Website Assessment

Build a website that has at least five pages on a topic of your choice.

Use WordPress as your CMS and select a theme appropriate to the content of your site. You can build either a Wordpress .org site or a Wordpress .com site.

Also submit with your site a written page that describes your site’s purpose and audience and explains how you are using the text, audio, video, images etc.

If you choose not to use these methods of communication, make sure you explain why. Argue it in terms of how using audio or video would not support your site’s purpose. Also explain what you would have liked to do if you had further resources. I would anticipate that if you choose not to use audio, video or both that you will compensate with more written content.

Unless you provide compelling reasons for not including the following, your website should include the following:

  • Audio
  • Video
  • Text
  • Images

The navigation should be clear and content easily found. And the sites should be visually appealing as well as solid in terms of content. You should also ensure the site offers a mobile edition. You will be assessed in the following areas:

Site functionality

  • Check that everything works. Such as links are not broken, images are displayed correctly, audio and video are encoded or provided, plugins work, theme works, a mobile version of the site works etc. 15%
  • Production Skills. I’ll be doing things like looking at pictures to see you don’t use GIFs when you should be using JPGs. Making sure you have alt tags in your images. Ensuring all your fonts are consistent – 15%

Writing Standard – total 30%

  • Writing. I’ll be making sure you’ve followed the web conventions outlined in the online learning video. In particular I’ll be looking at
    • sentence structure,
    • word choice,
    • narrative structure (summary in first sentence) etc.
    • Conveying complex information
  • All the stuff that was covered in the online learning video I referred to you at the end of our last Saturday gathering.

Editorial Decisions

  • Integration of audio, video and text in terms of how you convey your message. Are the images appropriate to the purpose of you site and are they placed appropriately within the text? Are the videos the best way to get your message across? 10%
  • Purpose. How well do you achieve your purpose in the way you create your website? In the written paper, you will outline your purpose. As this part of the assessment, I will review your website to see how well it achieves your stated purpose. 10%
  • Audience. In your written paper you will describe your audience. I will be looking at how well your content is focused on achieving your purpose for your audience. 10%  That includes all content, the theme you choose etc.

Written Paper

  • Purpose, audience, resources. I’m looking for a brief outline of what you’re trying to achieve with the website, who your audience is and what resources you will use (audio, video, images or other tools such as a wiki, chat, blog etc). When you discuss resources, consider whether or not they are available to you and how they will help you achieve your purpose for your audience. 5%
  • Description of how your website achieves your purpose for your audience. If you choose not to include video or audio elements in your website, this is where you need to defend your decision based on purpose and audience. 5%

You should email a link to your website to me along with your written summary. Please send it to my GW email address and copy it to my business email address which is

Some Suggestions

You’ll notice that I’m not focusing on the substance of your video and audio content.  That’s what the previous two assignments were for.  I’m more interested in how that video achieves your editorial purpose within your website.  If you want to use the video you created for the previous assignments, that’s fine.  Otherwise, feel free to create some video specifically for this.

Remember, I make an effort to be as helpful as I can as a professor to assist you in earning a good grade.  That’s my job.  It’s the reason I’m so open about the criteria I follow when I mark your work.  I don’t assess based on how I feel on the day I get your assignment.  But you are the one who must earn that mark.  Please make sure you read the criteria above to guide you in earning a good grade. Make sure you hand in everything I ask for – that is a written piece to accompany your website plus the URL to your active site.