A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Understanding And Exploiting Web 2.0: Benchmarking Web Sites
Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of [email protected]
UKOLN is supported by:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/stimulate-2006/talk-benchmarking/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/stimulate-2006/talk-benchmarking/
Session Aims• To discover how your Web site
compares with your peers• To discover examples of best
practices & mistakes to avoid • To learn how you can a
benchmarking approach
Session Aims• To discover how your Web site
compares with your peers• To discover examples of best
practices & mistakes to avoid • To learn how you can a
benchmarking approach
This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)
Resources bookmarked using 'stimulate-2006-benchmark' tag
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
2
What Is Benchmarking?
What do you understand by the term ‘benchmarking’?
What are the benefits of benchmarking?
Ben
chm
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
3
Your Expectations
Your Interests & expectations
Sharing
Learning
Best practices
Quality
Testing
Checking
Constraints
Staffing
Finances
Ben
chm
arki
ng
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
4
About Benchmarking
Benchmarking is about:• Sharing • Learning from best practices• Learning from mistakes others have made
Note that in this benchmarking workshop:• We don’t intend to have league tables• No prizes for the ‘best’
We should recognise that:• Organisations have differing priorities• Organisations have different levels of resources• Organisations have different starting points• Organisations have differing organisational politics
Ben
chm
arki
ng
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
5
Session AimsThis session:
• Talk and hands-on exercises
By the end of the session you should:• Be able to benchmark your Web site in relation to
other sites in your community• Have had hands-on experience in using auditing
and evaluating tools• Be aware of common problems• Be aware of how a quality assurance methodology
can help to avoids problems• Be in a position to decide whether to adopt this
methodology in your organisation, region, sector, …
Ben
chm
arki
ng
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
6
Today’s Exercises
You will:• Use a set of Web-based tools for
evaluating a variety of aspects of your Web site
• Work in small groups and share your findings and discuss the implications
This session:• Encourages collaboration and sharing• Is not meant to be competitive!
E
Now open the exercises handoutNow open the exercises handout
Ben
chm
arki
ng
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
7
Today’s Exercises (2)In the hands-on exercises your evaluated:
• The size of your organisation’s home page• The accessibility of your home page• The validation of your home page • How popular your Web site is
How many sites link to it How well-indexed it is
• How your Web site looks with different browsers• Etc.
D
Ben
chm
arki
ng
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
8
The Size of Your Home Page
You can find out the size of your home page using various tools:
• NetMechanic• Bobby• …
http://www.netmechanic.com/http://www.netmechanic.com/
Ex. 1.1B
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Does it Work?It is useful to check key pages for accessibility, validation and functionality
Web page validators include:
• NetMechanic• Dr Watson• DrHTML - single pages
only• …
http://watson.addy.com/http://watson.addy.com/
Ex. 1
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Is it Accessible?• The Bobby Web service can check the accessibility of
individual Web pages• The Bobby Java application can check the accessibility
of Web sites (now licensed software)• WAVE is a (better?) alternative to Bobby
http://bobby.watchfire.com/http://bobby.watchfire.com/
Ex. 2B
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Are There Broken Links?Monitoring the number of broken links on your Web site is very important
Desktop and Web-based tools are available:
• Xenu • LinkAlarm • Linkguard• Nodeworks• NetMechanic• SiteValet• …http://www.linkalarm.com/http://www.linkalarm.com/
Ex. 2.6
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How Popular Is Your Site?There are a number of services that will tell you how many pages link to your Web site
• LinkPopularity
• WebSiteGarage
• Netscape’s What’s Related service is used through the Netscape browser
• Google info:URL search
http://www.linkpopularity.com/http://www.linkpopularity.com/
Ex.3.13.23.3
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What About Other Browsers?Does your home page (and Web site) work in:
• Netscape very popular in UK HE)
• IE (the most widely used browser)
• Significant (all?) versions and platforms of above
• Lynx (text browser which may be used by visually impaired)
• AnyBrowser
• DejaVu
http://www.anybrowser.com/http://www.anybrowser.com/
Ex. 4
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Conclusion• Different tools give different results and results
can be limited. The results should be analysed carefully - like statistics
• Independent testing services can be beneficial• Comparison is useful• However a league table is not enough, for this
type of evaluation. To have a point there should be follow up action
Any questions?
Ben
chm
arki
ng
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
15
Approaches To Fixing Errors
We've found errors on our Web site. What should we do?
