QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN EVALUATING WEBSITES

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN EVALUATING WEBSITES

FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS

Denise E. Agosto, Ph.D.

D -- DESIGN EVALUATION QUESTIONS

D1. QUALITY OF GRAPHIC AND MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

· Are the graphics clear and easy to understand?

· Are the audio and video components high quality?

· Is the graphic and multimedia content likely to attract and appeal to young people?

D2. QUALITY OF GENERAL DESIGN

· Is the overall site design pleasing?

· Is the design attention grabbing, but not distracting?

· Is the design likely to appeal to most young people?

· Are the individual pages so long that excessive scrolling is necessary?

· Is the text easy to read (based on font appearance, size, and color)?

D3. INCLUSION OF LINKS

· Are there a relatively large number of links?

· Are the links related to the main subjects of the website?

· Are the links generally high quality?

· Are the links evaluated or described at all?

D4. AMOUNT OF GRAPHIC AND MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

· Does the site include much graphic and multimedia content, or is it primarily composed of plain text?

· Is there a relatively low percentage of advertising content?

D5. LEVEL OF INTERACTIVITY

· Is there a relatively high level of interactivity?

· Is there a method for contacting the authoring/sponsoring body for questions and comments?

D6. COMPLEXITY OF ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM

· Is navigation within the website fairly easy?

· Are the organization and contents obvious from the opening page?

· Is there a link to the opening page on each subsequent page?

· If the website is large, is an internal search function available?