Evaluation Criteria For Websites

I’m currently researching evaluation criteria for websites. How do you evaluate websites? What are some good testing and scoring methods for evaluating the quality of websites?

Please note: This article is a work in progress. It’s only 26% complete. See my other article: 10 Criteria to Evaluate a Website.

Some people consider only the aesthetics or beauty of a website. Others are only concerned with accuracy of the information on webpages. Since I’ve worked in the IT and web design/development industry for over 30 years I sometimes evaluate websites only from a technical viewpoint. However, my purpose here is to develop a more wholistic and well rounded set of evaluation criteria. Let’s start with the criteria listed below and define, expand or simplify the evaluation criteria for websites. As I receive feedback and do more research, I will update and refine this document.

Searching for the Best Websites

On October 21, 2020 I performed a Google search for best websites 2020 award criteria and reviewed the first page of search results. The first item listed was interesting (but really disappointing after I clicked on the link.) “Each year the Web Marketing Association names the Best web sites in 96 industry categories as part of the annual WebAward competition.”  A snippet at the top of page said:

Best websites are selected by judging websites using seven criteria – design, ease of use, copywriting, interactivity, use of technology, innovation and content.

webaward.org

Do you see a problem here? What’s the difference between ‘content’ and ‘copywriting’? What’s the definition of ‘interactivity’ as compared to ‘ease of use’? Why do some people have 4 criteria, others have 5 or 6, and the Web Marketing Association has 7 criteria? It depends on their purpose and point of view.

On October 23, 2020 I asked Google to search for best websites 2020. I discovered an interesting article by Steve Benjamins on SiteBuilderReport. Steve’s evaluation criteria were clearly stated up front: “This list reflects my taste — I prefer websites with strong typography, clear navigation and bold photography.“

My Evaluation Criteria For Websites

What follows is 9 criteria for evaluating websites

• Accessibility – WCAG 2.1 compliance
• Beauty – Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. How do we evaluate it?
• Content – captions, copywriting, data, descriptions, grammar, images, photos, stories, text, videos
• Design – layout, mobile friendliness, navigation, responsive design, structure, typography, etc.
• Performance – speed of webpage access on various devices from diverse geographic locations
• Security – HTTPS, SSL, TLS 1.3, vulnerability analysis
• SEO – search engine optimization
• URL – Simple and intuitive URLs are best
• Web Standards – proper use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript according to W3C guidelines

Evaluating Website Accessibility

Accessible websites are inherently more usable, and consequently they get more traffic. Better user experiences result in lower bounce rates, higher conversions, and less negative feedback.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are organized by four main principles, which state that content must be POUR: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. WCAG is the most-referenced set of standards in website accessibility lawsuits and is widely considered the best way to achieve accessibility.

See also https://www.w3.org/WAI/videos/standards-and-benefits/

Evaluating Website Beauty

Beauty has been defined as a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. Beauty provides a perceptual experience of attraction, pleasure or satisfaction.

While the observation of beauty can be subjective, mathematicians have used the golden ratio to explain beautiful architecture, art, and music. A beautiful website has balance, harmony, and symmetry.

Thomas Aquinas described the three conditions of beauty as: integritas (wholeness), consonantia (harmony and proportion), and claritas (a radiance and clarity that makes the form of a thing apparent to the mind).

Shelly Johnson explains: “True beauty is the state of being authentic and sincere in a way that extends love to yourself and others. It feels real, safe, alive, playful, flowing, authentic, life-giving … True beauty illuminates our entire being and empowers the light of everyone around us.”

Website Testing Tools

Summary of Website Evaluation Criteria

I’m not ready to summarize this material yet… I’m still doing research.

Related Links and Resources

See my new article: 10 Criteria to Evaluate a Website, published on 12-Aug-2023

Here’s a raw list of my research links — not as formal as academic footnotes or a bibliography. Nonetheless, it’s a helpful record of online resources I discovered and used in writing this article.

