Evaluating Your Organisational Home Page

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will use a number of Web-based services to evaluate your organisational home page.

1.1 Dr. HTML

Go to the Web address <http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/index_noframes.html>.

Click the link to the single page analysis and enter the name of the entry point for your organisational Web site. Then press the Go button. Once the results have been obtained complete the following table.

Area	Errors
Structural Errors
Tables
Spelling
Other

Return to the Dr HTML home page and view the information about a Site Analysis.

How much is a licence? How useful is the output?

1.2 NetMechanic

Go to the Web address: <http://www.netmechanic.com/>.

Click the link to the Maintain option and enter the name of the entry point for your organisational Web site. Then press the Go button. Once the results have been obtained complete the following table.

Area	Errors
Link Check
HTML Check
Browser Compatibility
Load Time
Spell Check

1.3 WebSiteGarage

If you have enough time go to the Web address: <http://websitegarage.netscape.com/>.

Make a note of results provided by this service. In particular how many Web sites point to your page?

Evaluating Your Organisational Web Site

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will use a number of Web-based services to evaluate your organisational Web site.

2.1 NetMechanic

Return to the NetMechanic Web maintenance service at:

<http://www.netmechanic.com/maintain.htm>

Enter the name of the entry point for your organisational Web site again. This time select the option to check 20 pages and then press the Go button.

Note This option may take a few minutes to complete. While waiting feel free to create a new browser window and start on Task 2.2.

Once the results have been obtained complete the following table.

Area	Errors
Link Check
HTML Check
Browser Compatibility
Load Time
Spell Check

2.2 Dr Watson

Go to the Web address:

<http://watson.addy.com/>

Select the options to analyse the HTML syntax, regular and image links, search engine compatibility and site link popularity. Make a note of any errors or problem areas detected.

According to AltaVista, how many links are there to the Web site?

2.3 LinkAlarm

Go to the Web address: <http://linkalarm.com/trial/>. Try this link reporting service on your Web site.

Look at the report at <http://my.linkalarm.com/359320384/694554003728/control/>.

Check how much the service would cost you at <http://my.linkalarm.com/359320384/points/Calculator>.

2.4 This Old Mouse

Go to the Web address: <http://www.thisoldmouse.com/>

Read the information provided on the Web site. Is it worth $500 for the analysis?

Evaluating Your Organisational Web Server

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will use a number of Web-based services to evaluate your organisational Web server.

3.1 HTTP-info

Go to UKOLN’s WebWatch at the Web address: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/services/>.

Select the HTTP-info option and enter the name of your organisational Web server. Then press the Submit Query button.

What server software does your Web server use?

3.2 Doc-info

Go to UKOLN’s WebWatch at the Web address: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/services/>.

Select the Doc-info option and enter the name of your organisational Web server. Then press the Submit Query button.

Are the resources on your home page cachable?

3.3 robots.txt Checker

Go to UKOLN’s WebWatch at the Web address: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/services/>.

Select the robots.txt Checker option and enter the name of your organisational Web server. Then press the Submit Query button.

Do your have a robots.txt file for your organisational Web server?

3.4 404 Error Message

Go to your organisational Web site and then add a non-existent file name to the end (e.g http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/foo) Your Web site’s 404 page will be displayed.

How useful is the page? Does it provide help information, navigational aids and have your organisation’s look-and-feel?

3.5 NetMechanic

Return to the NetMechanic Web service and this time go to the Monitor service at the Web address: <http://www.netmechanic.com/monitor.htm>.

Enter the name of your organisational Web server and your email address. Then press the Go button. The results of the survey will be emailed to you.

3.6 InternetSeer

Go to the InternetSeer Web service at the Web address: <http://www.internetseer.com/>.

Select the option for a free InternetSeer account and enter your personal details. Also enter the name of your organisational Web server. Then click on the Activate button.

Once your account has been set up click on the link to MyInternetSeer.

3.7 WatchDog

Go to the WatchDog Web service at: <http://watchdog.mycomputer.com/>. View the demonstration.

Evaluating Different Browsers

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will use a number of Web-based services to view your organisational Web site using a number of browser emulators.

4.1 How Many Browsers

How many different browsers do your think there are, besides Netscape and Internet Explorer?

Go to the Browser Archives at the address: <http://browsers.evolt.org/>. Approximately how many browsers are listed?

4.2 Browser Emulators

Go to the DejaVu Web site at the address: <http://finnegan.metamatrix.se/dejavu/>. Select the Emulator link. From the image first choose the option to use NCSA Mosaic.

