A centre of expertise in digital information management Institutional Web Management Workshop 2004:...

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Institutional Web Management Workshop 2004: Transforming The Organisation

Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of [email protected]

UKOLN is supported by:

QA For Web Sites – What Goes Wrong And How

Can We Prevent It?

QA Focus Web Site: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/>QA Focus Web Site: <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/>


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Draft Timetable

• About This Session• What Can Go Wrong (group exercise 1)• About QA• Applying QA (group exercise 2)• QA Focus Methodology• Further QA (group exercise 3)• QA Focus approaches • Embedding QA (individual/group exercise 4)• Conclusions

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About The Session

Aims of the session:• To explain how quality assurance (QA)

procedures can help to minimise problems• To describe how QA can be used in the

context of Web sites• To outline QA resources which have been

developed by the JISC-funded QA Focus project

• To explore the potential for embedding QA into your Web development work

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About Us

Brian Kelly:• UK Web Focus• Project Manager for QA Focus

Amanda Closier:• Working on QA Focus since Jan 2004• Involved in other JISC project work

This session will be based on our QA Focus experiences. We will primarily be addressing technical issues, although non-technical issues may be raised.

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Exercise 1

In small groups:• Introduce yourselves• Outline key areas in which things can go

wrong on your Web site• Group these into:

Mission-critical problems Significant problems Minor problems

• Choose a reporter to give a brief report back

Spend about 10 minutes on this exercise.


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What Can Go Wrong?

Broken links

Pages not displayed

Pages displayed incorrectly

Forms don't work

Out-of-date contentIncorrect or misleading content

Poor performance

Inaccessible Web site

Usability problems

Security problems

Possible Problems

People issues

Workflow issues

Backend systems don't work

Wrong functionality

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What Are We Seeking To Achieve?

The QA Focus work was based on the notion that projects would be seeking to achieve the following:

• Functionality of the project deliverables: the deliverables will do what they are supposed to do

• Wide accessibility for the project deliverables: the deliverables will be accessible in a wide range of environments and to people with a wide range of disabilities

• Interoperability of the project deliverables: the deliverables will be interoperable with other services, including services not envisaged at the start and services not yet available

• Ease of deployment of the project deliverables

Note that aims of accessibility and interoperability are key QA aims of the Web itself

Note that aims of accessibility and interoperability are key QA aims of the Web itself

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Why Do Things Go Wrong?

Things can go wrong for several reasons:• Lack of clarity of the purpose of the service• Use of inappropriate standards and technical

architecture (possibly due to lack of knowledge)• Too high expectations • Failure to monitor developments• Thinking things are going fine when they're not• Lack of formal checking procedures• Limitations in checking procedures• …

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About Quality Assurance

Quality Control:• Spot an error and you fix it• Fire-fighting• Failure to learn

Quality Assurance:• Documented policies (you know what you are

seeking to achieve)• Systematic compliance checking procedures• Audit trails• Learning from experiences

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Exercise 2: Simple Web QA

In your groups:• Summarise simple QA policies for the

technical aspects of your Web site• Outline appropriate compliance testing

procedures

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Simple Web QA

QA Focus has developed simple QA policies and procedures covering HTML & CSS formats and links

Policy: Web StandardsStandard: XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0Architecture: Use of SSIs and text editorExceptions: Automatically-derived filesChecking: Use ,validate after updateAudit Trail: Use ,rvalidate monthly and document findings

Policy example

Please note that this is a template – you can add additional headings

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Make Testing SimpleYou should aim to ensure that checking compliance with your policies is simple to achieveWe recommend the ,tools approach for:

• HTML & CSS compliance

• Link checking• Recursive checking• …

This approach is:• Simple to implement (redirect in Apache conf. file)• Requires no additional software• Can be used by anyone

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Fitness For Purpose

Aim for fitness for purpose and not perfection:• It would be nice to have compliant HTML version

of PowerPoint slides• But MS's HTML conversion creates dodgy HTML• Rather than (a) not having resources available or

(b) wasting time fixing errors we can define our policy accordingly

Note that:• We do ensure that the HTML version is

acceptable to all browsers• If a better conversion tool becomes available we

can tighten up our policy

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Limitations Of Testing

Sometimes testing tools can be flawed:• Bobby will not tell you if your site is acceptable

(you need manual testing to do that)Link validators:

• Sometimes only check for <A> and <IMG> tags – and fail to spot problems in <LINK> tags to external style sheets, JavaScript files, etc.