1. Five Criteria For Evaluating Web Pages – https://ccconline.libguides.com/c.php?g=242130&p=1609638 ~ Reviewed on 20-Oct-2020 {Jim Kapoun is footnoted by the writer – as the Library Director at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa. The chart is from Kapoun’s article, “Teaching Web Evaluation to Undergrads,” which appeared in College and Research Libraries News, July/August 1998: 522-523.} This link was last updated on July 10, 2019 and still shows up in Google searches, but has been superseded by the CRAP Test For Evaluating Websites (See point 4 below.)
2. Five Ways to Evaluate the Quality of Your Website Design – https://www.straightnorth.com/insights/5-ways-evaluate-quality-your-website-design/ ~ Reviewed 29-Oct-2020
3. Six Criteria For Websites – https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/library/CoreSkills/6_Criteria_for_Websites.pdf ~ Reviewed on 20-Oct-2020
4. CRAP Test for Evaluating Websites – https://ccconline.libguides.com/c.php?g=242130&p=2185475 ~ Reviewed on 20-Oct-2020
5. Using the CRAAP Test to Evaluate Websites – https://laulima.hawaii.edu/access/content/group/MAN.XLSETEC687.201213/review_html/documents/Myhre_S.pdf ~ Reviewed on 20-Oct-2020
6. Evaluating Internet Sources – https://lib.nmu.edu/help/resource-guides/subject-guide/evaluating-internet-sources ~ {Six Criteria: authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage, and appearance.  For each criterion, there are several questions to be asked.  The more questions you can answer “yes”, the more likely the web site is one of quality.  } ~ Published 15-Nov-2018 ~ Reviewed on 20-Oct-2020
7. Quickly Evaluate A Website – https://libguides.wccnet.edu/researchtoolkit/evaluatewebsite ~ Last updated 21-July-2020 ~ Reviewed 20-Oct-2020
8. Rubric for Evaluating Web Pages – https://www.csus.edu/indiv/k/kaym/rubric/webpagerubric.html ~ Reviewed on 20-Oct-2020
9. Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Models for Website Evaluation – https://www.google.com/books/edition/Multi_Criteria_Decision_Making_Models_fo/nv2SDwAAQBAJ ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020 {A 254 page ebook by Kemal Vatansever and Yakup Akgul. Published in 2019. Summary: “Satisfying the end user’s needs is one of the key principles of designing an effective website. Because there are different users for any given website, there are different criteria that users want. Thus, evaluating a website is a multi-criteria decision-making problem in which the decision maker’s opinion should be considered for ranking the website. Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Models for Website Evaluation is a critical scholarly resource that covers the strategies needed to evaluate the navigability and efficacy of websites as promotional platforms for their companies. Featuring a wide range of topics including linguistic modelling, e-services, and site quality, this book is ideal for managers, executives, website designers, graphic artists, specialists, consultants, etc.”}
10. Performance and Evaluations of Websites – https://www.google.com/books/edition/Performance_and_Evaluations_of_Websites/8C6GDwAAQBAJ ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020 {A 121 page ebook by Durgesh Singh. Published in 2019. Summary: This book is based on the quality criteria of website performance and evaluation using quality evaluation tools. Durgesh Singh is a polymath in the domains of Microsoft .NET technologies and an array of other technologies including JavaScript, AngularJS, Node.js, Ionic and SQL Databases, etc. He is the founder of viastudy.com}
11. Handbook of Research on Web Information Systems Quality – https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/xjm9mAEACAAJ ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020 {A 558 page book by Coral Calero, Mario Piattini. Published in 2008. Summary: “Web information systems engineering resolves the multifaceted issues of Web-based systems development; however, as part of an emergent yet prolific industry, Web site quality assurance is a continually adaptive process needing a comprehensive reference tool to merge all cutting-edge research and innovations. Handbook of Research on Web Information Systems Quality integrates invaluable research on the models, measures, and methodologies of Web information systems, software quality, and Web engineering into one practical guide to Web information systems quality.”}
12. An Approach to Measuring Website Quality Based on Neutrosophic Sets – https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Approach_to_Measuring_the_Website_Qua/UAhZDwAAQBAJ ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020 {An 11 page paper written by Dragisa Stanujkic, Florentin Smarandache, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas, and Darjan Karabasevic. Summary: “Gathering the attitudes of the examined respondents would be very significant in some evaluation models. Therefore, an approach to the evaluation of websites based on the use of the neutrosophic set is proposed in this paper. An example of websites evaluation is considered at the end of this paper with the aim to present in detail the proposed approach.”}