• Fix the errors straight away• Inform the page maintainer• Do nothing – too many other more important
things to do• Do nothing – the Web site has been "published"
and I don't rewrite history• Do nothing – it's not my problem, it's a problem
caused by the HTML authoring tool everyone uses
• …
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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A QA Approach
Quality Control:• Fixing errors• Fire-fighting
Quality Assurance (QA):• Documented policies• Systematic procedures for monitoring compliance• Considering workflow processes• Fixing processes so errors won't reappear• Audit trails
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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QA Focus
QA Focus: • JISC-funded project to support JISC's digital library
programme• Supports QA development which help ensure deliverables
are usable & interoperable
QA Focus Deliverables:• Surveys• Advisory documents• Case studies• Descriptions of tools• Policies• Self-assessment toolkit
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Documentation: Advice
Advisory briefing documents are being produced
These are:• Brief, focussed
documents• Informed by
findings of the surveys
Advisory briefing documents are being produced
These are:• Brief, focussed
documents• Informed by
findings of the surveys
MG
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
19
Documentation: Case Studies
Case Studies are being commissionedThese are:
• Written by projects themselves
• Describe the solution adopted to a particular problem
• Include details of lessons learnt – not just a press release!
Case Studies are being commissionedThese are:
• Written by projects themselves
• Describe the solution adopted to a particular problem
• Include details of lessons learnt – not just a press release!
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Self Assessment ToolkitFurther DeliverablesWe have developed a self-assessment toolkit
The toolkit consists of:• Examples of
QA procedures• Documented examples
of use of testing tools• Self-assessment
questionnaires• Advice on standards
and best practices• Case studies• FAQs• …
MG
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Useful Approach To Tools
As an example of approach which provides easier access to testing tools, see the ,tools approach deployed on UKOLN Web site.
This approach:• Applies to all resources on
Web site• Covers HTML and CSS
validation and various other tests
• Some recursive apps (,rvalidate)
• Easily implemented with single line redirect
As an example of approach which provides easier access to testing tools, see the ,tools approach deployed on UKOLN Web site.
This approach:• Applies to all resources on
Web site• Covers HTML and CSS
validation and various other tests
• Some recursive apps (,rvalidate)
• Easily implemented with single line redirect
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
22
Policies
How do you know what you should do if you don't have documented polices?
Policy: Web StandardsStandard: XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0Architecture: Use of SSIs and text editorExceptions: Automatically-derived filesChecking: Use ,validate after updateAudit Trail: Use ,rvalidate monthly and document findings
Policy example
You may find it useful to develop similar policies yourself – for example, a policy of the accessibility of your Web site
Qu
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Application To Your Sector
Issues:• Is the QA Focus methodology applicable
to your Web site?• Are the QA Focus resources of use?• What additional areas would you find
useful?
Qu
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
UKOLN is supported by:
UKOLN Hands-On Session For Leicester Spring School in New Media
Benchmarking Web Sites: What Next?
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
[email protected]://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
25
Future Plans
How can we progress from the areas we have covered today?
• Quality Assurance• Acceptance Testing• Implementing Best Practices• Addressing User Issues• Benchmarking • …
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Quality Assurance
Embedding QA in your work:• You can develop and implementation
quality assurance procedures for your cultural heritage Web sites
• You can share quality assurance procedures, experiences, etc with your peers
• …
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Acceptance Procedures
The testing tools used could form part of the formal acceptance procedures for Web sites you procure.Requirements
• Web site must comply with HTML and CSS standards and WAI guidelines.
Has It Been Done?• Sure, no problem. Sign the paper and give us the
money.• Here are the results of the automated compliance
checking tests. You can run them for yourselves. And here are the results of the user testing for usability and accessibility.
The QA Focus Web toolkit can be used for this formal testing. See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/toolkit/web-01/>
The QA Focus Web toolkit can be used for this formal testing. See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/toolkit/web-01/>
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Implementing Best Practices
Some dangers:• Being lead astray by commercial Web
development companies – they try and sell you a solution based on their areas of expertise
• Being led astray by well-meaning (a) kids or (b) senior staff with misunderstand of best practices
• I have to use my organisation's CMS
Some solutions:• You need an understanding of best practices• QA Focus briefing documents may help• …
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Addressing User Issues
You should be aware that automated tools will not guarantee that a Web site is:
• Useable Accessible• Functional …
There will still be a need for user testing
You should consider:• Systematic usability and accessibility testing• Formal procedures – don’t ask your mate; don’t
tell them what they should do, …• It need not be expensive “5 people will spot 90%
of the problems”• See <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/>
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Benchmarking
We have seen:• Use of benchmarking across Web sites
Issues:• Can we apply the approach for ourselves?• Can someone else continue to do this?• Can we compare approaches more widely
across the museums sector
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Developing An Action Plan
Please complete your personal action plan
You should list the actions you intend to carry out when you return to work
This can include:• Your own personal actions• Recommendations for your department• Recommendations for your organisation
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Comments and Questions
Your comments and questions are welcome