Detailed Judging Criteria

1.1 Breadth and Depth of Information

This competition aims to give participants the opportunity to perform comprehensive research into their chosen topic. An important part of any research project is to assess information for its correctness, completeness and value, and to then present this in a manner that make sense to the reader. This category will assess the web site on the following criteria:

1. Information is readable and error-free - do sentences flow, are they clear, is it easy to read without needing to re-organise words.
2. Completeness of information - Is the information as presented sufficient for the reader, or is the reader left needing to fill in gaps.
3. Accuracy of information - Is the information true and correct.
4. Value of information - Is the information relevant, useful, interesting.
5. Depth of coverage - Has the topic area been explored to a suitable level of detail (depth);
6. Breadth of coverage - Have enough aspects been examined (breadth) for a suitable scope of the content.
7. Cohesion - have the various aspects of the topic been integrated well, do they fit together, support other parts of the site.

1.2 Suitably Defined Target Audience

Whenever you design a website, you should have an intended target audience - those people, or the section of the community, for which the site has been created. Audiences could be quite specific, targeted to a small section of the community, or more general. For instance, a site may be targeted to teenagers living in Gippsland, senior citizens who live in special-care homes, potential tourist of the wider Victoria public, etc.

1. The user can readily identify the intended audience of the site - When a person views a site, it should be easy to identify after a short while browsing the site, who the intended audience of the site is. This could be determined by the nature of writing, the use of graphics, the content of sentences, or other means.
2. Content and vocabulary are age-appropriate for intended audience - This is assessing the suitability of expression of the information given the target audience; also, whether the amount of content is appropriate.

1.3 Relevance of Information to Target Audience

For a website to be effective, it should suitably meet the needs of its target audience. If the user cannot find the information they expect to see, or if it is not relevant to them, they will probably not examine all aspects of the site and will probably not return in the future. This category will assess the web site on the following criteria:

1. Up-to-date information - to the extent possible (given this is a competition with a closing date), is the information up-to-date. If the topic selected is more historic or fixed in nature, then this is assessing whether there is any recent and current information.
2. Links are relevant to the subject - If you provide links to other web sites, are they relevant and useful - are they related to the content of your web site. Judges will not spend time looking at other sites, other than to see whether such sites are relevant (normally by a quick glance at the particular page presented). Do the links support the needs of the target audience, or are they simply a distraction.
3. The page fulfils the intended purpose and is suitable for target audience - From an objective point of view, is the web site presenting suitable content, does this content adequately meet the needs of the identified target audience.
4. Intuitiveness of usage - The means of using the site, including navigation, are considered suitable given the identified target audience.

1.4 Acknowledgement of Information Sources

It is vital that you acknowledge all sources of information and other media as you would in a written report. Copyright laws apply to work published on the web, as much, if not more so, than for a written report. This means that if your site infringes copyrights of other parties, your school may be liable to legal action. Therefore, it is important to express things in your own words, draw your own pictures, take photographs yourself either with a digital camera or by scanning in your own printed photographs, and creating your own sounds (this includes music). It is also fair to acknowledge people who may have been interviewed in the process of gathering information for your site.

It will be the responsibility of all entrants to ensure that no part of their web site makes use of copyright material without having sought and obtained permission from the holder of the copyright (this permission must be in writing to be accepted by a court).

This category will assess the web site on the following criteria:

1. Information supported by references wherever applicable - Have all sources of information been acknowledged and properly referenced.

1.5 Distinctness of Information

Often when you produce a website, you divide the content between multiple pages. In doing so, care must be taken that information is not unnecessarily duplicated in different parts of the site. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, if the user recognises a sentence or paragraph as one they have already read, they may think that they have already seen that page and skip the remainder of its content, possibly missing out on some new information that appears later. Secondly, it is deceiving the user into thinking that the site has more content than it really has, and in terms of judging would not rate highly. This category will assess the web site on the following criteria:

1. Information is not unnecessarily duplicated - Objectively assesses the whole of the website with respect to whether the duplication of information is reasonably justifiable.

2.1 Consistent Site Design

When viewing a website, it is preferable that all pages in the site, or within a portion of a web site follow some consistent form of presentation. Consistency leads to a more comfortable experience for the user, because once they learn how to use one page, they are likely to be able to easily use other pages across the site. Inconsistency can lead to a stressful experience as the user tries to locate the information they are looking for. This category will assess the web site on the following criteria:

1. Consistency across site - assesses whether fonts, colours, links, layout, etc. are consistent across the site, or sections of the site.
2. Links are logically grouped - whether links between pages and sections of the site are organised in a logical/sensible manner.

