Criteria:
Topical Focus
Does your website have a
particular focus? Is your content relevant to the title of your
site? Are the various elements of your site connected? Do
they form a distinctive theme? When someone visits your site, do
they immediately understand the premise of your site? Are the
primary elements of your topic well emphasized and easy to find?
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Depth of Coverage
Does your site introduce the
topic, then move into greater depth? Does your site provide more than
adequate resources for people who are already well familiar with the
topic of your site? Does your site represent the history of the
topic as well as current trends? Are opposing views, if
appropriate, represented? Ask yourself: Would a
professional in the particular field bookmark your site for future
reference?
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Quality of Coverage
The ne plus ultra
award does not necessarily go to those who have collected the most links
to a particular topic. Instead, have you made critical judgments about
what to include and exclude from your site? If you include various
degrees of relevant links, have you made visible, categorized
separations in your standards? And are the resources truly
relevant and up-to-date?
It is the nature of portal sites to be always "under
construction," so this in itself is not a disqualification
condition. Nevertheless, there should be substantial content
already present on your site to warrant sending visitors to your
site. Remember to ask yourself: Will your site satisfy those
already well familiar with your topic?
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Technology
Does your site work? Are there broken links? Are your pages
compatible with the major, most popular browsers? If you have
browser specific elements in your HTML, do you have alternative routes
for other browsers? Do the scripts and forms work properly?
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Design & Creativity
The Site needs to be well organized,
intuitive and easy to navigate. Can visitors always find their way
back to the home page, table of contents, or site index? Must
visitors continuously search for the navigational system? Must
they scroll down to find their way? Is there consistency between
the different pages?
The site should be reasonably pleasing to the eye
and easy to read. Will your visitors want to come back again? Do
your background images interfere with the text?
The site should download quickly. Do your pages generally take
more than 60 seconds to load at 28.8?
All the graphics should be working and related to the content of your
website. Do they reside on your own server? Did you make
most of them yourself? (of course there are exceptions)
There should be a minimum of hindrances to research. Do any of
your fancy Java scripts get in the way of research? Do the
dynamic features relate to the content of your site?
Grammar and spelling should be immaculate!
Passwords to the content of your site should not be required.
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The awards review process can take up to an entire
semester. Due to the high volume of submissions, only those
granted the award will be contacted.
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| If you believe your web site
satisfies the above conditions, please submit your site for review:
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