Criteria to Evaluate a Web Site

Authority	Anybody with access to a computer with a modem and an Internet connection can publish a web site for little or no cost. If you want your site and its contents to be taken seriously you must establish your credibility. Remember that a careful and sophisticated visitor is looking for assurances about the quality of the site's contents.	Who is responsible? What are the author's credentials and qualifications? Is there a mailto link to enable the visitor to contact the author?
Accuracy	Establish the accuracy of a site's contents with careful attention to detail and with the quality of the sites to which you link.	Is the site free of mechanical and grammatical errors? Are there any broken links on the site?
Objectivity	The site creator may or may not intend to be objective about the contents of the site. If the site is clearly presented as containing the personal views of the author, objectivity is not an issue.	Are biases stated or implied? Are both sides of an issue represented?
Currency	The responsible site creator will keep material up to date.	When was the page first posted? When was the page last revised? Is the information on the site up to date?
Coverage	The serious site creator will aim to give visitors all the information they can possibly want. The serious site creator is confident enough of the quality of the site's contents that he or she is willing to send the visitor off to visit another site.	Is the information on the site complete? Is information on the site adequately documented?
Design Elements	The site creator should use design elements to unify the site.	Is there a consistent color scheme used throughout the site? Is there a consistent background used throughout the site? Does the color scheme provide sufficient contrast between text and link colors and the page background