Fauquier County Public Schools
- Date Accessed: August 12, 2003
- URL: http://www.fcps1.org/
- Content: Content is available on the homepage in the form of highlight links.
Web Standards
- HTML 4 or XHTML validation: DOCTYPE! for HTML 4 transitional included
- Text-Browsing: Difficult; many links appear alongside [INLINE] image references
- Proprietary Code: IE-only code for special visual effects
- Editor Used: FrontPage? Files are served via a ColdFusion database
- Number of lines of code:716
Code is unnecessarily bloated with comment tags for Javascripts. HTML validation fails with 82 errors. The table with a copyright notice at the bottom of the page falls outside the BODY and HTML tags, and in theory should not render in the browser.
Usability Concerns
The look and identification of the creator clues us into a professional hand behind the site's creation. The use of the pull-down style menu system is in place which obscures page content when used, requires Javascript, and is unavailable to users with screen readers. It also hides the hierarchy of navigation. In a computer program, you typically know where to look (under which menu) to find commands. The use of a system such as this at Fauquier's website (as elsewhere, too) makes navigation more difficult for first-time users.
The school drop-down list and search functions at the top of the page are well-placed, but too small. The welcome message underneath logo and name in green atop are nice, but since they are all graphics, none show up in the text version.
The page's links seem overly-done with graphics. The graphics are nice, but the page becomes redundant with links in menus and on a page in front of us. The page scroll length seems unnecessarily long for a page with practically no content.
The "subheadings" of Highlights, Instructional Services, Superintendent, Administrative Links, etc., should all be of equal weight.
Accessibility Concerns
The page for text readers only contains a limited number of links. Use of ALT attributes for images would be encouraged. The use of structural HTMl would also be encouraged for the Highlights, Instructional, and Administrative areas. The site is not clearly identified in the text-only version.
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Copyright © 2003 by John G. Hendron. All Rights Reserved.