Harrisonburg City Public Schools
- Date Accessed: August 28, 2003
- URL: http://www.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/
- Content: Permanent content is available on the homepage.
Web Standards
- HTML 4 or XHTML validation: DOCTYPE! for HTML 4 transitional was declared, with 5 errors.
- Text-Browsing: navigation links appear before page content
- Proprietary Code: none
- Editor Used: n/a
- Number of lines of code:185
Compared with many other sites, this one offers compact code and an effort towards standards-compliance.
Usability Concerns
The screenshot below is offered at fullsize, viewed using Mozilla on Mac OS X. The amount of screen space for the site is small—yet could be greatly improved by spacing and the adoption of white space.
The content on this page is permanent content; it would make more sense to include the "late breaking news" information on the front page.
The division (in green) between title and address is interesting, however it is a practice that prohibits easy finding of important information. The graphic of flowers is pleasant and clean, echoing the design of the site, but really doesn't show us anything about the schools: teachers, students, families, or learning. Its placement and the proximity of the tagline offer a general sense of clutter to all the otherwise welcome elements on the page.
Accessibility Concerns
The site works well in text format, save for the fact that the "Harrisonburg City Public Schools" title appears after the links. Structure for the page should be updated to include the title, as an H1 element, at the top of the page for those using non-traditional browsers.
Return to Operation Deconstruction and examine other sites.
Copyright © 2003 by John G. Hendron. All Rights Reserved.