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Design - A total of 40 Points

Optimization: (8 points) Busy backgrounds, heavy, bulky text, messy graphics with outlines, to many animations or large graphics, are unpleasing to visitors. Large graphics are the most common cause of web pages that load slow. Optimize graphics as much as possible. If displaying large graphics in numbers, for example: photos galleries, wallpaper, etc., consider using thumbnails.

When graphics such as pictures and animations are added to the website, the size of the site will quickly increase. The size, quality, type, and number of graphics are important considerations if the Internet service provider has limited the size of the website. Make sure all graphics are uploaded correctly to your website.

Consistency: (4 points) Buttons and banners should match the theme of the site. Buttons should only be displayed if the website has a theme. Do not have different style and size fonts on your pages or buttons. Example: 1 page has Arial text (12pts) and another page has Comic Sans (10pts). Use consistency with text/fonts throughout your site. A slightly bolder text is acceptable if using in a list or header.

Tables: (4 points) Be careful when using the ALIGN attribute in your TABLE tags. Set the table settings at 100 percent when centering, which will allow your page to expand or decrease to be viewable in most browsers without horizontal scrolling. Cascading style sheets: Using cascading style sheets, the ability to precisely specify the location and appearance of elements on a page and create special effects can be extended. You can also make the website more accessible for visitors with specialized browsers or output devices.

Horizontal Scroll bars: - (4 points) will be deducted for sites containing horizontal scroll bars. We should be able to view the site in both 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 resolution, without a visible horizontal scroll unless a specific size is specified on the home page.

Space utilization: (4 points) Websites which show gaps (white space) on pages are not pleasing to the eye. Visitors should not have to require endless scrolling to view the pages. Loading time for large graphics can be greatly reduced by slicing the image.

ALT Tags: (4 points) ALT tags should be in place with the use of height and width, for all graphics. ALT tags are used to name the graphics, while hovering over them.

Sounds: (4 points) If using music or midi's, a way to shut them off must be provided. Exceptions are flash sites who have incorporated music into their intro or presentation of their site.

Framesets: (4 points) If the website uses frames, target the links unrelated to the site as "_target blank", so another website unrelated to yours opens within your frames.

Flash Intro: (4 points) If the site uses a "Flash Introduction", provide a "skip intro" link or button. Visitors may not have the appropriate plugin's, to view flash, or they could be using a slow modem.

Flash sites must Load in a reasonable time - If the site is a flash site and does not load within 90 seconds on a standard 56K modem, (10 points will be deducted from the score for "Design")

Additional Programs: (4 points) Website should not require visitors to download programs to view the site. Some programs can contain viruses, worms or spy ware, and collect data from visitors which can lead up to spam mail and password stealing.

Navigation - A total of 20 Points

Links: (8 points) Website should be free of broken links and error messages. Visitors notice HTML errors because they will cause display problems or error messages. Most visitors will not come back to the site to visit, if they click on a link of interest on the site which will lead them to a dead link.

Text links - Whether using text links, buttons or static menus, make sure they are free of typos which lead to dead links or 404 error messages.

Target links - (External links) Links not related to the site or hosted on another server, should be "_target blank" to open a new window.
(Internal links): Are links which consist on your own server/domain.

User Friendliness: (3 points) Website should be easy to navigate. Every area should be accessible from any page (and not require clicking the back button in their browser). Links, buttons or menu, should be well organized and not spread out all over the pages.

Static Menus: (3 points) All static menus must work and be coded correctly. (again, 1 typo, can lead to a dead link). Preview the site in a browser to test all links on the menu. If using sub menus on the static menu, make sure the sub menus pertain to the the subject in which it is listed under. (if static menus are not used, no points to the navigation score will be deducted).

Buttons: (3 points) Buttons should match the color theme of the site. Huge buttons are unpleasing to look at. Keep the buttons all the same size. Buttons should not be all over the page, but should be listed all together.

Top Link: (3 points) If the website requires scrolling to view the pages, "back to top link, should be provided. Navigation should be on each page and if the pages require scrolling, navigation should be at the bottom of the pages also and not just provide a "back" button or link.

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