SrtSite Technical Overview White Paper SrtSite saves weeks f manual testing by scanning web sites fr quality issues. Backgrund Finding quality issues n web sites is difficult and time-cnsuming. Mst sites have evlved ver time, and are changing cnstantly. Fr large sites manual testing is very time-cnsuming and errr prne, s rganizatins are increasingly turning t autmated tls. Intrductin t SrtSite SrtSite is a tl that runs hundreds f quality checkpints n each page f a web site. It prduces easy t read reprts that drill dwn frm a high level dashbard t the exact lcatin f each prblem. Example SrtSite Reprt Hw SrtSite Wrks SrtSite scans each page f a site by running checkpints, and then examines the page fr links t unscanned pages. It scans the newly fund pages and repeats this prcess until all pages have been scanned. Scan Reprt View SrtSite Scan Web Pages Web Server Pages are requested frm the web server in the same way that a web brwser requests them. This means the prduct wrks with passwrd prtected pages as well as server technlgies like ASP.NET, JSP, CldFusin and SharePint. This prcess is called web crawling, and is used by search engine agents like Gglebt t find pages t index. Like ther well-behaved web crawlers, SrtSite beys the Rbts Exclusin Prtcl (rbts.txt) which describes areas f sites that are ff limits t web crawlers. In additin, yu can add URL patterns t ignre: *.pdf t ignre all PDF files *lgut* - t ignre all URLs cntaining lgut Page 1
Cre Technlgy The engine at the cre f SrtSite, and its sister prduct PwerMapper, has been in prductin use fr ver a decade. Prduct Editins SrtSite is available as traditinal desktp sftware, r a web-based pay-as-yu-g subscriptin. The prduct editins are: Cntinuus develpment based n feedback frm a large custmer base ver these timescales means the prduct is very rbust. Lw risk prduct feature suggestins are incrprated int quarterly maintenance releases. Mre cmplex feature suggestins are scheduled fr the next majr release. SrtSite Desktp Standard Windws and Mac OS X SrtSite Desktp Prfessinal Windws and Mac OS Xs SrtSite OnDemand Web-based subscriptin (SaaS) Prduct Features Features Overview Autmated scanning f entire websites, website flders and individual pages Scheduled scans Very easy t use Over 450 cmprehensive checks fr: Brken links, server cnfiguratin errrs and spell checking (English and French) Accessibility (WCAG 1.0 AAA, WCAG 2.0 AAA, and Sectin 508) Brwser Cmpatibility (Internet Explrer, Firefx, Safari, Chrme, Opera, iphne/ipad) Privacy Checking (including EU Privacy Regulatins) Search Optimizatin (Ggle, Bing and Yah Webmaster Guidelines, Rbts.txt, Search Best Practices) Web Standards (HTML, XHTML and CSS validatin) Usability (Usability.gv Guidelines, W3C Best Practices) User-friendly reprts with: Dashbard shwing issue cunts, trends and benchmarks Drilldwn issue reprts Surce View shwing web page cde anntated with issues and hw-t-fix help Inventry f site cntent Site map shwing errr cunts Page 2
Checkpints Each page is scanned fr ver 450 quality checkpints. Each page is checked fr quality issues using ver 450 checkpints. Checkpints are gruped int guidelines (e.g. Ggle Webmaster Guidelines r Sectin 508 Accessibility Guidelines) which can be enabled r disabled as a grup. Individual checkpints can als be enabled r disabled. This is ften dne when issues are triggered by cde that can t be changed (e.g. third party cmpnents). Accessibility Check that disabled users can access yur site using natinal and internatinal accessibility standards: W3C WCAG 1 Levels A, AA, AAA (86 checkpints) W3C WCAG 2 Levels A, AA, AAA (112 checkpints) US Federal Sectin 508 (53 checkpints) Checkpints include: Missing ALT tags Links nly accessible via Flash Pr text cntrast Animated images and sunds that cannt be paused Elements that nly wrk with a muse Spell Checking Spell checking fr: English - US English - UK English - Canada English - Australia French Script errrs Dmains abut t expire SSL certificate prblems Placehlder text like Lrem Ipsum and TODO Empty pages Page cde and cntent larger than a specified size (page weight) Pages cntaining specified text (e.g. inapprpriate language, cmpetitr brand names) Pages missing required text r cde (e.g. disclaimers