word 97/2000 format]
QA Exercises
[MS Word 97/2000 format]

Surveys

Rolling Demonstration of Web Sites
Rolling demonstration
Rolling Demonstration of Web Site 404 Pages
Rolling demonstration
Survey of HTML Compliance
[HTML format]
Survey of CSS Compliance
[HTML format]
Survey of Compliance With Accessibility Guidelines
[HTML format]
Link-checking Survey
[HTML format]
Survey of Server Software
[HTML format]
Survey of 404 error pages
[HTML format]
Survey of Search Engine Software
[HTML format]

Timetable

The timetable is given below.

Time Topic
10:00 Registration & Coffee
10:15 Welcome (Fiona Marshall, EMMLAC)
10:30 'Introduction To Benchmarking Web Sites' - Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus
11:00 'Benchmarking Web Sites' - hands-on session
12:30 Lunch
13:30 'Benchmarking Web Sites' - hands-on session (continued)
14:30 Report Back
14:45 QA
15:00 Discussion
15:30 Conclusions
16:30 Workshop ends

URLs Used During Workshop

The following URLs will be used during the workshop.

Exercise Service URL
1.1 NetMechanic <http://www.netmechanic.com/toolbox/html-code.htm>
1.2 Doctor HTML <http://www.doctor-html.com/RxHTML/>
1.5 404 Pages <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/emmlac-2004-04/surveys/entry-points/>
<http://www.alistapart.com/articles/perfect404/>
<http://www.plinko.net/404/>
<http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue20/404/>
2.1 Bobby <http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/>
2.2 The WAVE <http://wave.webaim.org/>
2.3 Visicheck <http://vischeck.com/vischeckURL.php3>
2.4 W3C HTML Validation Service <http://validator.w3.org/>
2.5 Dr Watson <http://watson.addy.com/>
2.6 Link Alarm <http://www.linkalarm.com/>
3.1 Link Popularity <http://www.linkpopularity.com/>
3.2 Netmechanic <http://www.netmechanic.com/>
4.1 Browser Archive <http://browsers.evolt.org/>
4.2 Browser Emulators <http://www.dejavu.org/>
4.3 Lynx Emulator <http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html>
4.4 AnyBrowser <http://www.anybrowser.com/>
5.1 Surveys <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/emmlac-2004-04/#survey>
5.2 WebWatch Surveys <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/articles/#latest>
6.4 Search Engine Software <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/emmlac-2004-04/surveys/search-engines/>
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/surveys/uk-he-search-engines/>
7.1 Web Server Software <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/emmlac-2004-04/surveys/http/>

Other URLs

The following URLs may also be useful.

Browser Extensions

  Service URL
  Bookmarklets <http://www.bookmarklets.com/>
  Cacheability Engine <http://www.ircache.net/cgi-bin/cacheability.py?action=show_ext>
  Extending Your Browser <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue19/web-focus/>
  WebWatch Services <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/services/>

Evaluating Site Accessibility

  Color Readability Test <http://snow.utoronto.ca/readtest/>
  Web Metrics Testbed <http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/webmet/>
  Vischeck <http://vischeck.com/vischeckURL.php3>

Evaluating Your Organisational Home Page

Dr HTML <http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/>
NetMechanic <http://www.netmechanic.com/>
InternetSeer <http://www.internetseer.com/>
NetMechanic Monitoring Service <http://www.netmechanic.com/monitor.htm>
Watchdog <http://watchdog.superstats.com/>
Alertsite <http://alertsite.com/freetrial/>
WebWatch Services <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/services/>
Dr Watson <http://watson.addy.com/>
LinkAlarm <http://www.linkalarm.com/>
NetMechanic Maintenance Service <http://www.netmechanic.com/maintain.htm>
SiteValet <http://valet.webthing.com/>
This Old Mouse <http://www.thisoldmouse.com/>
Webmaster-Toolkit <http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/>

Link Checker

Netmechanic <http://www.netmechanic.com/>
Nodeworks <http://www.nodeworks.com/>
Site valet <http://valet.webthing.com/>
Xenu <http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html>
LinkTool <http://www.linktool.com/>
Usable Web <http://usableweb.com/topics/000811-0-0.html>

Realtime Monitoring

Software in Use: <http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/software-used/>

WebWatch

A Survey Of Links to UK University Web Sites <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-watch/>
A Survey Of Numbers of UK University Web Servers <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue24/web-watch/>
A Survey Of Web Server Software Used In UK University Web Sites <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue25/web-watch/>
Showing Robots the Door <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue15/robots/>
UK University Search Engines <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue21/webwatch/>
Web Watch: 404s - What's Missing? <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue20/404/>
WebWatching UK Universities and Colleges <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue12/web-focus/>
What's Related To My Web Site? <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue27/web-watch/>