Click on the Open … button near the bottom of the window and enter the URL of your organisational Web site.

How different does your Web site look in the NCSA Mosaic browser? Is your Web site usable in this browser?

If you have time, use other browsers, such as HotJava.

4.3 Lynx Emulator

Go to the Lynx emulator at the address: <http://www.slcc.edu/webguide/lynxit.html> (or see the list of Lynx browsers at <http://www.trill-home.com/lynx/public_lynx.html>).

Enter the URL of your organisational Web site to see how it looks using a text-only browser such as Lynx.

4.4 SiteViewer

Go to the AnyBrowser Web site at the address: <http://www.anybrowser.com/>.

Select the SiteViewer link to the page at <http://www.anybrowser.com/siteviewer.html>.

Scroll down to the Other Compatibility Levels section. Enter the URL of your organisational Web site and select the HTML 2.0 option. Then click on the View Page button to view your Web site as a HTML 2.0 compliant browser would see it (e.g. without support for tables).

Return to the SiteViewer and choose the option to view your Web site using the HTML supported by WebTV.

4.5 SiteViewer (ii)

Return to the AnyBrowser Web site at the address: <http://www.anybrowser.com/>.

Select the Screen Size Test link to the page at <http://www.anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html>.

Enter the URL of your organisational Web site and select the 600 x 480 button to view what your Web site would,look like at this screen resolution.

Return to the Screen Size Test page and choose the option to view your Web site at other screen resolutions.

4.6 WAP Emulator

Go to the Web address: <http://www.gelon.net/>. Then enter the WAP address <http://wap.tees.ac.uk/> or <http://www.wapdrive.net/shropshirelibraries> and click the Wapilizer button.

4.7 Web TV Emulator (Additional Exercise)

Go to the Web address: <http://developer.webtv.net/design/tools/viewer/>. Download and install the Web TV emulator and check how your Web site will look to a Web TV.

NOTE This is not an externally-hosted service. Carry out this exercise in your own time.

Evaluating Site Accessibility

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will use a number of Web-based services to check the accessibility of your organisational Web site.

5.1 Bobby

Go to the Bobby Web site at the address: <http://www.cast.org/bobby/>.

Enter the URL of your organisational Web site and click on the Submit button.

Does your site contain any accessibility problems?

5.2 WebMetric

Go NIST’s WebMetric Web site at the address: < http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/webmet/>.

Click on the link to the Web Static Analyzser Tool (WebSAT) at <http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/webmet/sat/websat-process.html> and then click on the Run button.

Enter the URL of your organisational Web site.

5.3 WAVE

Go to the Wave Web site at the address: <http://www.temple.edu/inst_disabilities/piat/wave/>.

Enter the URL of your organisational Web site.

5.4 Bobby Application

Go to the Bobby Web site at the address: <http://www.cast.org/bobby/>.

Click on the link to Download Bobby.

How useful would the downloadable version of Bobby be?

If you have the time, download, install and use the Bobby Java application.

Monitoring Visitors To A Web Site

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will look at a number of Web-based statistical which can be used to monitor the number and profile of visitors to your organisational Web site.

6.1 Cultivate Interactive

Go to the Cultivate Interactive Web site at the address: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/>.

Scroll to the bottom of the window and click on the multi-coloured icon to the left of the Copyright statement.

What is the average number of visitors per day?

What operating system is most popular?

What browser is most popular?

Use the Recent Visitors menu to the left of the window to find out how recent visitors were referred to the Web site.

6.2 Exploit Interactive

Go to the Exploit Interactive Web site at the address: <http://www.exploit-lib.org/>.

Go to issue 5 and select the Et Cetera section. Then select the “Software in Use: Externally-Hosted Web Statistics Services” article which has the address <http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/software-used/>.

Skim through the article. Then scroll to the bottom of the window and click on the icon of a graph underneath the Translate link.

What are the total number of page views for the article?

What was the most popular day for viewing the article?

6.3 Other Services

Go to AnyBrowser’s list of free tools at the address: <http://www.anybrowser.com/tools.html>.

Select the link to Free Web Counters.

Evaluating Link and Search Engine Popularity

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will use a number of Web-based services to view links to your organisational Web site and the ranking of your Web site in a search engine.

7.1 LinkPopularity

Go to the LinkPopularity Web site at the address: <http://www.linkpopularity.com/>.

Enter the address of your organisational Web site.

Complete the following table.

