Testing

It is important to test your site. Testing should include validating the site's HTML, checking the site on different platforms (i.e., Windows vs. Macintosh), and ensuring that the site can be located by your audience. Testing the site for these factors will increase your site's chances for success.

On the most basic level, you should validate the HTML of the site to make sure that it works the way you designed it and that it will be usable by your audience. There are a number of HTML validation programs available on the Web to help you with this task. Programs vary, but some of the tasks they can perform for you include spelling checks, image analysis, hyperlink verification, and syntax tests. Some will even check the download speed of your site. You can find a listing of some of these HTML validation programs at the Yahoo! list of validation checkers at (http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/ Information_and_Documentation/Data_Formats/HTML/Validation_and_Checkers/).

Some suggested validation checkers are listed below:

• Webtechs' HTML Validator (http://valsvc.webtechs.com/)
• htmlchek version 4.1 (http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~churchh/htmlchek.html)
• Ivrfy: An HTML Link Verifier (http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~crow/lvrfy.html)
• Unipress' WWWeblint service (http://www.unipress.com/cgi-bin/WWWeblint)

Next, you should check your site on different platforms and using different browsers. This will ensure that all elements of your site work regardless of the platforms or browsers your audience members may be using. Though there are some programs that will do this for you electronically, such as Bobby (http://www.cast.org/bobby/), it may be preferable to check different browsers for yourself. After all, you are the best judge of whether your site is performing the way you designed it.

Finally, make sure that your audience can find your Web site using various search engines. You can use applications like Meta Medic (http://www.northernwebs.com/set/setsimjr.html) to check your meta tags to make sure they will work. Additionally, you can go to various search engines and search for your site using keywords that you believe will lead to your site. A site like the Yahoo! list of Search Engines (http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/ Internet/World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/Search_Engines/) can point you to some search engines where you can try your search. One of the easiest ways to make your Web site effective is to make it locatable.