Surry County Public Schools
- Date Accessed: August 27, 2003
- URL: http://www.surryschools.net/
- Content: Content is available on the homepage.
Web Standards
- HTML 4 or XHTML validation: DOCTYPE! was not included.
- Text-Browsing: All links not available in text form; [INLINE] images found at bottom of page
- Proprietary Code: CoolMenus 4 Javascript, browser sniffers
- Editor Used: Dreamweaver?
- Number of lines of code:393
Code for navigation menus bloats code. Non-standard use of BLOCKQUOTE tag, integegrated and unnecessary use of CSS plus FONT tags. ImageMap used when a standard link tag would have been sufficient (Adobe Acrobat link).
Usability Concerns
The biggest problem is the menu system. Some links, such as "Code of Conduct" is a PDF file, and should be labeled as such. "Calendar" is not a set of links, but the end link. Drop down menus should act like real desktop GUI menus, where the menu title itself is not a link. In addition, as noted elsewhere, the drop-down menus cover-up other page content.
It was great to see timely content on the page. Content on the left-hand column hangs over the yellow background."Click here" is unnecessary in a link; the linked text should not include directions to click, or follow, links.
Accessibility Concerns
Good ALT attributes need to be added to images. The title, "Surry County Public Schools" has a spacing problem between the Su and rry of "Surry." This will stop screen readers from saying-back the text properly, obscuring the title of the site.
While most of the text is available through Lynx, the menu system is not. ImageMap for the Adobe Reader is a quizzical choice.
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Copyright © 2003 by John G. Hendron. All Rights Reserved.