Maxim Kachan, CEO of Linecore and expert of the jury of the WEB AWARDS UA 2019, tells about the criteria to evaluate website at the contest.
About the contest WEB AWARDS UA
The all-Ukrainian annual contest WEB AWARDS UA is held for the second time. And I am honoured to be invited to the jury for the second time.
In 2018 the evaluation criteria were not explained openly, that’s why the organizers received reasonable comments. This year the jury’s assessments will be open. So I’m revealing the cards, which criteria I use when evaluating websites at the competition.
The experts of the jury evaluate three criteria in design, content and usability by the five-point scale. A final score consists of the sum of the jury’s marks and the users’ open voting marks. According to this score, the sites will be ranked and the winners will be determined.
Expert’s evaluation criteria.
I use the same tools and approaches to evaluate websites in the WEB AWARDS as we use in the Linecore web studio to evaluate the readiness of the site before launch.
Site evaluation with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool
This tool analyzes the speed of downloading the site, its desktop and mobile versions. If the download speed is more than 80, the site gets a good grade.
Cross-browser check of the site.
The site should work properly in all major browsers to be convenient to a user. I check a website in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge (IE 11), Safari. The good website has no problems with the layout and functionality. If the site looks the same in all browsers and works without errors, it gets a good grade.
Checking the site for adaptability (optimization for mobile devices).
More than 60% of visitors interact with the website via mobile devices in 2019 and this percentage is constantly growing. The site of the 21st century is always adaptive!
I test the mobile version of the site: whether it is convenient to use from a smartphone, whether the content is readable. I also check the convenience and simplicity of navigation, the quality of layout and basic functionality. The site receives a good grade if it is adaptive and has the correct mobile version, if the functionality of the site is not violated, if the content is displayed correctly, if the layout does not “crawl”.
Website design evaluation.
Along with a subjective assessment of the visual part, I usually check the site for the presence of trendy and innovative solutions. I also evaluate the use of visual effects, selected colors and fonts, the grid of design elements, the presence of micro-interactions in the interface.
Website content evaluation.
The jury will not be able to evaluate the quality of the texts, like spelling, uniqueness and semantic load due to the time constraints of the evaluation period and a large number of participants. That’s why I analyze only the technical side of the content part, like the readability of the text, formatting, typography, quality of images and video content.
The site of the 21st century is always adaptive!
Thanks to such contests as WEB AWARDS UA, web studios and site owners have an ability to promote their projects. They can check the quality of sites, attract an additional audience and receive an independent assessment from market experts.
I will be glad to apply the criteria above to evaluate your website at the contest. I will explain the assessment mark if necessary and advise you on how to correct possible mistakes and make your project more successful.
See you online! 🙂
Maxim Kachan, CEO Linecore
