Number

Check

Comment

1

Spell check, site read proofing – all pages

Use a spellchecker but also do a sight proof reading

2

Site wide links check both internal and external links

Some web authoring packages have built in links checke - use these but also do a sight check to make sure all images and hypertext links work correctly

3

HTML validation, CSS and Access validations

Use any built in html or css validators in your software package. Or use the online checkers.

4

Check all title tags

Every web page must have a title tag. Write a fresh title tag for each page to reflect the content on that page.

5

Search engine optimisation – home page

Title, keyword meta tags and description met tag should be completed. More importantly, the text on the home page and other key pages should have the right keyword density.

6

Search engine optimisation – key pages

The text of each page is what search engines need to work on - make sure the keywords have been selected for each page and ensure the guidelines for keyword density have been followed.

7

Index.htm – key words and descriptions meta tags

As above, meta tags can be used although they are not of great importance to major search engines.

8

ICRA rating certificate done

We recommend that web site obtained a content rating from ICRA - full instructions are on the web site

ICRA web site

9

Submissions to search engines

Once the site is live on the Internet it can be submitted to search engines. We recommend this is done manually for leading search engines.

You can check which search engines are being most used through Search Engine Watch

10

Forms have been tested

If you have interactive forms on the web site make sure that these are working and generating emails to the recipient email address

11

Robot tags set in each page and robots.txt uploaded to root of web server

Favicon produced and uploaded

Robots meta tags are set into the header tags on each page, giving instructions to the search engines about how to handle links on that page. Pages that shouild not be indexed can be configured. The robots.txt file should be written and uploaded to the root of the web server in order to give instructions as to which pages should NOT be indexed.

Favicons are not necessary but most search engines look for them. Having a favicon.ico file in the root of the web server means that error logs will not be generated, which would be the case if the file was not found.

12

All images have ALT statements

Ensuring that all images have ALT statements is part of ensuring that the web site complies with access requirements and standards.

13

Document Type declarations on all pages

Each web page should begin with a document type declaration which is appropriate to the standard of HTML used in that page.

14

Accessibility standards are complied with

In the UK, web sites should comply with the standards set out to enable people with disabilities to access web site content. There are ways of checking each web page to see if it meets appropriate standards.

15

Site tested by an external web designer

It is advisable to have a suitably qualified and experience web designer to inspect the site before it is published. This is a final check to ensure that the site does not have problems and issued not detected in the above checks. Site testing circles are useful in allowing web designers to check on the standard of each other's work.