The Alexa Traffic Rank gives a statement about the popularity of the tested website.
"The traffic rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data from millions of Alexa Toolbar users and is a combined measure of page views and users (reach). As a first step, Alexa computes the reach and number of page views for all sites on the Web on a daily basis.The main Alexa traffic rank is based on the geometric mean of these two quantities averaged over time (so that the rank of a site reflects both the number of users who visit that site as well as the number of pages on the site viewed by those users)."
Source and further information: www.alexa.com.
The traffic ranking of the tested web site is not bad (<= 1'500'000), but can be improved.
Frames break numerous conventions that web users had grown used to, e.g. the possibility to save a specific website as a favourite or to mail the direct URL to a friend. In addition, when viewed with older browsers, frames disable the 'Back' button and make it impossible to print out the webpage. Frames are to be avoided as far as possible, even though later generation browsers can handle them better.
Source:
"Prioritizing Web Usability" by Jakob Nielsen/Hoa Loranger
Further information:
http://www.html-faq.com/htmlframes/?FramesAreEvil
The tested website contains so called embedded frames or "iframe" (=inline frame = frame in line with the flow of the text; these are discourage too). Further information: http://de.selfhtml.org/html/frames/eingebettete.htm.
Each page of a website should have its own page title, which reflects the content of the page itself. This carries many advantages, e.g. page titles are used for bookmarking and are read by search engines. Unique page titles therefore lead to search engine optimisation.
Further information:
http://www.socialpatterns.com/search-engine-optimization/writing-better-titles/
Some pages sharing the same titles were found.
"Even though machine-level addressing like the URL should never have been exposed in the user interface, it is there and we have found that users actually try to decode the URLs of pages to infer the structure of web sites. Users do this because of the horrifying lack of support for navigation and sense of location in current web browsers. Thus, a URL should contain human-readable directory and file names that reflect the nature of the information space."
Source:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605a.html
Further information:
http://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/uri-choose
The URL structure of the tested Website is generally good, though some complex URLs are used internally.
When clicking on a link, web users expect to see the new page in the existing window. Most users lose control if there are several windows open, are unable to navigate back with the back function and get lost. At the same time, and this is particularly true for old computers, the system can get overloaded and crash if too many browser windows open. If new windows open but are not seen by the user, the perception is that the website does not work properly. Experienced users who want to open new windows know how to do this by using the function "Open (link) in New Window", or with similar comands.
There is one important exception to this rule: files in .PDF or other Office format can be opened in new windows. Users know to close them to return to the original window. In this case, users should be informed that a new window opened, and they should be given the opportunity to save the file.
Technical hint: For XHTML Strict in particular, there is the possibility to send a .PDF file with ContentType "application/pdf" and HTTP Header content-disposition: attachment; filename=filename.pdf, since there is no target attribute. This test does not take it into account yet, but this is a feasible solution.
Source and further information:
"Prioritizing Web Usability" by Jakob Nielsen/Hoa Loranger
At least one internal hyperlink opening a new window was found.
A text in upper case reduces the reading speed by approx. 10%. The single words of the text are not easily recognised by the eye, and the whole text blurs into a block. A text in upper case is perceived as aggressive, amateurish, childish and unprofessional. Use upper case only for short titles.
Source and further information:
"Prioritizing Web Usability" by Jakob Nielsen/Hoa Loranger.
Compare also with Schriver, Karen in Dynamics in Document Design, page 274:
"When text is set in all capital letters, reading speed is slowed about 13 to 20 percent. Reading speed is optimal when uppercase and lowercase letters are used. When extra emphasis is needed, bold has been found to be a better cue than uppercase."
The tested website contains little text in upper case.
The logical connection between definition and form field is missing if the form fields lack an explicit title.
This means that in the instance of a linear form, it is not apparent which definition belongs to which fiels. This is why the element LABEL was introduced with the attribute for, allowing the explicit definition for form fields.
Using the element LABEL allows Screen-Readerusers in particular to view the definition of the form field directly in the form field itself.
Source:
http://www.barrierefreies-webdesign.de/knowhow/formulare/label.html. Further information can be found in the W3C accessibility guidelines (12.4 Associate labels explicitly with their controls, Guideline 12, Accessibility Guidelines for Web Content 1.0, W3C recommendations 5th May 1999http://www.w3c.de/Trans/WAI/webinhalt.html) und http://de.selfhtml.org/html/formulare/strukturieren.htm.
Most, but not all, form fields on the tested website contain correct labels.
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A potential hint has been identified.
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A potential hint has been identified.
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A potential hint has been identified.
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A potential hint has been identified.
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A potential hint has been identified.
Using the ideal number of keywords can contribute to the searchability of a website. However, search engines may class it as "keyword spam" if too many keywords are used.
The number of keywords contained in the tested website is not optimal.
"According to RFC 2616, Internet HTTP Compression is a method to send, from the Web server, an HTTP response message in compressed format to a requesting Web browser.
HTTP Compression saves transfer data volume and reduces web page load time." As there are some known issues with Internet Explorer 6 you may want to disable compression for IE6.
Source: http://www.http-compression.com/
The website does not use or only partially uses a GZIP or deflate compression for html files.
"According to RFC 2616, Internet HTTP Compression is a method to send, from the Web server, an HTTP response message in compressed format to a requesting Web browser.
HTTP Compression saves transfer data volume and reduces web page load time." As there are some known issues with Internet Explorer 6 you may want to disable compression for IE6.
Source: http://www.http-compression.com/
The website does not use or only partially uses a GZIP or deflate compression for CSS files.
"According to RFC 2616, Internet HTTP Compression is a method to send, from the Web server, an HTTP response message in compressed format to a requesting Web browser.
HTTP Compression saves transfer data volume and reduces web page load time." As there are some known issues with Internet Explorer 6 you may want to disable compression for IE6.
Source: http://www.http-compression.com/
Die Website verwendet keine oder nur teilweise eine GZIP oder deflate Komprimierung for javascript files.
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A potential hint has been identified.
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A potential hint has been identified.