1. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk QA For Web Sites: What Can Go Wrong? Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk UKOLN is supported by: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/presentations/ili-2004/ Talk 2

2. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 2 What Can Go Wrong? 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 Summarise how you find out that things have gone wrong Choose a reporter to give a brief report back Spend about 10 minutes on this exercise. Exercise

3. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 3 What Can Go Wrong? Broken links Pages not displayed Pages displayed incorrectly Forms don't work Out-of-date content Incorrect or misleading content Poor performance Inaccessible Web site Usability problems Security problems Possible Problems People issues Workflow issues Backend systems don't work Wrong functionality

4. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 4 How Would You Find Out? How would you find out when things have gone wrong? Users inform you Users complain The boss of your organisation informs you You occasionally check things You have systematic procedures for checking Users report problems during system testing prior to release of service Finding Problems

5. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 5 Tools And Techniques We will now look at tools and techniques which can be used for checking various aspects of Web sites including: Compliance with HTML standards Compliance with CSS standards Compliance with accessibility guidelines Link checking … Finding Problems

6. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 6 HTML and CSS Validation Why? You should validate HTML pages to ensure that it will work in multiple browsers, will be accessible and is interoperable Tools You can use desktop tools or Web-based services (e.g. W3C) Finding Problems

7. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 7 Checking Links Why? You should check the links on your pages to ensure that your Web service is functional Tools You can use desktop tools or Web-based services (e.g. W3C) Note As well as traditional hyperlinks (and images) Web pages may also have links to JavaScript and CSS files. You will need to ensure the links work otherwise the page may not be usable. Finding Problems

8. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 8 Web-Checking Services There are many Web-checking services which will carry out multiple checks e.g. DrHTML, NetMechanic, … http://www.doctor-html.com/RxHTML/ Finding Problems

9. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 9 Limitations Of Tools When using these tools across many Web sites sometimes unusual or unexpected findings occur: Obvious mistakes made (page size clearly too small) Tool uses out-of-date standard … You should be aware of: Tool analysing redirect message and not page Tool analysing frame set and not pages Tool not analysing embedded objects Tools may need to be complemented by manual checking (e.g. accessibility, usability, content) Finding Problems

10. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 10 Accompanying Resources About HTML Standards Compliance with HTML Standards, QA Focus, Briefing Document No. 1 Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Use Of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), QA Focus, Briefing Document No. 34 Link Checking Approaches To Link Checking, QA Focus, Briefing Document No. 7