13. Framework for a Global Quality Evaluation of a Website – https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521211241404 ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020 {A paper written by Álvaro Rocha in 2012. Purpose: “This paper aims to propose a high‐level structure for a global quality evaluation of a website. This structure is based on the characteristics, sub‐characteristics and attributes of three main dimensions (content, service, and technical quality) that will substantiate the development of broad website quality evaluation, comparison and improvement methodologies, according to particular sectors of activity and evaluator’s perspective.” Findings: “Considering the results of some studies, as well as the systematization of the knowledge available in several bibliographies, website quality can be grouped into three main dimensions: content quality, service quality, and technical quality. There has not yet been an evaluation methodology that focuses on these three main website quality dimensions in a broad and transversal sense.” See document preview via ResearchGate.}
14. Website Quality Evaluations: Criteria and Tools – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1057231702902055 ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020 ~ DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/iilr.2002.0205 ~ An article by Nicolae-George Dragulanescu in September 2002. See also https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10572317.2002.10762580 (updated December 2013) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2002.10762580 ~ Related 25 page slide deck via ResearchGate (pdf).}
15. The Best Websites of 2020 – https://www.sitebuilderreport.com/best-websites-2020/ ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020
16. The Best Website Designs of 2020 So Far – https://www.creativebloq.com/features/best-website-designs-2020 ~ Reviewed 23-Oct-2020 {This reviewer’s criteria is about design trends. “…outlandish outfits on the fashion catwalks can subtly influence the more wearable clothes found on the high street, it’s worth web designers keeping at least half an eye on the higher end of website creation. Even those that seem overly flashy can still give you inspiration and ideas that you can incorporate, in different ways, into your own designs.”}
17. 20 Award-Winning Best Website Designs to Look in 2020 – https://www.spinxdigital.com/blog/top-10-website-designs-2020/ ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020 {Observations and questions: Is this the top 10 or top 20? URL says top 10, but title says top 20. Please make up your mind. Why does the article also contain ‘best websites’ of 2014, 2015, 2016 and other years? The article has apparently been edited and ‘SEO optimized’ several times. Near the bottom of page it says: “team has worked a lot on designing a great SEO web architecture based on keywords research”.} 
18. 21 Award-Winning Website Designs & What They Did Right – https://www.impactplus.com/blog/18-award-winning-website-designs ~ Published 23-May-2018 ~ Reviewed 23-Oct-2020
19. 27 of the Best Website Designs to Inspire You in 2020 – https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-website-designs-list ~ Reviewed on 23-Oct-2020
20. Web Accessibility 101: A Beginners Guide – https://www.essentialaccessibility.com/blog/web-accessibility-overview ~ Reviewed on 21-Oct-2020
21. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1- https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ ~ Published 04-June-2018 ~ Reviewed on 21-Oct-2020
22. Introduction to Web Accessibility – https://webaim.org/intro/ ~ Last updated 14-Apr-2020 ~ Reviewed on 21-Oct-2020
23. What Are the Four Major Categories of Accessibility? – https://www.boia.org/blog/what-are-the-four-major-categories-of-accessibility ~ Reviewed on 24-Oct-2020
24. A DIY Web Accessibility Blueprint – https://alistapart.com/article/diy-web-accessibility-blueprint/ ~ Reviewed 31-Oct-2020
25. Developing Empathy – https://alistapart.com/blog/post/developing-empathy/ ~ Reviewed 31-Oct-2020
26. From Empathy to Advocacy – https://alistapart.com/article/from-empathy-to-advocacy/ ~ {“As people who make websites, we may find that thinking of ourselves as advocates for our users, rather than creators of a product or providers of a service, transforms the way we work.”} ~ Reviewed 31-Oct-2020
27. Evaluating the Aesthetics of Websites – https://uclic.ucl.ac.uk/content/2-study/4-current-taught-course/1-distinction-projects/11-07/theuma.pdf ~ Reviewed on 29-Oct-2020
