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Website Evaluation: A Selective Annotated Bibliography

Updated January 2007

This bibliography contains references to print and online sources that discuss website evaluation and/or design principles and issues. The purpose of this bibliography is twofold. First, these materials can be used to gather criteria, tips, and techniques on assessing the usefulness and reliability of information available on the Internet. Second, these references can also be used to gauge the effectiveness of an organization's own website. Included are websites and articles and books.

To suggest additional sources, please contact Emily Janoski-Haehlen : janoskie@nku.edu

Websites

Internet Scout Project, http://scout.wisc.edu/.
The Internet Scout Project leads you to the best resources on the Internet. Librarians and educators read hundreds of announcements each week, looking for online resources of most value for educational and research purposes. The site features a search engine to search web site summaries, and free e-mail current awareness services. The Internet Scout Project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation to provide timely information to the education community about valuable Internet resources. "Surf smarter, not longer."

Jakob Nielsen's Use-It, http://www.useit.com/.
Author of Designing Web Usability (2000). 

Librarians’ Index to the Internet, http://lii.org/

Searching this site with the words “internet resources evaluation” yields an annotated list of information resources for evaluating websites

Section 508: The Road to Accessibility, http://www.section508.gov/.
"Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Government wide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508."

UC Berkeley Library, Finding Information on the Internet: a Tutorial, http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

Provides a series of questions and evaluation techniques that can be used to evaluate a website.  Includes links to other resources useful in conducting the evaluation.

Virginia Tech University Libraries, Bibliography on Evaluating Web Information, http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate/evalbiblio.html
This bibliography references documents that address teaching and using critical thinking skills in the evaluation of Internet resources. It contains references to Internet sources, sample evaluation forms, articles and books, and listservs.

Web Standards Project, http://www.webstandards.org/.
"Founded in 1998, The Web Standards Project (WaSP) fights for standards that reduce the cost and complexity of development while increasing the accessibility and long-term viability of any site published on the Web."

World Wide Web Consortium, http://www.w3.org/.
"The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential." Includes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/, and other tools. 

Articles & Books

Janet Alexander & Marsha Ann Tate, Web Wisdom: How to Evaluate and Create Quality Information on the Web. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1999.

T. Matthew Ciolek & Irene M. Goltz, Information Quality WWW Virtual Library, The Internet Guide to Construction of Quality Online Resources, http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-InfoQuality.html.
Useful for the website builder and user. Covers website design and administration, evaluation, information quality, citation formats, netiquette, guidelines and standards, and Internet studies.

Joe Clark, Building Accessible Websites. Indianapolis : New Riders Press, 2003.
An entertaining, compelling and thorough work, addressing an array of Web site accessibility issues and providing practical guidance on how to deal with them.

Esther Grassian, Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources,  http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/index.htm 
Provides a list of questions to consider when evaluating the quality of a website.

LaJean Humphries. "Teaching Users to Evaluate Internet Sites: Sources ON Sources." Searcher, May 1, 2000.
This article addresses teaching others how to carefully evaluate Internet sites, and includes examples of bogus sites that can be used in educational settings for website evaluation training purposes. Also features an annotated bibliography on useful online articles on web site evaluation. Practical and humorously written, this article warns users not to "check (their) common sense at the keyboard!"

Trudi Jacobson & Laura Cohen, Evaluating Internet Resources, http://library.albany.edu/usered/eval/eresources.html 

Jesse James Garrett, The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web. Indianapolis :  New Riders Press, 2002.
A well-organized and well-illustrated overview of major concepts in the user-centered approach to Web site development.

Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Indianapolis :  New Riders Press, 2000.
An excellent, easy-to-read introduction to usability, with plenty of graphics, pictures and useful examples.

Kuniavsky, Mike, Observing the User Experience:  a Practitioner’s Guide to User Research. San Francisco : Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2003.
Focusing on the needs of and usefulness to web site users, this clear, well organized and practical work provides comprehensive descriptions of a rich array of techniques which can be used to research user experience.

Daniel D. McCracken and Rosalee J. Wolfe, User-Centered Web Site Development: A Human-Computer Interaction Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
A well-documented text on user-centered Web site development that incorporates HCI principles as they relate to website design.  Includes an index and an abundant amount of screen shots and graphics.

Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, 2000.

Originally created by Joan Ormondroyd, updated and edited by Michael Engle & Tony Cosgrave, Critically Analyzing Information Sources, http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/skill26.htm

Jared M. Spool, Web Site Usability: A Designers Guide. San Francisco: Morgam Kauffmann Pub., 1999.
This book offers a comprehensive study on what makes a website usable. It discusses graphics, text links, user preferences, and information retrieval.

Genie Tyburski, Judging Information Quality on the Web:Interactive Tutorial, Guidelines, Webliography and Links to Other Checklists, http://www.virtualchase.com/quality/index.html.
Discusses evaluating the quality of information on the Internet and offers a checklist for discovering quality in web-based information, commentary on technical trickery, examples of bogus websites, and additional resources. Also features links to law-related research aids and instructional tools.

Christina Wodtke, Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web.  Indianapolis : New Riders Press, 2002.  An engaging introduction to the fundamentals of information architecture that includes an ample offering of visual aides.

Disclaimer:  Many links from this site are to sites over which neither AALL nor any of its members asserts any authority or control. AALL assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or veracity of the information that a user may encounter at these sites.

This site has been considered and approved by the American Association of Law Libraries Executive Board.