Screen Size and Compatability Tools
There are three major usability-related issues related to producing Web pages: (a) the ‘weight’ of the page or the number of bytes associated with the page, (b) screen resolutions, and (c) compatibility with major operating systems and browsers.
All web pages should download in one or two seconds or less, when using a broadband connection. Some pages are so heavily loaded with graphics that it is not possible for them to download in a reasonable amount of time. The number of bytes on a page, and an estimated download time can be calculated by several software tools.
The best screen resolution for a page is the one that most computers are set to display fullscreen. Currently, the majority of monitors have screen resolutions of 1024x768 pixels.
All website pages should show correctly (without ‘breaking’) when displayed using one of the commonly used operating systems and browsers. Currently, the most used operating systems are Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, the Mac and Linux. The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8; Firefox 3, Safari, Chrome, and Opera.
Browser Photo
http://www.netmechanic.com/products/browser-index.shtml
browsersize
Purpose: This web-based tool allows a developer to quickly set a browser to a specific size for testing alternative page designs.
Why Useful? This tool helps a developer to see if the page design fits properly on the most popular screen sizes.
Cost: Free
Screen Resolution.com
http://www.screen-resolution.com/
Purpose: Quickly and easily view any website in various screen resolutions.
Why Useful? Designers can easily see what a website will look like at various screen resolutions without having to change the resolution on their own computer each time they want to evaluate the webpage in a different resolution.
Cost: Free
Any Browser
http://www.anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html
Purpose: Any Browser shows a page indicated by an input URL in four different, commonly used, page sizes.
Why Useful? This tool helps website and web application designers/developers ensure that the homepage shows well in the most commonly used page sizes. This is particularly important when trying to have users not have to do horizontal scrolling.
Cost: Free
Browser Shots
Purpose: Browsershots takes screenshots of a page indicated by an input URL in up to 54 different browsers. The browsers can be based on the PC, Linux or Macintosh operating systems.
Why Useful? This tool helps website and web application designers/developers ensure that their page does not ‘break’, and shows properly, when displayed by any of the most popular browsers. The tool provides an effective and efficient way to conduct this initial analysis.
Cost: Free
Website Optimization
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
Web Page Analyzer - Free web page analysis tool calculates page size, composition, and download time. Gives speed recommendations based on best practices for usability, HCI, and website optimization.
Purpose: The purpose of this web page analyzer is to determine the number of bytes on the page indicated by an input URL. The report contains the overall number of bytes on a page, and well as the number of bytes associated with HTML, HTML images, CSS images, Javascript, CSS and Multimedia. The number of bytes per page is converted into an estimate of the time it will take to download the page.
Why Useful? This tool helps website and web application designers/developers determine the approximate time it will take users to download a page, particularly homepages, depending on their means of accessing the Internet, e.g., dial-up, DSL, T1, etc. It is most useful in situations where a relatively high percent of users are accessing the pages using dial-up modems. Slow loading pages, those taking a minute or more to load, can be frustrating to users.
Cost: Free
Pingdom Tools
Purpose: Pingdom offers server, network and website monitoring services. Pingdom provides two free tools on its website. Full Page Test and Ping and Traceroute.
Why Useful? The Full Page Test loads a complete HTML page including all objects (images, CSS, JavaScripts, RSS, Flash and frames/iframes). It mimics the way a page is loaded in a web browser. The load time of all objects is shown visually with time bars. Ping and Traceroute are distributed versions of the popular network tools, available directly from your browser. With these tools you'll get an outside view of your network response time and network topology, which allows you to track down possible errors more easily.
Cost: Free
GrayBit
Purpose: GrayBit is an online accessibility testing tool designed to visually convert a full-color web page into a grayscale rendition for the purpose of visually testing the page’s perceived contrast.
Why Useful? This tool can help website and web application designers/developers ensure that the colors selected for use on a web page, particularly those colors that are directly related to successful performance, are adequately seen by people who have color deficiencies.
