How do I know if my site is ready?

What makes a page "excellent" rather than just "average" or "good"? What kinds of things do we look for in the pages that we vote on? What follows is based on the Heartland Award of Excellence Voting Guidelines and can serve as a checklist for you to see if your site is ready for our award.

• Does my page contain information that could be of interest to those outside my immediate family?
• Is it a page that people would visit more than once or that they would send others to visit?
• Does my page have a variety of interesting content? (Family photo albums are nice, but usually not enough to make a page "excellent".)
• Do I have content beyond the main page and not just a site that is "under construction"?

• Are there any broken images? This will definitely lower the score your page gets. Note that Netscape does not support .bmp files, so they may look great in IE, but those viewing your page with Netscape will only see a broken image icon.
• Do your graphics complement your page? Don't throw in graphics just to "add color".
• Do your images match your background? Graphics sets are not necessary for a great page, but the images certainly should not clash with the background.
• Do the images load quickly? Your file sizes should be relatively small. Keep in mind that larger images load more slowly and may cause someone with a slower connection to leave the page before it finishes loading.
• Do you have any original graphics on your site or are they all taken from other sources?
• Do you have too many animated gifs?
• Do you you use bordered backgrounds? If so, be sure they are wide enough to be viewed at high resolutions. If your background is only 800 pixels wide the border will repeat at a higher resolution, possibly "hiding" your text. Ideally, your backgrounds should be at least 1800 pixels wide.

• Is the text easy to read on the background?
• Have you used a font that complements the page?
• Are different types of text (bold, italics) and different text sizes used appropriately?
• Do you use blinking text? Some people can't stand it, and will lower your score for having more than one blinking word.
• Have you checked your spelling?

• Do you have a console which allows visitors to turn off your music? Many people find embedded music very annoying.
• Does the music fit the theme of your page?

• Have you taken advantage of tables to organize text, links and images?
• If your site is in frames, do the frames enhance the site or make it awkward looking? Is a no-frames version provided?
• If your site uses bordered backgrounds, does the text overlap the border? Note that you may want to check this in both Netscape and IE, as occasionally, text will overlap the border in one browser, but not in another. Check at different resolutions, as well.
• Are your pages too long or too short?
• Have you used horizontal rules or bars to break up the different sections? Be sure not to overuse either of these.
• Do your pages "flow"? Are they aesthetic and easy to follow?

• Is it easy to get around your site? Do visitors have to keep going back to the main page or is there a site index on each page?
• If you use drop-down menus, do you also provide (non-JavaScript) text link alternatives?

If you're not positive that your site is ready, you can have it critiqued by Heartland Critique & Review. You will receive two separate reviews with suggestions for improving your site. Although we don't require pages to go through Critique & Review before applying for the Heartland Award of Excellence, it is highly recommended.