Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists is the only organized and easy-to-use compilation of guidelines, checklists and tips for building modern, best-practice Websites.
Drawing on dozens of books, studies, and research papers, this book distills not-so-common wisdom into 500 digestible guidelines & checkpoints that can be quickly applied to any Web Development project. Organized by chapter, the guidelines cover everything from color usage & navigation, to accessibility, usability and webpage architecture.
By following all the guidelines, you will develop 100% best-practice Websites, ensuring their projects are built ''the right way'' from the start. This means the final Website will be:
- Cross-browser & Cross-platform compatible
- Easy to update & maintain
- Usable by even novice Internet Users
- Accessible to disabled visitors
- Search-engine friendly
As a bonus, all the checklists are downloadable in PDF format, so you can print them out and use them over and over again in all your Web Development projects.
From the Publisher: Want to learn how to make your web sites usable and accessible? Want to ensure that your sites meet current best practice, without spending hours trawling through incomprehensible specifications and recommendations from dozens of different books, research papers, and web sites? Want to make sure that the sites you build are ''right the first time,'' requiring no costly redevelopments? Look no further: Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists is a comprehensive coverage of current best practice with over 100 checklists, containing over 500 individual checkpoints that cover areas such as design, usability, project management, SEO and much, much more. Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists is a complete compendium of best practices drawn from the author's own experience and dozens of expert third-party references. It's the ultimate roadmap for web developers, project managers, and anyone involved in the process of building web sites. Each checkpoint is accompanied by an explanation and references as required, making this the most comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide to delivering high quality web sites. Free access is provided to downloadable PDF versions of the checklists-streamlined to contain the checkpoints only, without explanations or references-for you to print and use in your own web projects.
Who Should Read This Book? This book is ideal for anyone involved in the process of building web sites. Whether you're a web developer, a project manager, or you're looking to commission someone to build web sites for you, the information contained in these checklists will prove invaluable. You don't need any technical experience to benefit from this book.
Editorial Reviews ''This book is highly recommended for all web designers and developers. Depending on the level of knowledge that each of us possesses, we may get a lot or a little from this book, but whatever we end up with will have been worth our time and money.'' - BlogCritics.org ''It neatly consolidates a considerable amount of worthy advice culled from the author's research and decade in the trenches of the Internet.'' - Slashdot.org ''This is a very useful book for anyone who is planning a new site, managing others who are responsible for building a site, or bringing an older site up to current best practices.'' - Virgina DeBolt (webteacher.ws)
Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists......Page 3
Table of Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 15
Let’s Get Started … but How?......Page 23
Effective Pre-planning......Page 24
Doing your Homework and Making Educated Decisions......Page 28
Developing a Web Site Style Guide......Page 31
Managing Like Magic: Effective Organization......Page 34
Working Together as a Team......Page 36
Summary......Page 37
Establishing your Target Audience......Page 39
Who will Visit and Why?......Page 40
Identifying your Initial Goals......Page 41
Domain Name Costs......Page 43
Web Hosting......Page 44
Identify your Server Needs......Page 46
Branding and Marketing......Page 47
Bringing in the Experts......Page 50
How Much is a Picture Worth?......Page 51
Computer Software and Hardware......Page 52
Summary......Page 54
Gathering and Itemizing Content......Page 55
Providing Accessible Content......Page 57
Preparing Web Copy......Page 58
Preparing Images......Page 60
Summary......Page 65
Assessing your Web Site Content......Page 67
Determining your Content Management Needs......Page 69
Web Authoring Tool Features......Page 71
Content Management System Features......Page 72
Features for you and your Staff......Page 74
Content Publication Features......Page 77
Behind-the-Scenes Features......Page 79
