Checklist for Website Development and Use

Checklist of mandatory and recommended items for developing and maintaining a GEF IW project website

The purpose of this checklist is to provide GEF IW projects with guidance in the design of websites and their subsequent management. It is derived from IW:LEARN's 'Guidelines for Developing and Managing a GEF IW Project Website' that will be posted here.

M = mandatory items   R = recommended items

TECHNICAL ISSUES

(M) Website downloads in reasonable time (i.e., a reflection of adequate hosting and technical maintenance)
(M) Compatible with multiple browsers (including IE6, IE7, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc)
(M) There are no broken links
(M) Syndication of project events (meetings, workshops, conferences etc) using RSS feeds
(M) Syndication of project news using RSS feeds
(M) Syndication of published documents
(M) Works on multiple screen resolutions (fluid design)
(M) Printed pages are clear and readable
(M) Adopts W3C guidelines for accessibility
(M) Allows intranet functionality and collaborative website management, to include creation of personal accounts for editing online content (i.e, users can create content, not just administrator)
(R) Inclusion of online language translator

TIMELINESS

(M) Each project to have a website within the first year of implementation
(M) Include up to date contact details of key project staff
(M) Regularly updated list and/or calendar of events (e.g., meetings, workshops, conferences)
(M) Regular publication of project-related news
(M) Regular release of electronic newsletter targeted at project stakeholders
(R) Establish a schedule of content updating (e.g., Daily - news, calendar/list of events; Weekly - jobs, newsfeeds from project and partners; Monthly - newsletter, progress reports, contact details of project staff, etc.)
(R) Perform regular link integrity checking and maintenance

CONTENT

(M) Logos of GEF, implementing and executing agencies prominently displayed
(M) Main navigation is clearly visible in every page
(M) Image sizes are optimised
(M) A link to the GEF IWLEARN website on the home page
(R) Consistent design theme (style and colours) throughout
(R) Use of minimal Flash content and animated GIFs

Text:
(M) Good quality of writing (e.g., grammatical errors, typos)
(M) Purpose of the website clearly stated on home page (e.g., mission statement, aim)
(M) Inclusion of the following sections: About the Project; Documents Centre; Calendar and/or List of Events; News
(M) Homepage to display 'Last time site updated' or similar wording, with link to list of updated content, for example, located in footer section
(R) Upload long documents in MSOffice or PDF format instead of posting the entire content on a webpage
(R) Multilingual content

Navigation:
(M) Website is easy to navigate (you know where you are in the site and how to get back to the home page, e.g. uses breadcrumb trail)
(M) Includes a site map
(M) Provide access/link to mandatory sections from every page

Maps/GIS/Datasets:
(M) Inclusion of a map showing the project's area of interest.
(M) Inclusion of IW:LEARN's WebGIS metadata catalogue and data viewer (critical to promote sharing of geographic data across the GEF IW community) (e.g., can be inserted as iframe into a single web page)
(M) Creation of metadata records for project-generated geographic datasets into IW:LEARN's WebGIS or maintenance of separate online metadata catalogue where metadata can be harvested by IW:LEARN.

Other components:
(M) Inclusion of a site specific search engine (i.e, allows project site to be searched)
(M) Contact information on every page (e.g., in footer)
(M) Inclusion of a feedback form
(R) Provision of Web2.0 communication functionality (e.g., online forum, mailing lists, shared workspace, content updating alert, integration of existing social networking sites, etc.)
(R) Assign keywords/meta tags to content to improve search engine discovery