Reviews of Online Tools for Website Design
If you are a small business owner and prefer do-it-yourself website design, here's some advice from a professional designer. Even if someone else does your website, the web designer tools reviewed here may help you verify the quality several ways.
A variety of websites provide website developers free online tools for testing different aspects of their designs. Here are some of my favorites with a brief review about each one. Visit these sites and input your page address to view test results.
Test for Valid Code at W3C
The importance of creating valid code in your website designs to meet the standards of W3C is overlooked by some designers. Perfect code may not be necessary for your site to display well, but if you can fix the problems use the data from the W3C validator to correct errors or warnings. You may want to test your CSS here, too.
Website Evaluation at URL Trends
Get a full report with a summary of your website's pagerank, major links, page description, date created if known, and more which gets updated monthly at URL Trends. An interesting function at URL Trends is the "wayback machine" which links to the display of old versions of websites if available in their cache. While this data is helpful, the monthly updates are backdated several months.
Accessibility Test at CynthiaSays
Having a website that meets the WAI requirements for accessibility for handicapped persons to enjoy equal access to website content is one of several sites that perform a quick test. Besides the pass or fail grade, details will point out specific areas to correct if your site fails the test. Verify that this site meets WAI here.
Search Engine Simulator at willmaster.com
Website designs are viewed one way by human visitors who actually see your content. Search engines only access your code and do not view graphics, so aesthetics are great for the humans. Use this free tool and search engine simulator to see how your website is viewed by crawlers, and then look for clues to improve your design.
If you have any questions about creating code valid to W3C standards, how to analyze trend reports, the importance of accessibility in web design, or the results of the search engine simulator, feel free to contact us for a no obligation evaluation.