Slightly ajar

With any good contest there needs to be a winner, and thus a scoring card to rank each criteria. Below is the draft score card for the web site duelling contest. keep in mind that this may change depending on comments and if I find it is not quite suitable when assessing the sites.

Does the site work in all major browsers?

The most important thing, along with accessibility and usability, for a web site is that it works in all major browsers. The whole reason we have standards is to help make sure sites work no matter what choice of browser we choose. I will test the sites in four browsers, IE, Opera, Safari and Firefox. I would also test in Konqueror but I do not have constant access to Linux/Unix/BSD. Five points will be awarded or each browser the site works in, with a bonus of ten points if it works in all four. Points will be deducted depending on how many minor display, major display and major functional issues are present. A bonus of four points will be given to the winner of the round.

Total possible points: 34 points

Does the CSS and (X)HTML validate?

It is more important for a site to work in all browsers than to validate, but it is still the most important and useful tool to help make a site work in multiple browsers as it makes it easier for each browser to know how the page should be rendered. Ten points will be awarded for valid (X)HTML not including validation errors due to issues in the validator. Zero points will be awarded for fifty or more errors, with a scale in-between. The same scoring system will be used for CSS. CSS 3 is accepted so validation errors due to the use of this will not count as an error. As validating to a strict document type is more difficult due to less legal tags then a ten point bonus will be given if the page is valid with a strict document type. Two bonus points for having the lowest issues in CSS and two for the lowest in (X)HTML will be awarded.

Total possible points: 34 points

Are there any JavaScript errors?

It is much harder for authors to judge the quality of their JavaScript due to no validator, but using the JavaScript error console can help as it shows the issues the browser is having with the scripts. Ten points will be awarded for no errors, and zero for ten or more, with a scale in-between. This will be tested in all four browsers, with any duplicates still counting as one. Two bonus points will be awarded for wining the round.

Total possible points: 12 points

Does it use CSS or table based layout?

Table based layouts are the old way of web design, while CSS is the sleek modern method. The advantage is that the pages are often much smaller and more flexible with CSS layout. They are more flexible as the presentation is taken out of the HTML document and a page can be completely rearranged with a alternative stylesheet such as for handhelds or just an different look. Ten points will be awarded for a CSS based layout, a layout with minimal tables just for laying out the basic structure, such as three columns and a header, will get five points, and any more tables will get zero points. Tables for tabular data will still be allowed. A bonus of two points for winning the round will be awarded.

Total possible points: 12 points

Does it use CSS for style or HTML tags?

CSS styling should be used as it decreases the page weight and time taken to update the page as all the style information is in a separate file which can be changed once to effect the entire site. It also allows complete redesigns to be much easier or alternative stylesheets. With HTML style tags it is much more difficult to change the style of a page without re-coding the page. Ten points will be awarded for no sstyle based HTML tags, with zero for ten or more and a bonus of two for winning the round.

Total possible points: 12 points

Is the (X)HTML semantic and lightweight?

Having lightweight code instead of tag soup is important as it will load faster, and cost less to download on mobiles, as well as saving the company money on bandwidth. Having semantic markup is important as it help humans as well applications to understand the meaning of the content; Google for example uses the H tags when ranking pages, an they can be used by screen readers to add emphasis. With the semantic web in the future, having clean semantic code will become more important. Two points will be awarded for the correct use of h and p tags, two for using no extra div tags than are needed, two for the use of tags such as cite, q, blockquote, abbr etc., two for meaningful semantic names for classes and IDs, and two points for using lists correctly, such as for menus. Two bonus points will be awarded for the winner of the round.

Total possible points: 12 points

Does the page work without plug-ins?

Not all devices or platforms can use all plug-ins, and plug-ins such as Flash can cause accessibility issues. Therefore it is best if an alternative is given when plug-in content is used. Ten points will be awarded if the site fully works without plug-ins, except issues that reply on them such as playing a movie or sound clip. Five points will be given if there are two or more issues, two points if the site doesn't work but there is a warning, and zero if the site just doesn't work. Two points are again awarded to the winner

Total possible points: 12 points

Does the page work without JavaScript?

JavaScript can cause accessibility issues as well and an author can not rely on it being turned on, therefore all core functionality should have a fallback, such as server side validation. The same scoring system will be used as the criteria above, except progressive enhancements that could not be done without Javascript, as long as it remains accessible and are not core functionality, will not count as issues.

Total possible points: 12 points

Does the site follow accessibility guidelines

Accessible web sites are very important as information should be available to users online even if they are disabled. There are also government guidelines on the subject and making a site accessible helps with designing for mobiles and devices as well. The W3C WA guidelines will be used, with twenty points for passing WAI-AAA, fifteen for WAI-AA, ten for WAI-A and a varying scale to zero for issues in the site. A bonus of four will o to the winner of the round.

Total possible points: 12 points

Are decretive images included in the CSS instead of the HTML?

Putting none essential images in the CSS file has advantages in that they ill not be loaded f another stylesheet is used. This makes changing designs easier. It also means mobile browsers wont load the images, which saves bandwidth costs and doesn't break the layout</p?

Total possible points: 12 points

If a print option is offered is it a stylesheet or a separate page?

Using a print stylesheet ensures the print version will never go out of sync with main article. A print stylesheet can allows the author to have more control on the designs of the print option. Ten points will be given to a print stylesheet that validates, with five points for one that don't validating, then the points scale to zero depending on how many issues or if there is no print stylesheet.

Total possible points: 12 points

Is a handheld stylesheet offered or the site mobile friendly?

Handheld stylesheets for mobiles are useful as it allows the author to only write a page once then give a CSS file to customise the display. It also allows content to be hidden that is not needed for mobiles,and it wont be downloaded. Ten points will be awarded for valid handheld stylesheet which works correctly, five if the site useable but no stylesheet and doesn't look too broken. Less points are given for sites which have big issues or do not work on mobile phones.

Total possible points: 12 points

After all the points are added together the winner will be found. The highest possible score including winning bonuses is two hundred. Comments on the scoring system are welcome before the duels start.