• Proprietary processing in MS XHTML gives misleading broken link for MS PowerPoint files

• Might not be able to access personalised pages (user agent negotiation, environment factors, …)

• Server errors, proxies, etc may give mistaken broken links

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The QA Approach

The QA approach:• Simple and understandable• Achievable!• Recognises and addresses real world difficulties• Not a specification for a preferred solution• Measurable:

Compliance measures• Easy to implement• Supported by training• Limitations of compliance checking procedures

documented

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Exercise 3: Further Web QA

In your groups choose 1 of 3 exercises:• QA for accessibility• QA for Web site metadata• QA for software (selection of, use of and

development of software)

In addition if you have time give some thought to QA in 'softer' areas such as:

• QA for Web development processes• QA for usability

Summarise relevant QA policies and procedures

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Report Back

Please give us your approaches


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Exercise 3A: QA For Accessibility

Web Accessibility Policy

A simple, understandable approach would be to say:• The University Web site will comply with WAI

WCAG AA guidelines

But:• Is this realistic?• How do you measure compliance?• Will it drive out other important aspects – e.g.

usability, learning objectives, …?

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Exercise 3B: QA For Web Site Metadata (1)

QA Focus's policies:

• Purpose of metadata: To pull in appropriate style sheetsResource discovery – potential for fielded searches (author, document type, abstract, etc.)

• Architecture (management): Metadata defined in PHP fragments ($author="Brian Kelly") and pulled in and transformed to HTML/XHTML

• Architecture (deployment): Metadata will be deployed as <meta> tags embedded in XHTML.

Note although this architecture allows for metadata transformation & reuse, it is poor for metadata management & control of content.However the QA must reflect the real system which has been implemented and not a desired alternative.

Note although this architecture allows for metadata transformation & reuse, it is poor for metadata management & control of content.However the QA must reflect the real system which has been implemented and not a desired alternative.

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Policy - Purpose:

Metadata will be used to (a) define structure of Web site (Documents, Presentations, …) for visual identity and allow potential for fielded searches and (b) to support resource discovery

Policy – Content:

Structural metadata will be chosen from set of keywords

Resource discovery metadata will be based on a brief abstract and a small number of appropriate keywords. A similar style will be used across all resource

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Checking Procedures:• Structural metadata will be checking visually to

ensure that the correct style sheet is used• Resource discovery metadata will be reused in

the printed QA Focus handbook. Visual checking of the printed resources will be used to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the metadata

• HTML validation procedures will ensure the <meta> tags comply with HTML

Learning Experiences:• Metadata management to avoid data duplication• Tools to spot incorrect structural metadata• Searching for common content errors (e.g. null

fields, template data, …

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Holistic Accessibility

UKOLN & TechDis are seeking to develop a holistic approach to accessibility

Need to address:• Usability• IT accessibility• Learning objectives• Learner's needs (as

opposed to universal solutions)

• Resource issues….

This approach will be explained in talk on Thursday morningThis approach will be explained in talk on Thursday morning

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Exercise 3C: QA For Software (1)

Choosing Software:• Open sources vs licensed issues• Possible dangers of sustainability if non-

mainstream• See Top Tips For Choosing Open Source

Software briefing document

Creation Tools:• Need to ensure that output (e.g. metadata creation

tools) complies with appropriate standards• Need for systematic checking of output

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Exercise 3C: QA For Software (2)

Workflow:• Need to ensure that workflow does not corrupt

data• Need to validate output against range of inputs

(e.g. MS Windows characters (©, —, £) input to newsfeed authoring systems

Web Forms:• Need to ensure that Web forms work – esp. if

used for critical systems such as online bookings• Need for systematic checking – e.g. names with

unusual characters; non-standards browsers; JavaScript disabled; …

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Exercise 3D: QA For Web Development

This are has not been explored by QA FocusAppropriate solutions based on QA model will include:

• Clear specification: if you don't know what you're supposed to be building you'll have problems

• Agreement with stakeholders: Will your users want what you intend to build?

• Structured usability testing: Systematic procedures for testing the usability of your Web site

• Agreed acceptance procedures: Are users happy with what you've provided; is the work finished?

There are clear parallels with QA:• the need for documentation• The need for procedures to ensure that

you've successful achieved your aims

There are clear parallels with QA:• the need for documentation• The need for procedures to ensure that

you've successful achieved your aims

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Embedding QA

We have explained the QA Focus methodology and sought to apply it in a number of areas

We now welcome feedback on how your may envisage deploying this approach (if at all)

Please complete forms:• The QA Methodology• Gap analysis - what else could we do

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QA Focus Resources

The following QA Focus resources area available:• Documents addressing digitisation, Web/access,

metadata, software, service deployment, …• Over 70 briefing documents• Over 30 case studies• QA toolkits, which help you to address the key QA

areas• Eight QA Handbooks which package the above

The resources are freely available at stable URLs on the Web.We are seeking to provide a Creative Commons licence for the resources to allow you to use and tailor the resources for non-commercial use, provided due acknowledgements given

The resources are freely available at stable URLs on the Web.We are seeking to provide a Creative Commons licence for the resources to allow you to use and tailor the resources for non-commercial use, provided due acknowledgements given

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Questions

Any questions?

A centre of expertise in digital information management Institutional Web Management Workshop 2004:...

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