Navigation & Organization.

• Is the site’s organization and functionality straight-forward and obvious?
• Is content grouped into logical groups?
• Are these groups named in clear terms, free of jargon and fancy words? (e.g. "Dialogue" in lieu of "Contact." That's a real example.)
• Is navigation priority obvious and divided into primary navigation (main sections), secondary navigation (subsections),and utilities (e.g. About us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, etc.)?
• Is it easy to tell where you are on the website? Are breadcrumbs included in the upper portion of each page?
• Can you tell where you can go next on the site?
• Is there a reasonable number of navigation choices? (Generally no more than 7-9 choices per level.)
• Is navigation consistent between sections?
• Is there a link back to the homepage on every page?
• Do all links lead to the proper destination? (No broken or misdirected links.)
• Is there an option to search for information? If so, are search results presented in a clear, easy to understand manner?
• Are the following elements in the same place on every page: logo, primary navigation, secondary navigation, utilities, breadcrumbs, copyright?

Design.

• Is it easy to tell what site you’re on?
• Does the site have a consistent, clearly recognizable "look-&-feel"?
• Is the layout straightforward & uncluttered?
• Is there ample white space?
• Is there a clean background? Not busy or distracting.
• Does the page fit the window size horizontally? (No horizontal scrolling.)
• Is it obvious which elements are “clickable”?
• Are graphic elements of good quality? (Not pixilated, dithered, stretched?)
• Do graphics enhance content or lead to a better understanding of the information being presented? Images are purposeful and powerful.
• Is there no more than (1) one moving element per page? If so, is the movement the purposeful and related to the primary objective of the page’s content? (Exception for advertising.)
• Is there good color contrast? (No dark text on a dark background, or light text on a light background.)
• Are colors easy and appealing? (No florescent colors.)
• Does the color palette work for those who are color blind? (Can be checked at: Colorblind Web Page Filter - http://colorfilter.wickline.org/)
• Are unvisited links blue? If not, is an unvisited link clear and differentiated from a visited link? Are visited links a different color?
• Is the font-size readable, including in image captions and footer information?
• Is red text reserved for error messages?
• Is the interface obvious and intuitive to the point that anyone can tell you what the page is about and how to use it? (Even your grandma.)

Branding.

• Is the site’s “look & feel” in harmony with other printed & visual materials? Does everything look like it comes from the same company?
• Does the logo appear in the same spot on each page and is it linked to the site’s homepage?
• Does copyright information appear at the bottom of each page? (e.g., © 2009 Normal Modes LLC)
• Is the logo reasonably sized and unobtrusively placed? (Usually in the upper left corner of the page. Logos are not a feature.)
• Does the company tagline effective convey the company's purpose? Is it appropriately placed, and easy to find?

Content.

• Is content written from the perspective of the customer’s needs? Does it provide information and value to the audience? (Content is not an ad or a sales pitch.)
• Is important information "above the fold?" Content should be in an inverted pyramid writing style, beginning with the most important information followed by less important information, followed by even lesser important information?
• Is language used in a way that is familiar to and comfortable for its readers?
• Is content clear and concise? (No jargon.)
• Is content written at approximately a 6th grade reading level, similar to the local newspaper? (Applies to most websites, depending on target audience. Exceptions on a limited, case-by-case basis.)
• Do all link phrases make sense when read out of context? (No links "click here" or "more" used as text.)
• Are calls to action direct and consistent?
• Do link names match page names?
• Are key concepts emphasized?
• Does each page have a descriptive title tag?
• Is text broken up for easy scanning using headlines, bullets, lists and frequent paragraph breaks?
• Is the site free from typos, spelling or grammar errors?

Tasks.

• Have tasks been mapped in a process flow, accounting for all possible outcomes?
• Is the workflow, regardless of complexity, logical?
• Can tasks be completed by recognition? (Not recall or memorization?)
• Do forms clearly & completely support the task at hand?
• Is the data collected in forms kept to an absolute minimum?
• Are required fields clearly marked as such?
• Does form validation consider a variety of formats? (e.g. valid U.S. phone numbers as (713) 555-1212, 713-555-1212, 713.555.1212, and 7135551212.)
• Are error messages unique and descriptive? Do they allow the user to fail gracefully, blame the application rather than the user, and provide an opportunity for service recovery?
• Is there a status bar?
• Is it clear where to go next?
• Can long tasks be continued later?
• Is there a clear Submit button?
• Has the Reset or Cancel button been removed? They are usually of little value.

Technical.

• Are URLs descriptive? (Within reason.)
• Has the code been validated?
• Does code degrade gracefully in older browsers?
• Does the site appear the same in major browsers? On PC and Mac?
• Is the site accessible for those who have disabilities?
• Are there alt tags on images?
• Is there a single login for all restricted areas of the website?
• Is there a method to retrieve a lost username and/or password?
• Are server generated error messages descriptive and helpful?
• Is there a sitemap for search engines in the root directory? Is there one for users too?
• Are there custom 404 pages? Are they helpful?

Automatic Fail.

• Splash pages.
• Blinking text.
• Giant error messages. Especially giant RED error messages.
• IN ALL CAPS.
• Error messages with exclamation points!!!!!!!!!
• Error messages that blame the user.
• Mystery meat navigation. (The classic mystery meat navigation example is Saturn’s 1998 website, featured on Web Pages That Suck.)
• Anything that flies.
• Unnecessary wordiness.
• Content that begins with the phrase “In this section we will…”
• Instructions – people don’t read them. (Show, don’t tell.)
• Too much navigation (I once reviewed a website that had 8 levels of navigation on one page. EIGHT! It was a veritable page of navigation.)
• Drop down menus that go beyond (3) levels deep.
• "Coming soon." Express fail if there's an image of yellow-vested road workers digging with little moving shovels.
• Any element whose sole intent is to serve as any the following: “cute,” “artistic,” “cool,” “different,” or “unique.” (Stick to the formula.)

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