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Benchmarking%20Web%20Sites

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Title: Benchmarking%20Web%20Sites


1
Benchmarking Web Sites
  • Brian Kelly
  • UKOLN
  • University of Bath

Email B.Kelly_at_ukoln.ac.uk URL http//www.ukoln.ac.
uk/
Simon Ball TechDis
Email simon_at_techdis.ac.uk URL http//www.techdis.a
c.uk/
UKOLN is supported by
2
Timetable
  • 1045 Introduction
  • 1045 Benchmarking Web Sites What And Why?
  • 1100 Hands-on Benchmarking Exercise
  • 1200 Accessibility (talk)
  • 1230 Lunch
  • 1315 Hands-on Benchmarking Exercise (cont)
  • 1345 Report Back
  • 1415 Discussion
  • 1445 Accessibility
  • 1530 Conclusion
  • 1545 Workshop ends

NOTE Times are subject to change
3
A Bit About Me...
  • Brian Kelly
  • UK Web Focus a JISC-funded post to advise HE
    and FE communities on Web developments
  • Based in UKOLN a national focus of expertise in
    digital information management
  • Based at the University of Bath
  • Involved in Web since 1993, while working in
    Computing Service at University of Leeds
  • Links with IT Service Library communities
  • The workshop has been informed by UKOLNs
    WebWatch work and the WebWatch column in Ariadne

4
A Bit About You...
D
  • What do you want to get out of this workshop?
  • What do you think benchmarking is?

5
Benchmarking A Definition
  • Benchmarking is about identifying and measuring
    best practice processes that work elsewhere and
    then emulating them.
  • The aim is to reduce duplication by learning from
    others who have already found the solution.
  • It is about
  • Understanding your weaknesses
  • Comparison with your peers
  • Note that best practices are constantly evolving.

6
Session Aims
  • This session
  • Hands-on exercises with group discussions
  • 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
  • Have considered other types of benchmarking
    activity available
  • Be in a position to decide whether to adopt this
    methodology in your institution or your region

7
Todays Exercises
E
  • Hands-on exercises to evaluate
  • The look and size of your organisations home
    page
  • The accessibility of your Web site
  • The validation of your Web site
  • How popular your Web site is
  • How many sites link to it
  • How many people visit it
  • How your Web site looks with different browsers
  • Etc.
  • Commercial Web site auditing tools

Now open the exercises handout
8
The Size of Your Home Page
Ex. 1.1
  • You can find out the size of your home page using
    various tools
  • NetMechanic
  • Bobby

http//www.netmechanic.com/
9
The Look of Your Home Page
Ex. 1.5
  • What type of entry point is yours?

A rolling demonstration of University entry
points is available athttp//www.ukoln.ac.uk/web
-focus/site-rolling-demos/universities/
10
Does it Work?
Ex. 2
  • It is useful to check key pages for
    accessibility, validation and functionality
  • Web page validators include
  • NetMechanic
  • Dr Watson
  • DrHTML - single pages only
  • LinkTool
  • Usable Web
  • EchoEcho

http//watson.addy.com/
11
Is it Accessible?
Ex. 2.1, 2.7
  • 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 an alternative to Bobby

http//bobby.watchfire.com/
12
Are There Broken Links?
Ex. 2.6
  • 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/
13
How Popular Is Your Site?
Ex. 3.13.2
  • There are a number of services that will tell you
    how many pages link to your Web site
  • WebSiteGarage
  • LinkPopularity
  • Netscapes Whats Related service is used through
    the Netscape browser

http//www.linkpopularity.com/
14
What About Other Browsers?
Ex. 4
http//www.anybrowser.com/
  • 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

15
Comparing Statistics
Ex. 3.4
  • Hit counters have developed into comprehensive
    Web statistical services that can give immediate
    feedback
  • Web-based statistical services such as SiteMeter
    provides information on the whole site
  • Nedstat provides information on individual pages

http//www.sitemeter.com/
16
Benchmarking Exercises
E
  • You have
  • Benchmarked your Web site in relation to others
    in your community
  • Recorded your findings
  • And learnt about
  • Some of the issues involved when using externally
    hosted Web tools
  • Other benchmarking activities
  • WebWatch surveys of communities

Once you have completed the exercises, report on
your findings
17
Home Page Size Issues
  • There are certain issues necessary for
    consideration when using these tools
  • What is a home page?
  • Splash screens
  • Spawning new windows
  • Frames
  • Graphics and graphics folders
  • Dynamic pages
  • robot.txt files

See http//www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue28/web-watch/
18
Look Of Your Home Page
  • Types of entry points
  • Traditional menu structure
  • Changeable page, with news
  • Personalised page
  • Dynamic page
  • Splash screens
  • Spawning new windows
  • Pages requiring specialist browser functionality
    (e.g. plugins, Java support, etc.)
  • What type was yours?

19
Other Benchmarking Activities
  • What other type of benchmarking activities are
    useful?
  • Monitoring Content Quality and Freshness
  • New developments and technologies - scripts,
    other markup languages, personalisation
  • Stress and security
  • Search engine used on site and 404 pages
  • Server numbers
  • Visibility on search engines
  • Usability e.g. by evaluating user feedback
  • Performance checkers and Independent testing
    services

20
Performance Checkers
  • Applications can be used to check the performance
    of your Web site but often at a price
  • E-Test Suite
  • Keynote
  • Somix
  • Entuity
  • Prutsman

Keep your eye on
http//www.w3.org/WAI/ER/existingtools.html
21
Implementing A Benchmark Survey
  • To implement your own WebWatch- style benchmark
    across a community you can simply examine
    WebWatch articles and adapt the HTML for your own
    use.
  • Further details at lthttp//www.ariadne.ac.uk/issu
    e29/web-watch/gt
  • Technique Used
  • Use the Web service on a site
  • Copy URL into template
  • Determine URL structure
  • Use as basis for use with other URLs

http//bobby.cast.org/bobby/bobbyServlet?
URLhttp3A2F2Fwww2.brent.gov.uk2FoutputSubmi
tglwcag1-aaa
22
Next Generation Tools
  • There is a need for sophisticated testing tools
    which
  • Use rules
  • which allow you to ignore types of errors
  • can output special error messages for personal
    errors
  • can be time or area dependant
  • Can check all aspects of your Web site - network,
    machines, processes (code) and individual files
  • Can mimic Web browsing behaviour (browsers,
    cookies, etc.)
  • Examples of such tools include WebKing,
    Freshwater Software, WebCriteria,

23
Independent Testing Services
  • Occasionally it may be necessary to outsource
    testing.
  • The benefits of doing so include
  • Saving time and resources
  • Tapping in to outside expertise and experience
    dedicated to testing
  • Testing tool independence
  • Objectivity
  • Would you be interested in a neutral 3rd party
    testing your Web site? If so, how much would you
    be willing to pay?
  • Would you be interested in a body in the HE/FE
    sector carrying out a benchmarking survey and
    comparing findings with your peers?

24
Discussion
  • What WebWatch surveys would you like to see
    carried out?
  • Is there a need for a government funded
    WebWatch-type survey across all institutional Web
    sites? If so
  • Who should do it?
  • How comprehensive should it be?
  • How would it be funded?
  • Would you prefer to outsource your testing?
  • Would you be interested in benchmarking
    regionally?

25
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

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