Cost: Free
Colour Contrast Analyser
http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=628
Purpose: Colour Contrast Analyser is a free, downloadable program that will help designers to judge if there is enough contrast between background and foreground colors used on a website. This tool is provided by Vision Australia.
Why Useful? This tool can help website and web application designers/developers ensure that the colors selected for use on a web page, particularly those colors that are directly related to successful performance, are adequately seen by people who have color deficiencies.
Cost: Free
Color Scheme Designer
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
Purpose: This tool will demonstrate the best color contrasts a designer can use to match to base colors for a web site. The tool will also show what the chosen colors will look like to people with normal vision and people with various types of colorblindness.
Why Useful? This tool can help website and web application designers/developers ensure that the colors selected for use on a web page, particularly those colors that are directly related to successful performance, are adequately seen by people who have color deficiencies.
Cost: Free
Accessibility Color Wheel
http://gmazzocato.altervista.org/colorwheel/wheel.php
Purpose: This tool will demonstrate what various color schemes will look like to people with various types of colorblindness. The results appear in real time by just mousing over the color wheel.
Why Useful? This tool can help website and web application designers/developers ensure that the colors selected for use on a web page, particularly those colors that are directly related to successful performance, are adequately seen by people who have color deficiencies.
Cost: Free
The Scrutinizer
http://about.stompernet.com/scrutinizer/learnmore
Purpose: The Scrutinizer is a web browser that offers a simulation of the human visual system. Specifically, it illustrates the distinction between foveal and peripheral vision in visual acuity and color perception.
Why Useful? Using this simulation, you can get a better idea of how users interact with your site design. The Scrutinizer is also a great tool for observing users interacting with your pages. By slowing them down, the Scrutinizer makes it easier for you to figure out what information the user is consuming and what actions they are considering.
Cost: Free
Lorem Ipsum
Purpose: Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old.
Why Useful? There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don't look even slightly believable. If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn't anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.
Cost: Free
Online Utility
http://www.online-utility.org/
Purpose: This site has several web-based tools and utilities that can be used to: Analyze words, sentences, structure or style of any text Learn, teach or research English language Write easily readable texts in English Perform math calculations (even very powerful!) Convert various measurement units Convert images from one format into another Get keyword suggestions for English language websites Perform various backlink (inlink, inbound link) analysis Perform some Internet searches of best websites or best websites in specific category.
Why Useful? The widgets and tools available on this site are free to use. Multiple utilities are found on this single site.
Cost: Free
Readability Index Calculator
http://standards-schmandards.com/exhibits/rix/index.php
Purpose: The Readability Index Calculator is used to evaluate the readability level of prose text in a website.
Why Useful? This tool helps website and web application designers/developers ensure that the prose text in their site is easily read by the target population. Ideal (maximum) readability levels have been proposed that can be used to compare the calculated readability levels with the desired readability levels.
Cost: Free
WinSTAT
Purpose: WinSTAT is a statistics add-in for Microsoft Excel.
Why Useful? WinSTAT will help with statistical analysis by allowing direct input into Excel. All results appear as Excel tables and Excel charts. You have all of Excel's customizing features at your fingertips. Printing problems and export problems belong to the past. And integrating your results into a report is what Office is all about. You can copy to Word or Power Point and even dynamically link the results to your report.
Cost: $99
Site Performance
With Site-Perf.com, you get an accurate, realistic, and helpful estimation of your site's loading speed. The script fully emulates natural browser behaviour downloading your page with all the images, CSS, JS and other files – just like a regular user.
Spot bottlenecks, reach perfect performance and balance your site load with Site-Perf.com. Site-Perf.com delivers the speed facts straight to your screen.
Cost: Free
Graphical Identity Support Tool (GIST)
http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/c3ri/gist/
Purpose: GIST is a tool for analyzing the visual appearance of websites. It identifies variations, and similarities, in the appearance of individual web pages to show overall design features that could not easily be recognized or checked in any other way.
Why Useful? GIST is an ideal companion to existing website quality assurance processes or as standalone tool to ensure the design and brand consistency of your website. It assists with the management of visual identity and allows the easy identification of website anomalies.
Cost: Free
