When we design a website, or evaluate an existing website we have a quick set of questions that is the basis of our evaluation criteria.

• Does the design meet the objective? The design requirements MUST support the overall site objective. This includes navigation, graphics, colors...
• Do the site graphics create and support the desired visual image for the website?
• Are the graphics necessary to the pages?
• Are gratuitous graphics employed?
• Are the graphics properly rendered and consistent with the quality of the site?
• Have appropriate fonts in graphics been used and anti-aliasing been properly employed to provide legible text?
• Is the graphic quality consistent throughout the site?
• Are the graphic images properly compressed to produce the smallest file sizes consistent with the desired quality?
• Are the site colors appropriate for the site image and intent?
• Have browser-safe colors been used in graphics and HTML colors to help insure proper display at 256 color resolution?
• Are choices between JPG and GIF formatting of the graphic images appropriate?
• Is the total HTTP object size of the pages (graphics and HTML) less than 50K, or otherwise reasonable for the content.
• Are margins and whitespace balanced for visual attractiveness?
• Is the site navigation intuitive, clear and precise?
• Can the viewer get to any desired page in a couple of mouse clicks from the home page?
• Can the viewer get to any alternate page within the site in a couple of mouse clicks?
• Is the navigation scheme appropriate for the type of website?
• Is the front page (splash page, home page) designed to draw the viewer to other pages of interest?
• Is the site maintainable with reasonable effort?
• Do the pages make proper use of HTML elements?
• Do the forms pages use client-side scripting to validate required data fields?
• Does the site use frames on the home page and throughout the site in lieu of conventional navigation techniques?
• Are the pages laid out for 640x480 or 800x600 and appear well at 1280x1024 resolution?
• Can you turn graphics off in your browser and still navigate throughout the site?
• Have appropriate fonts and font sizes been utilized for all system text with consideration of different operating systems, monitor quality, and screen resolutions)
• Do the pages print properly?
• Do the pages display properly with MS Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers versions 3+?
• Are the pages acceptable with other browsers and versions less than 3.0?
• If Java and/or JavaScript is used, do browsers not supporting these extensions handle the pages with reason?
• Are plugins, ActiveX, VBScript, and other proprietary techniques required to view the main site?
• Are special port URLs utilized preventing viewing from behind corporate firewalls?
• Is the page content written concisely?
• Does the home page download quickly?
• Does the home page contain enough portal links and visible opportunities to entice the viewer to enter the site.