Proofing Checklist

It is often difficult to ensure your pages are error free on the web. There's more to just proofing the text when preparing a web page. The following is a basic list of items to verify before posting your web page.

Basic Checklist:
□	free of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors;
□	working and properly coded links;
□	properly coded images with any additional descriptions;
□	meta tags entered;
□	copyright and credits;
□	text formatting* (bad paragraph hyphenation, orphans, and widows; and
□	tested in more than one browser.

* applies only web pages with defined areas, not recommend for liquid web pages

□ free of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors
This should go without saying but too often web pages are published with errors that can be avoided by simply doing a spell check. I'm by no means a writer. My grammar is still a problem. I can still remember hearing the Vice-president of Stentor Communications voicing her pet peeve about the proper usage of "its vs it's". I feel the same away about using Canadian Writing Style standards for abbreviations, punctuation including displaying time, months, province etc... I still rely on the expert knowledge of professional editors, writers, and translators for the copy. I always voice my two cents to all my clients. It's amazing how much knowledge you can accumulate working with communicators over 3o years.

□ working and properly coded links
This is often the invisible stuff that is entered in addition to the content you want posted on the web. The additional invisible code should be requested by a good web developer and should be part of a pre-post command using a Content Management System (CMS). Although the information is visually hidden to your online visitor unless it is activated either by a rollover command or required to get effective search engine results. It is code that makes your content accessible to not only your web visitors but to a multitude of electronic devices available today. For example, a visually impaired person used a devices that reads your web content. The "properly coded item" is recognized and will be read back to them. This ensures your content is "accessible" to everyone. Making your content accessible also means providing appropriate disclaimers and what I like to call:"Common Courtesy Messages". What I mean is providing a warning or additional file formats to simplify or get the visitor to "interact" with your site.

□ properly coded images with any additional descriptions
The same goes for descriptions. Long and short descriptions are used to identify or provide additional information regarding a particular "page item". E.g. Image of a "famous restaurant". The long description would display a pop-up window describing what made the restaurant famous. A long description would give even more information to explain to the visitor what they are viewing. Again, this information is hidden unless prompted by a "rollover item" state or read by electronic devices or search engines.

□ meta tags entered
Meta tags are simply additional "hidden" information that is added to your web site to ensure it is recognized by either web search engines or additional electronic devices. They are normally requested in good Content Management System (CMS) prior to posting or requested by the web developer or coder.

□ copyright and credits;
You cannot use any image or text without written permission of the owner. It is highlight recommended to add the copyright symbol to your web pages. You're content will be protected by Canadian copyright laws. You should also give proper credits to any additional page items such as photos.

□ text formatting* (bad paragraph hyphenation, orphans, and widows
There are basic rules in formatting content. I good graphic designer or web developer will add the appropriate additional codes to correct hyphenation and text formatting styles. The use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can help you apply "styles" to "repeating content items" such as: headings, text, graphics, etc... Other text formatting as to adopting the "Capitalizing the first letter of the words appearing headlines" are punctuation styles for advertising materials. A company should have a Graphic Standards Manual indicating their corporate colors and "preferred" treatments of "pre-defined corporate intellectual property" such as logos and trademarks.

□ tested in more than one browser
Just because it previews in Internet Explorer properly does not mean it will display properly in Mozilla Firefox or additional electronic devices. A "great web site" should be accessible to a wide variety of electronic devices.

....so proof, test, correct, and proof until it's right! On the web it's all about reaching as many people as possible and making their experience a pleasant one. You have to provide "what you think they want". A good designer and communicator can identify what those needs might be and provide suggestions and in my case ... solutions for your web needs.

 

Additional Items to Consider

Interactivity & Navigation

Your web site should be organize and presented in a manner that your visitors can easily find the information provided on your site. You should provide an easy way of contacting you. E.g. Add a small contact form where appropriate. Have you added any convenient online forms to contact you or to sign-up? Make your content accessible to more than one electronic device. Use meta, alt and title tags for your content.

You could always add Flash animations, videos, and sounds to your pages. They are normally time consuming to produce and may not fit most peoples budget for a basic web site. Other smaller animations could include gif animations for ads or page intros..:):):) Be warned, not all online visitors want to experience unexpected noises and a lot of movement on the page. A good web site can contain as many sounds, videos, and content as possible but the trick is to provide it in a way of letting the visitor choose what they want to view, hear, or read and when and if.... Don't assume they'd want to hear your ad or introduction with moving video and sounds. Instead provide the ad in the "pause mode" and let them press "play" or the "stop" button. These can offend become large files and slow the loading of the page. The visitor may get frustrated waiting and leave before it even loads.

Links

Your goal is to keep your visitors on your site as long as possible. Code external links to load in a new browser window and provide a "courtesy alt tag" that will inform them they are about to leave your site--rollover the link to view the "courtesy alt tag". Verify that all links work properly. Add title tags to you links. Avoid using the URL addresses in your copy.

Disclaimers

Disclaimers provide additional information to the visitor in a courteous manner. E.g. This Newsletter is available in Acrobat PDF format. This also means adding it to the link too! Roll over the "Acrobat PDF" link to read a message.