Summary......Page 81
Web Site Usability: Focusing on the User......Page 83
Creating a User-friendly Index Page......Page 84
Ensuring your Web Site Focuses on Users......Page 86
Providing Fast-loading Web Pages......Page 91
Accommodating User Abilities, Disabilities, Browsers, and Alternative Devices......Page 92
Ensuring Predictability......Page 94
Using Conventional Practices......Page 95
Providing User-friendly Corrections for User Errors......Page 97
Summary......Page 100
Preparing a Color-friendly Work Environment......Page 101
Choosing a Color Scheme......Page 103
Using Color to Enhance Functionality......Page 107
Summary......Page 113
Information Architecture......Page 115
Laying the Foundations......Page 116
Improving Findability......Page 117
Organization Schemes......Page 118
Organizing Content Structure......Page 120
Preparing Web Page Information Architecture......Page 124
Information Architecture for Ecommerce Pages......Page 126
Organizing Directories......Page 128
Using Friendly URIs, URLs, and Filenames......Page 132
Hiding Filename Extensions as Much as Possible......Page 134
Summary......Page 136
Golden Rules for Effective Web Site Navigation......Page 137
Creating User-centered Global Navigation......Page 149
Creating Local or Section Navigation......Page 153
Providing Internal Page Navigation......Page 160
Creating Sitemaps......Page 162
Creating Site Indexes......Page 163
Determine Whether or not you Need a Search Feature......Page 164
Developing a Search Feature......Page 165
Summary......Page 168
Best Coding Practice: W3C Recommendations and Standards......Page 169
Magic Markup......Page 170
Separating Content from Presentation......Page 175
Ensuring the Integrity of your Markup......Page 178
Excellent XHTML......Page 181
Spectacular CSS......Page 185
Using Appropriate CSS Naming Conventions......Page 187
Beware of Browser Bugs and Problems......Page 188
Using CSS for Print......Page 189
Summary......Page 193
Creating Accessible Web Sites......Page 195
The Bare Bones of Creating an Accessible Web Site......Page 196
Creating Valid, Structured, Semantic Markup......Page 199
Using Recommended Markup in Content......Page 201
Providing Accessible Navigation......Page 204
Color for the Masses......Page 207
A Thousand Words to Each Picture......Page 209
Multi-purpose Multimedia......Page 210
In Good Form......Page 211
Sturdy Tables......Page 215
Summary......Page 219
Creating Clean, Lean Markup......Page 221
Minimizing URLs......Page 226
Optimizing CSS......Page 227
Optimizing JavaScript......Page 234
Supporting Speedy Server Responses......Page 236
Optimizing Images, Multimedia, and Alternative Formats......Page 237
Summary......Page 239
Search Engine Optimization......Page 241
Working with Keywords and Keyphrases......Page 242
Using Keywords and Keyphrases in your Markup......Page 244
Being Search Engine-Friendly......Page 246
Avoiding Being Banned by Search Engines......Page 250
Getting Listed......Page 252
Creating an Ongoing Links Campaign......Page 255
Planning for Ongoing Maintenance......Page 256
Summary......Page 259
Design......Page 261
Basic Design Principles......Page 262
Effective Typography......Page 268
Brainstorming......Page 272
Finalizing the Design......Page 275
Summary......Page 277
Testing......Page 279
Getting Started......Page 280
Good Testing Practice......Page 281
General Testing......Page 283
Solid Security......Page 288
Conducting a Preliminary Review......Page 290
Conducting a Comprehensive Review......Page 291
Testing with a Graphical Browser......Page 293
Testing with a Voice or Text-only Browser......Page 294
Usability Testing......Page 296
Summary......Page 301
Conducting Final Checks......Page 303
Checking Templates and Markup......Page 304
Finalizing Content......Page 305
Checking Functionality......Page 306
Checking Server-side Requirements......Page 307
Conducting a Soft Launch......Page 308
Launching the Web Site......Page 309
Checking and Finalizing Project Documentation......Page 310
Creating a Handover Package......Page 311
Archiving Project Documentation and Files......Page 314
Summary......Page 316
Conducting a Post-launch Review......Page 317
Completing Initial Post-launch Tasks......Page 319
Orientating New Staff......Page 321
Getting Attention......Page 322
Managing Maintenance......Page 324
Undertaking Daily Duties......Page 328
Conducting Monthly Minding......Page 329
Performing Periodic Processes......Page 330
Conducting Annual Activities......Page 332
Collecting and Using Quantitative Data......Page 333
Collecting and Using Qualitative Data......Page 335
Summary......Page 337
Assessing Ecommerce Content Usage and Management Needs......Page 339
Features to Seek in a Shopping Cart Program......Page 340
Index......Page 345