r analytics tags) Brwser Cmpatibility N majr brwser prvides a full implementatin f W3C standards. Check yur HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images wrk with majr brwsers: Internet Explrer Firefx Safari Opera Ggle Chrme Check fr ver 100 issues including: Errrs Check fr 32 majr functinal prblems including: Brken links and anchrs in HTML, CSS, Flash, PDF and Office dcuments Missing r crrupt images Server cnfiguratin issues like incnsistent MIME types and character set encdings Use f HTML tags and attributes nt supprted by all brwsers Use f CSS rules nt supprted by all brwsers (Internet Explrer in particular has patchy CSS supprt) JavaScript and DOM prperties and methds that trigger bugs r aren t implemented (e.g. in Firefx windw.pener.clsed Page 3
returns randm values after a windw is clsed) Images that dn t display in sme brwsers (e.g. PNG files that are 4097 r 4098 bytes in length dn t display in IE6 and BMP files nly display in Windws brwsers) Website features that wrk in IE6, but dn t wrk in mdern brwsers Legal Cmpliance Check fr legal prblems including: Use f n-cmmercial-use cde n cmmercial sites Use f ckies r tracking images withut privacy statements Missing cpyright statements Search Optimizatin Check against search engine guidelines and best practices: Ggle Search Guidelines Yah Search Guidelines Bing Search Guidelines Best Practice Keywrd Optimizatin Check fr ver 60 issues including: Supprted W3C standards include: HTML 2.0 HTML 3.2 HTML 4.0 HTML 4.01 HTML 5 ISO HTML 15445:2000 MathML 2.0 MathML 3.0 XHTML 1.0 XHTML 1.1 SVG 1.0 SVG 1.1 SVG Basic 1.1 SVG Tiny 1.1 SMIL 1.0 SMIL 2.0 SMIL 2.1 SMIL 3.0 (HTML 5 will be supprted when the standard is finalized) Usability Check against usability standards: Usability.gv guidelines W3C best practices Readability guidelines Check fr ver 50 user experience prblems including: Duplicate and missing page titles Dynamic pages with t many URL parameters t index Pages with hidden text which can trigger ranking penalties Presence f specified keywrds in critical areas like page titles and headings Web Standards Validate cde using the same integrated HTML validatin engine as the W3C validatin service: HTML, XHTML, CSS and SVG validatin Find markup deprecated by W3C Slw lading pages Use f Windws r Mac specific fnts Pages with n navigatin ptins Pages requiring university level reading skills Displaying unslicited ppup windws Pages with default titles like Untitled-1 Using underlined text which lks like a link Frms that require shifting frm keybard t muse t cmplete Lng URLs which wrap nt tw lines when emailed Images that cause the page t jump abut while lading Page 4
Reprts Dashbard Overview f site issues; issue cunt ver time; and benchmarks against similar sites. Issues are divided int categries: errrs; accessibility; brwser cmpatibility; legal cmpliance; search guidelines; standards and usability. Clicking n a categry title drills dwn t the Issues by Categry reprt. Issues by Categry This reprt shws a list f issues fr a single categry (e.g. accessibility) with a summary f standards cmpliance status. Each issue shws a list f affected pages. Clicking n the URL drills dwn t the View Surce reprt. Surce View This view displays the surce cde f the file (HTML, CSS r JavaScript) with issues and errrs shwn alngside the line f cde that caused them, and help describing hw t fix the prblem. This view als shws a summary f page attributes: MIME type; last mdified date; dwnlad time; size; list f links in and ut; list f images, script files and CSS files. Page 5
Site Map The bars shws errr cunts fr each page, allwing yu t lcate lw-quality areas f the site. Inventry List f pages and cntent n site brken dwn by type and technlgy. Clicking n the URLs displays the view surce reprt. Issues by Page List f issues brken dwn by page. Each issue shws a list f affected pages. Clicking n the URL drills dwn t the View Surce reprt. Abut PwerMapper Sftware PwerMapper Sftware is a UK-based sftware cmpany specializing in web site analysis prducts. The cmpany s first prduct, PwerMapper, was released in 1997. PwerMapper Sftware prducts are used by 33% f the Frtune 100, and custmers include Being, NASA, Bank f America, Dell and Micrsft. Page 6