2.2 Appropriateness of Site Design

Web page design is far more than simply writing a report into an HTML document and embedding pictures. The Web offers new possibilities for organising information, so it no longer has to be presented in a linear fashion. Because a web site consists of multiple individual pages, careful thought must be given to designing how the pages (and information) will be organised. It should be easy for a user to locate a previously seen piece of information, or to locate some as-yet-unseen information. Also, the visual aspects of the page designs must be suited to the nature of the material. If this was a continually-maintained website, it should be possible to add new information as it became available, so provision for extending the site in the future would be desirable.

For this category, the site will be assessed on the following criteria:

1. Browser-independent appearance - There are multiple browsers for viewing websites, each of which sometimes interpret HTML slightly differently. Some browsers offer additional 'features' which other browsers cannot interpret. This criterion is assessing whether care has been taken to ensure that the website is not designed for a specific vendor's browser, but that it works on a variety of browsers.
2. Ease of navigation - Can the user move about between parts and sections of the site with ease; is navigation intuitive.
3. Organisation of site, including options presented on front page - Does the front page of the web site show clear evidence of some formal organisation of the site. Are the options that are presented sufficient to go to main sections of the site.
4. Effectiveness of hyperlink usage - Have hyperlinks been used in a way that justifies the use of the Web as a medium of presenting the information content. Assesses whether hyperlinks are employed suitably (or too much/too little). For instance, do the hyperlinks enhance the user's experience while browsing the content.
5. Ease of use of hyperlinks to refer to other pages - Are the hyperlinks easy to use, do they take the user to information that was expected
6. Linkage back to front page from other pages - Is the user able to use hyperlinks to get back to the starting point, or must they use the 'back' button.
7. Icons clearly represent what was intended from their use - When hyperlinks are represented by icons, the images used should clearly convey to the user the action that would occur.
8. Correct working of links - Care should be taken to ensure that all hyperlinks work - i.e. that they link to the correct destination. Links within the website should all be relative to the directory of the page containing the link; external links should use the full URL.
9. Correctness of spelling and grammar - As with any written work, attention to spelling and grammar is important. The misspelling of words, particularly using homonyms (e.g. 'there' when 'their') or incorrect grammar, makes it difficult to interpret the presented information.
10. Appropriate breaking up of large complex pages into multiple smaller pages - Assesses whether the amount of information on each web page is appropriate (or too much/too little).
11. Short, informative and descriptive titles on every page - Each page should clearly state what it is about, and the <title> tag should be appropriately set to relate to the page's topic.
12. Information is presented in a logical ordered manner - that is, on a particular page, is the information presented in a sensible manner; is expression clear; is the reader led to draw a logical conclusion or accept the arguments put forth.

2.3 Appropriate Balance Between Text and other Elements

An advantage offered by presenting information as a web site, is that you can include media that traditionally are hard to incorporate in a printed document. For instance, animations, sound and full-colour graphic images can enhance the ability to communicate ideas. However, there must be an appropriate balance between text and other elements. Fonts and colour schemes should aim to be consistent across the site. Sound and graphics should be used mainly where it aids in communicating the message of the web site, and should not negatively impact on the user's experience of browsing the site.

1. Typeface styles and background colours make the pages clear and readable - assesses the appropriateness of selected fonts (remember some fonts are not standard on all machines), and colours. Can the user read the contents without their eyes hurting.
2. Sounds, graphics, video or animation suitably enhance the web site's message - Entrants are encouraged to use additional elements to enhance the web site, but it should not be used to such an extent that it negatively impacts on the user's experience browsing the site.
3. Images are used to convey information, and are not purely for decoration - Decoration is allowed, but should be kept to a minimum. Images best convey information, as the old saying goes, 'A picture tells a thousand words' ... if chosen suitably.
4. Text well written, not wordy - When assessing this, the year-level of the creators will be taken into consideration; however, you should aim for concise, clear text throughout the site.

2.4 Enjoyment Afforded by Site Presentation

A web site consisting of a set of plain pages of text with perhaps a couple of diagrams is not all that interesting, and is not likely to keep the visitor engaged (unless the content of the text has got their attention). On the other hand, too many enhancements, such as lots of animations or pictures may lead to slower download times, or even distraction of the user. You should aim to produce a site that is engaging, interesting, and that doesn't leave the user frustrated in any way.

1. The site loads suitably fast - The sites should be viewable over a standard 56K modem. Large graphics files or Flash animations may increase the duration it takes to present a page.
2. Pleasantness of colours - with reference mainly to the text, but also graphics, and images, are the colours pleasing to look at
3. Page presentation is eye-catching - particularly examining layout, is the information presented in a manner that gets (and maintains) the attention of the user.
4. The site engages the visitor to spend time browsing - is the interest of the user maintained throughout the site.
5. Web site is self contained - There should be no requirement for the user to have to download any special software/plugins in order to view any parts of your site. (You can assume that Flash will be installed, and most browsers provide a Java Virtual Machine). The user should not be requested to log in to any other site, and should not need to go to any other site to read parts associated to your submission.