28. Only Screen Deep? Evaluating Aesthetics, Usability, And Satisfaction In Informational Websites – https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277&context=etd ~ Reviewed 29-Oct-2020
29. Golden Ratio – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio ~ Reviewed 31-Oct-2020
30. Beauty – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty ~ Reviewed 31-Oct-2020
31. The Beauty Trap in Design – https://automattic.design/2019/10/25/the-beauty-trap-in-design/ ~ {Quote: “I’m a sucker for beauty. It shames me to admit it, but my favorite experience as a UX professional isn’t solving problems for the user, or knowing that I contributed to a ten percent increase in the client’s conversion rate. My favorite experience, and maybe some of you relate to this, is when a series of otherwise unremarkable letter shapes, buttons, colors, and blank spaces combine to create a breathless moment of aesthetic delight for the eye and mind.”} Reviewed 31-Oct-2020
32. Style Tiles and How They Work – https://alistapart.com/article/style-tiles-and-how-they-work/ ~ {Quote: “Style tiles are a flexible starting point that define a style to communicate the web in a way that clients understand. A style tile is more refined than a traditional identity mood board and less detailed than a website mockup or comp. When an interior designer redesigns a room they don’t build multiple options of the designs they’re proposing, they bring color swatches, paint chips, and architectural drawings. Style tiles act as paint chips and color swatches for the interface that we can execute on any device or at any dimension. It’s a truly responsive solution to visual design.”} ~ Reviewed 31-Oct-2020
33. How Core Web Vitals Affect Google’s Algorithms – https://neilpatel.com/blog/core-web-vitals/ ~ {Quote: “While we spend a lot of time focusing on keyword optimization, mobile-experience, and backlinks, Google pays a lot of attention to the on-page experience. That’s why they’ve rolled out a new set of signals called Core Web Vitals. These signals will take into account a website’s page loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability.”} ~ Reviewed 10-Nov-2020
34. How to Rank – https://moz.com/how-to-rank ~ {How to rank a webpage, start-to-finish… a guide, blueprint, or framework. A step-by-step checklist for ranking a page starting from an idea, all the way to traffic pouring into your Google Analytics account.} ~ Reviewed on 7-Jan-2021
35. 10 Criteria to Evalutate Websites – https://www.coursehero.com/file/12874130/10-Criteria-to-Evalutate-Websites/ {Notice the misspelling of evaluate in the title and URL? It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. However, this URL/link does provide some insightful tips. Their point #1 is often overlooked, but greatly impacts if people will actually click on a link: “URL (Intuitive)- The URL needs to be short and simple. The best URLs are intuitive.” A great example is point 34 above… moz.com/how-to-rank. It also helps to spell things correctly! } ~ Reviewed on 7-Jan-2021
36. HTML Video Sources Should Be Responsive – {Quote: “Removing media support from HTML video was a mistake. It means that for every video we embed in HTML, we’re stuck with the choice of serving source files that are potentially too large or small for many users’ devices (resulting in poor performance, wasteful data consumption, and even sub-optimal quality on larger screens), or resorting to more complicated server-side or scripted or third-party solutions to deliver a correct size. “} ~ Reviewed on 15-Jan-2021
37. Accessibility Checker for WordPress – a plugin that flags errors and warnings for accessibility problems according to WCAG 2.1.
38. How to Measure Website Performance Using KPIs ~ (KPI = Key Performance Indicators) – Article dated 6-Apr-2018 about using Google Analytics to measure audience, traffic sources, bounce rate and average session time, conversion rates, profits and ROI. ~ Reviewed 19-Jun-2021
39. How to Evaluate the Performance of Your Website – {Quote from opening paragraph: “There are two main purposes behind every website: maximize traffic and boost engagement. The more traffic your website gets, the better it is.”} ~ This statement is debatable. Is all traffic useful or good? The author’s ideas reflect some commonly held beliefs that need re-examination and refinement. ~ Reviewed 19-Jun-2021
40. Top 10 Performance Metrics Every Developer Should Measure ~ Reviewed 19-Jun-2021
41. Optimizing WordPress for Core Web Vitals ~ Reviewed 21-July-2021

See Also

You might also enjoy reading my WordPress Cloudflare Notes — about performance optimization — and speeding up WordPress websites.

Originally published on 20-Oct-2020 / Last updated by Doug Vos on 21-July-2021