CPSnet Web Awards Program, awards for sites skies above.

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Design scoring

Created 2003-01-30. Reviewed 2005-04-25: Added clarifications and requisites for children' sites; Reworded the item in our Privacy Policy regarding "Children Privacy Protection".

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Items evaluation

The following 10 main items will be evaluated in your site. Points are collected by attaining a score of 1 point in each sub-item, i.e. if your web site is found fully compliant with it. This means that a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 5 points can be scored in each of the 10 main items.

1. Images and graphic elements:
   1. Graphics are original and creative, sharp and clear; No errors in animations and/or transparent images.
   2. Appealing and proper use of colors and, if any, of background elements;
   3. Proper optimization of all graphics, including resolution. Best quality/file size ratio possible was attained. We will randomly check the size in bytes of some images and will compare it to its theoretical size (width x height x bpp, bpp is 1 for gif and 3 for jpeg images): an image is considered optimized if its size in bytes is not more than [width x height x 0.75], without noticeable quality loss.
   4. All images with rich content of its own have "alt" attributes defined; Purely decorative images, use empty alt attributes.
   5. Correct and/or appropriate dimensions; Large images are accessed by means of a thumbnail or from a thumbnails gallery.
2. Navigation:
   1. 3 mouse clicks (maximum) to reach (and return from) any section; Global and contextual navigation is appropriated and coherent;
   2. Web site map is available;
   3. Alternate text navigation if image-map and/or Java based navigation is used. Text links are clearly identified; Only client-side image maps are used. No server-side image maps;
   4. Meaningful and helpful 404 error page, working from any depth in the site;
   5. All internal links open in the same window, except when it can be considered acceptable to open a new window (informational pop-up windows, for instance, if wisely used).
3. Text and Fonts:
   1. Use of standard alternate font types, if non standard types are used;
   2. High level of readability, the page computed font size for the main content must not be smaller than 10 pixels (as computed by the DOM inspector of any Mozilla browser);
   3. Good contrast between text and background, complementary colors are not used;
   4. Different font types and/or colors are used rationally;
   5. Relative font sizes are used. It is possible to resize the text size in the browser.
4. Dimensions, positions & alignments:
   1. Adequate and proper use of text and image alignments. Relative rather than absolute positioning is used;
   2. Correct display at 800x600 and/or (see "horizontal scrolling" below) 1024x768, without excessive empty space or cluttered appearance;
   3. Vertical scrolling of pages is minimized and/or appropriate: no more than 10 "Page-Down" hits at 800x600 (about 6 at 1024x768);
   4. No horizontal scrolling is preferred, but if present due to a specific screen-size requirement, that requirement must be stated in the entrance page. Also, any horizontal scrolling has to be understood as unavoidable due to the site's design. Internal frames with horizontal scrolling must be avoided;
   5. Balanced use of "white" space, text breaks and paragraph spacing.
5. Visual impression and experience:
   1. Visually appealing, remarkable and durable impression;
   2. The majority of elements and concepts are original and unique in its approach;
   3. Creative use of elements and aesthetic concerns are evident;
   4. Non-static elements add value to the site's design and content;
   5. The most important links and information are clearly visible.
6. Scripts and Plugins:
   1. No errors, no browser and/or system crashes and hang-up's;
   2. Web site is still functional and usable when scripts, applets, plugins and/or other programmatic objects are turned off or are not supported;
   3. Conservative and safe use of Java scripts and applets, VBscript and DHTML. We will not evaluate any site containing untrusted applets, plugins or ActiveX objects.
   4. Flash enabled pages and/or content have an HTML equivalent alternative. Sites entirely built on Flash are reviewed according to a different criteria set.
   5. No additional plug-ins are required.
7. Consistency and Identity:
   1. Web site design and layout is appropriate to content and to the targeted audience;
   2. One design throughout the all site and, preferably, one theme;
   3. The site is physically consistent: visual characteristics, including colors, labels, locations, shapes and sizes, etc;
   4. The site's communicational component is consistent: methods of moving within and between pages, within menus, etc;
   5. The site is conceptually consistent: language, stereotypes, etc.
8. Compatibility:
   1. Could be considered identical in the current versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox and Opera;
   2. No disabling of any of the Web site's features due to a browser incompatibility;
   3. Conservative and "error-free" use of "iframes" and "layers". Same applies to other non-standard elements;
   4. Browser safe colors are used;
   5. The site is usable in a text-based browser like Lynx;
9. Implementation and design quality:
   1. Above average original design and implementation, professional level skills with no errors. Site passes HTML validation;
   2. Web site accessibility problems are minimized: Site passes at least the automated tests for WAI-WCAG Level A compliance;
   3. The site use valid CSS for most if not all presentation aspects (fonts, color, padding, borders etc);
   4. No deeply nested tables and the use of tables for layout purpose is minimized;
   5. The code is well structured; There is a clear separation between structural and presentational elements;
10. Search engine optimization:
    1. Optimized use of the meta tags title and description: Title tag, no more than 60 characters including spaces; Description tag, no more than 150 characters including spaces;
    2. All keywords are relevant and related to the site's content; No more than 900 characters, including spaces and no keyword is repeated more than three times;
    3. Relevant metadata information about the site's structure, content and author is present. If using frames, meaningful content is provided inside the "noframes" tag to be spidered by search engines;
    4. Comment with meaningful content is present inside the head tag, to ensure that engines not reading your meta tags description and keywords are provided information;
    5. Site is ranked in the first 30 results in a Google, Altavista or Yahoo search (done using the keywords supplied by the applicant) or it is listed in the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org).

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Calculation of the final score

For each evaluator, the calculated score is the average of the scores attained at each of the above 10 main items (possible scores are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Rounding is done to 1 decimal figure, for instance 2.435 is rounded to 2.4

Scores from more than one evaluator will be averaged. Result is rounded to 1 decimal figure.

To be awarded the "Aracnofilia Web Design Award", the site must attain the minimum average of 4.5. Furthermore, no more than a single item described above may attain a score below 4, in no case should any item be scored below 3 and items 5, 6 and 9 must score at least 4.

Regarding the "High In The Sky Award", a minimum average of 3.6 is required in this Design evaluation. Also, no more than four items can be scored below 4 and in no case should any item be scored below 3.

You can use the Design Self-Test to check your site against this scoring procedure and get a score that will allow you to calculate the chances of passing this evaluation.

If you have any question or doubt about this procedure, please do not hesitate to call. Please visit our contact page, where you can find a feedback form and our e-mail addresses.

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