Search Engine	Numbers of Links
AltaVista
Infoseek
Hotbot

7.2 NetMechanic

Go to the NetMechanic Web site at the address: <http://www.netmechanic.com/> and follow the link to Promote. Then select the link to the Free Sample to Track Your Website at <http://www.netmechanic.com/powerpack/tracker.htm#free>.

Enter the address of your organisational Web site followed by a likely search term e.g. University of Borcestershire library. Then click on the Submit button.

Is your Web site in the top 40?

7.3 AltaVista

Go to the AltaVista Web site at <http://www.altavista.com/> and enter the search term url: followed by the url of your organisation’s Web site e.g. url:www.ukoln.ac.uk

How many pages of your Web site are in AltaVista’s index?

7.4 WebsMostLinked

Go to the WebsMostLinked Web site at <http://www.websmostlinked.com/>.

Submit the domain name for your organisational Web site.

What position are you?

What’s Related

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will explore Netscape’s What’s Related feature. Normally this is used by clicking on a button on the Netscape toolbar, but in this exercise we will go to the What’s Related Web site.

8.1 What’s Related?

Go to the Web address: <http://home.netscape.com/escapes/related/>.

Enter the URL of your organisational home page and press the Submit button.

Answer the following questions:

· What sites are related to your organisation?

· Does the list of sites surprise you?

· How popular is your site?

· How many pages are there on your site?

· How many links to the site are there?

8.2 Find Out More

Click on the link to Learn More About What’s Related and read the information provided.

Browser Extensions

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will discover how to add many of the services you have looked at to your browser.

9.1 Adding HTTP-info and Doc-Info to your Web Browser

Go to the Web address: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/services/>. Drag the links to your browser’s toolbar.

Go to your organisational home page and then click on the HTTP-info and Doc-info icon in the toolbar.

9.2 Find Out More

Read the article at: <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue19/web-focus/>.

Read the article about Bookmarklets at: <http://www.bookmarklets.com/>.

Read the document about adding a caching checker at
<http://www.ircache.net/cgi-bin/cacheability.py?action=show_ext>.

LinkTool and Usable Web

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will make use of the LinkTool.com and Usable Web Web sites.

10.1 Using Services at LinkTool

Go to the Web address: <http://www.linktool.com/>.

Use the various tools to report on your organisational Web site.

10.2 Using Services at Usable Web

Go to the Web address: <http://usableweb.com/topics/000811-0-0.html>.

Use the various tools to report on your organisational Web site.

Checking Web Site Performance

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will look at tools which can check the performance of a Web site.

11.1 Keynote Systems

Go to the Web address: <http://www.keynote.com/iw.html>. Read about he service. If you wish you can sign up for a free one week trial.

11.2 e-Test Suite

Go to <http://www.rswsoftware.com/>. Click on the link to Products and read about e-TEST Suite.

11.3 Bandwidth Speed Test

Go to <http://www.computingcentral.msn.com/topics/bandwidth/speedtest500.asp> and make a note of the bandwidth speed test results.

11.4 Other Tools

In your own time look at the products available at:

<http://www.somix.com/>

<http://www.entuity.com/>

<http://www.servicemetrics.com/>

<http://www.freshwater.com/SiteScope.htm>

<http://www.mercuryinteractive.com/>

<http://www-heva.mercuryinteractive.com/>

WebWatching

Aims Of This Exercise

In this exercise you will learn about the WebWatch surveys of the UK Higher Education Community and discuss its applicability for your community.

12.1 WebWatch Surveys

Go to the Web address: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/articles/>.

Notice the types of surveys which have been carried out.

12.2 Survey of Web Server Software

Read the article about the Survey of Web Server Software Used in UK University Web Sites at: <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue25/web-watch/>.

What is the most popular Web server software?

What trends can be noticed over the past year or so?

12.3 Survey of Number of Links to UK University Web Sites

Read the article about the Survey of Number of Links to UK University Web Sites at: <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-watch/>.

Which University has most links to it?

12.4 Survey of UK HE Search Engines

Read the article about the Survey of UK University Search Engines at:
<http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue21/web-watch/>.

What is the most popular search engine software used to provide local search facilities?

Go to links to other surveys of search engine software at:
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/surveys/uk-he-search-engines/> and look at the most recent survey.

What trends can be detected?

12.5 Survey of Public Library Search Engines

Read the survey of Public Library Search Engines at:
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/surveys/pub-lib-search/>.

What is the most popular search engine software used to provide local search facilities?

12.6 The Global Picture

View the global Web statistics at: <http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/stats_toolbox/article>.