QA Toolkit: Mothballing

About

This self assessment QA sheet is part of the QA Focus Toolkit and is based on the Mothballing Your Web Site Briefing paper.

Why Mothball?

At the end of a project what remains is normally a set of resources, which may be deployed in a service environment, and a Web site containing information on the project and its findings. Both elements need to be carefully looked at with preservation in mind. This self assessment QA sheet is intended for projects who have reached the end of their funding and want to know how to ensure that the Web site they have created remains available and is easily maintainable.

Mothballing your Web site before the project ends will mean that the hard work you put into your project does not go to waste.

Subjective QA

Note that when filling in the form:

• radio buttons () limit you to one of the options given (i.e. only one button can be selected).
• check boxes () let you select as many of the options as you would like (i.e. many buttons can be selected).

	Web Site Content
1.	Is it clear on the entry page that your project has finished?	Yes No
2.	Do all the dates on the site show a year?	YesNo
3.	Do you have a watermark that shows the site is no longer maintained?	YesNo
4.	Do your Web pages have persistent URLs?	YesNo
5.	Have you decided how you will deal with links on your Web site that become broken? For further information see Approaches To Link Checking	YesNo
6.	Have you decided how you will deal with contact names and emails on your Web site?	YesNo
7.	Do you have a robots.txt file on your project Web site? If so will it allow robots to index it?	n/a YesNo
	Technologies
8.	Have you checked your Web site for compliance with relevant standards? For further information see Objective QA	YesNo
9.	Does your Web site have a search facility? If so will it continue to work when the project ends? For further information see Search Facilities For Your Web Site Briefing Paper	n/a YesNo
10.	Does your Web site have a tailored 404 page? If so will it continue to work when the project ends? For further information see 404 Error Pages On Web Sites Briefing Paper	n/a YesNo
11.	Does your Web site contain any forms? If so will they continue to work when the project ends?	n/a YesNo
12.	Does your Web site use a content management system? If so will it continue to work when the project ends?	n/a YesNo
13.	Does your Web site have a discussion forum or feedback area? If so have you considered how SPAM and obscene mail will be dealt with?	n/a YesNo
14.	Have you provided documentation of the technical architecture of your Web site?	YesNo
15.	Have you provided a mirror of your site?	YesNo
16.	Are all the licences for the software used on your site in order?	YesNo

Note that QA Focus does not keep a record of the answers submitted.

Objective QA

Before you finish your project and leave your Web site it would be useful to check that your site adheres to some basic standards. This will allow for interoperability and reuse.

Data Format Standards

HTML

It is important that the HTML on your site validates. You can use the service yourself either by going to the HTML Validator or by entering your project URL in the following box:

CSS

It is important to have a complete header on your site. You can use the service yourself either by going to CSS Validator or by entering your project URL in the following box:

Header

You can use the service yourself either by going to the Web Wizards tool or by entering a URL in the following box:

Accessibility

You can use the Bobby service yourself either by going to Bobby or by entering your project URL in the following box:

You can use the Lynx text only browser yourself either by going to Lynx Viewer or by entering your project URL in the following box:

Repurposing Resources

Depositing Data

Projects should consider depositing data, learning and teaching materials, documentation and other types of material with a digital archiving service such as the Arts and Humanities Data Service or the Economic and Social Data Service.

Availability of Project Web Site in The Internet Archive

You can use the service yourself either by going to the Internet Archive or by entering a URL in the following box:

Ease Of Conversion To XHTML

Can your Web site be easily converted to XHTML? For more information see the XHTML Survey.

Ease Of Conversion To WML

Can your Web site be easily converted to WML? For more information see the WML Survey.