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URL: www.trainingprogrammers.com
Reviewed by: David Mead
Style Score (1-5) : 2
Screen shots:
Comments on the style:
A very basic layout with no real styling per se. I've given this low score because it is not drawing on the "eye-candy" factor, but is more aimed at being a communication point between teacher and student. It does this fine, though the layout on the inner pages could be laid out better.
Code Score (1-5) : 1
Screen shots (none) :
Comments on the code:
This site has the icons to show that it is using valid HTML4.0 and valid XHTML1.0 which is false. Neither of these is linked to the results pages you would expect and when you do run it against a validating service the home page fails with 313 errors! Also you can't be valid HTML and XHTML at the same time! The CSS returns 4 errors as well.
Some of the errors are caused by a huge (over 600 lines) piece of JavaScript that sits at the top of each page to create the navigation (which doesn't work in Mozilla).
Even though there is a CSS file, the site still uses <font> tags and inline styles as well for some reason. The simple layout is achieved through tables which is not needed.
Usability Score (1-5) : 1
Comments on the usability of the web site:
The navigation doesn't work (as I mentioned) in Mozilla and though there is a <noscript> tag used it just tells me (in a text reader) that I can't run scripts. No alternative links are given. In Mozilla, which can run scripts, I get nothing and can go no further. In IE and other browsers I get a drop down navigation with yellow letters on a blue background which is a little jarring and doesn't fit in with the rest of the color scheme, but works well.
Unless you go to [ http://www.trainingprogrammers.com/it204/it204top.asp ] this page where the top navigation isn't even included in the code and leaves you stranded!
General Score (1-5) : 1
Comments :
It's a bit strange that this is a site that is all about teaching people to build websites, and even (on one of the assignment pages) talks about validating your work, which this site clearly didn't.
I would think this could've been a showcase of what you can achieve using the topics taught in the lectures and be a goal the students could reach for. Instead, it is something you should be able to produce after the second assignment or reading a couple of chapters from any HTML book.
I didn't expect it to be heavily graphical or use bleeding edge design. But something, anything would be a start.
