I have been pondering a lot recently about my method. It is unusual that we sit down and attempt to map out that which we know, although experience is a potent point.
Despite the fact that it is part of my paid offerings of one, I Have decided to discuss this checklist. Several disclaimers: First, I do not claim this listing is special or comprehensive. Jakob Nielsen has a great 113-point checklist in his e-book, Homepage Usability, for example. That is just my way of arranging what I think is essential while attempting to keep it manageable. My usage of conditions might differ from yours. I use "usability" in a really broad sense, and my use of "accessibility" is not quite industry standard. Do not like it? Write your own checklist ;) Ultimately, an advance warning this post is quite long.
Basic Overview
The list is split into 4 approximately equal sections, (I) Accessibility, (II) Id, (I-II) Navigation, and (IV) Content. I'll rationalize and describe all the sections and line items under, however you can obtain the checklist as a simple, 1-page PDF.
I try to keep it simple with 3 basic ratings: (1) Green Check Always = Great/Move, (2) Red Check Always = Wants function, but no disaster, (3) Red X = Negative/Fail. Not allpoints are fundamentally applicable to any or all sites.
Adequate Text-to-Back-Ground Contrast
Dark-gray on light-grey may seem stylish, but I'm not likely to damage my vision to study your weblog. Monitors and eyes vary wildly, s O keep your core copy contrast high. Good, conventional black-on-white is nevertheless best more often than not.
Styles & Colours Are Consistent
Make positive people know they truly are still on your own site by being consistent - confuse them and you're going to lose them. Layout, headings, and styles should be steady site-extensive, and colours should typically have the sam-e meaning. Do not use red links on still another red headers on onepage, and red text somewhere else.
URLs Are Meaningful & Consumer-friendly
This is really a point-of some debate, but significant keyword-based URLs are usually excellent for both search engines and visitors. You don't have to re-engineer a whole website to get URLs that are new, but do what you can to make them friendly and descriptive.
Images Have Appropriate ALT Tags
Not only do sight-impaired visitors use ALT tags, but search engines require your images to be understood by them. This can be especially critical when you use pictures for example menu items, for important content.
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