Writing 166J
Th 6-9:45 p.m. Oakes 222 and 205
Spring 2001
5 credits

Instructor: Kevin Woodward
Email: kwoodward@yahoo.com or woodward@cats.ucsc.edu
Phone: 831.595.4518 (cell) or 831.459.4574 (UCSC office)
Office hours: Th 4:45-5:30 p.m. Kresge College, Room 216
Class website: www.cruzio.com/~kevinw/writing166j

Web site review and checklist

NOTE: The following information was taken from The Internet Writer's Handbook, by Martha C. Sammons, Allyn & Bacon, 2001.

Characteristics

• Header
• Footer
• Navigational aids
• Keywords
• Title
• Logo or identify graphic
• Site map or guide
• Introduction
• Purpose
• What's new link
• Contact information
• Email link
• Copyright notice

• Audience considered
• Definitions or glossary provided if appropriate
• International readers considered
• Pages reviewed in Mac/PC platforms
• Pages reviewed in Netscape/IE

• Important information in top third of page
• Inverted pyramid used
• Information chunked if appropriate
• Information in logical order
• Structure easily visible to users

• One screen long
• Site menu provided
• Introduction to site

Design

• Most important information in focal point
• Readable
• Scanable
• Consistent
• Simple
• Balanced
• Maintains common look and feel
• Avoids information overload

• Designed for 600x400 pixel resolution
• Appropriate page length
• Small file sizes
• No horizontal scrolling and vertical scrolling kept to a minimum

• Headings used
• Heading tags used in sequence (1-6) and only for headings
• Displays hierarchy of information
• Headings descriptive

• Lists used when appropriate
• Bulleted lists used when ordering not important
• Numbered lists used when ordering is important
• Uses 7 plus or minus 3 rule
• Lead-ins provided
• Long lists grouped into sublists

• Bold and italics used sparingly
• All-caps used sparingly
• No blinking
• Underlines avoided

• Text left-justified
• Fonts large and legible
• Adequate white space
• Short line length

• Appropriate color scheme used
• Color used in moderation
• Color used consistently
• Background color and patter appropriate
• High contrast between text and background
• Text color used sparingly
• Standard link colors
• Red/green combinations and blue text avoided
• Web-safe color palette used

• Graphics used for a purpose
• Graphics appropriate
• Graphic file size kept small (<20K)
• Graphics aligned
• Limited number of graphics
• Alt text tags used
• Graphics labeled and explained
• Icons legible and meaning obvious
• Related graphics and text close together

Navigation

• Table of contents/menus
• Index
• Site map
• Resource list
• Glossary
• Internal links

• Information layered
• Navigation controls at top and bottom of pages
• Navigation controls placed consistently
• Navigation available for home, next page, previous page, top, bottom, current location when appropriate
• Both text and buttons used

• Used appropriately in both lists and paragraph form
• Follow three-click rule
• Not overused
• Internal vs. external links easily distinguishable
• Internal links used for long pages
• Buttons distinguishable from graphics
• Obvious where links lead
• Context provided for links
• Links descriptive and informative
• Navigation to all pages provided
• "Click here," "go to," "here is" and "previous" avoided
• Links checked; no dead or "under construction" links

Writing

• Chunking used
• Layering used
• Contextual clues provided
• Paragraphs short
• Sentences short
• Simple words used
• Concise
• Active voice used
• No jargon or buzzwords used
• Humor avoided
• No spatial references used (above, below, side)
• Transitions used carefully
• Correct spelling, grammar and punctuation used

Testing

• Problems with different browsers (NS and IE)
• Usability problems (navigation, icon recognition)
• Spelling and grammatical errors
• Problems with content and usefulness
• Problems with formatting (alignment)
• Problems with graphics (missing, too slow, hard to read)