Quality Assurance Checklists

Can a reader:

• Quickly understand what they'll find if they read further?
• Know what they won’t find?

Tips:

• Review with another person: Have someone unfamiliar with the content glance at the start and say what they expect the rest to cover.
• Avoid duplicating information. If the content exists elsewhere on the Grinnell site, link to it instead of rewriting it. This prevents outdated or conflicting information later.

• Can the reader find key concepts and facts in a quick skim?
• Can readers can easily identify the structure of the content or find a section they are interested in?
• Do you use graphics or layout options effectively?

Tip:

• Check comprehension: Have someone unfamiliar with the content quickly skim it (a second or two) and then explain what they remember.
• Use 'chunking' and clear formatting. Break walls of text into short paragraphs, bulleted lists, and descriptive subheadings (Heading 2, Heading 3, etc.).
• Identify the key ideas readers absolutely need and make sure they are prominent.

• Have you reviewed and followed the quick style checklist?
• Have you followed AP and Grinnell Stylebook standards? (access from Grinnell campus/VPN required)
• Have you proofread or had someone proofread your work?

Tip:

• Either have a second person proofread your work or wait a few days before doing it yourself. Fresh eyes find things you otherwise wouldn't.

• Are your images sharp and clear? Grainy or unclear? Over- or underexposed? 
• Is sound audible and clear?
• Does the image strengthen the message of the text?
• Would a user be likely to make an inadvertent assumption about an image?
  • For example, if the text describes one person and the image shows someone else, use a caption to prevent confusion.
• Have you checked the background for possible issues? Such as:
  • trees growing out of heads
  • photobombs
  • inappropriate content
• Do images look good all places they may appear? E.g. Does the main image on a news item look good in a 3-column news component or a news carousel?

Tip: 

• See Images for tips and instructions for adding images to our website.

• Verify details such as:
  • event dates, times, & locations
  • contact info
  • spelling of names
  • class years
  • pronouns
  • job titles
  • links
  • statistics
  • costs
  • hours
  • deadlines

Tip:

• If it is a fact, check it.

Do a quick preview on a mobile screen. 

• Does the page load quickly? 
• Are the paragraphs too long? (A 3-sentence paragraph on a desktop can look like a giant wall of text on a phone). 
• Do tables wrap weirdly?

• Does the title make sense when it shows up in search results?
• Can it be distinguished from similar pages?
• Is It Capitalized in Title Case?

• Are headings used to chunk up content on all pages longer than 450 characters? 
• Are subheadings used to chunk up longer sections into smaller, easier-to-skim sections groups? 
• Do you have any "walls of text" (areas with several undifferentiated paragraphs)?
• Are all headings marked as headings? (E.g. is that subheading a Heading 2, Heading 3, or Heading 4, not a sentence or phrase that's been bolded?)
• Are subheadings nested properly and in order? In other words, are heading 3s used to label subsections under a heading 2?
• Are subheadings used to group information, not for bolding or formatting or in an attempt to make text stand out?

Tips: 

• Use headings and subheadings organize information into chunks that cover one topic each. 

• Do all images have descriptive, plain-language alt text for screen readers?
• Are all charts, graphs, and other complex images described fully in the text or linked to more complete descriptions?

Tips: 

See Images for tips and instructions for adding images to our website.

• If you could only see the text for the links on the page (not the surrounding text), could you tell what you'd find at the other end?
• Do links go where they are supposed to go?
• Do links to pages on the www.grinnell site use node ids? (Are they added through the lookup field for internal pages?) This ensures the links will not break later.
• Have you linked to pages with additional information?
• Have you linked to sponsoring organizations?
• Do links open in the same window?

Tips: 

• Link text must describe the destination. Do not use link text that is:
  • “click here,” “show more,” or other generic text
  • a file name (e.g. 2015-whitepaper.pdf)
  • URLs or email addresses

See Links for more information.

• Do videos and audio have a transcript?
• Do videos have captions?
• Are transcripts and captions correct? Have you proofread them and fixed spelling errors, typos, mistaken words, etc.?
• Do videos have audio descriptions if needed?
• is video grainy, spotty, or over- or underexposed? 
• Is audio clear and legible? 

Tips: 

• Most recording tools now provide automated transcripts that only require mild editing to be accurate.

• Do all tables have heading rows and/or columns?
• Are all tables used for tabular data, not for layout?
• Are your tables simple tables or marked up in the code for more complex tables?
• Have you included a table caption or summary if appropriate?

See Tables for more information.

• Are documents used instead of native HTML? Documents such as PDFs and spreadsheets should be a last resort. Web pages are better for accessibility, mobile users, search engines, maintenance, and more.
• Do all documents — such as PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and text files — meet accessibility requirements? For example, do you have:
  • alt text on images?
  • captions and transcripts for videos?
  • proper nesting and use of headers?
  • proper use and markup of tables?

• Have you included a summary?
• Does the summary provide enough information for a user to decide if they want to click through to the full article?
• Does it consist of full sentences with punctuation?

• If you use automated news feeds, have you tagged your department in the Groups taxonomy?
• If you don't, have you updated your home page or other pages to display the news item?

• Have you included an image in the image carousel?
• Have you set the focus so the image will crop well on the news page itself, as well as when pulled into news components or to the main News page?

See Images and News Content Type for more information.