Does My Site Deserve Recognition?

If you have spent time reading my stuff, you may know that I get wound up when web sites that are demonstrably bad for users get recognition from pundits, awards sites, web dev outlets, industry shows, the media in general, or anyone really.

I am not the only one to have commented on this over the years, some with direct requests (even if tweeted commitments to do so are later deleted).

The fact is, for those who are often tasked with judging sites or including them in resources there is little guidance. Sure, if someone already knows about WCAG, he or she can run an automated test. Or run a page through the HTML validator to make sure it isn’t a complete mess. But these both require the person to know they exist. Or even that these should be considered for any site to warrant recognition.

I am in no position to write tutorials or audit tools. What I can do is collect a series of resources and organize them. These resources can be used to address things like page weight, perf, or just browser compatibility. What we need is something to offer that guidance, at least at a high level.

And so I created:

It is a single-page site full of links to resources. It won’t educate you on its own, but it at least provides pointers to materials that can. It is also not new, I just have done a poor job of promoting it (none).

The site is available on GitHub so you can submit tools, resources, or better ideas. You can also drop me suggestions on Twitter or via the contact form on this site.

Please check out DoesMySiteDeserveRecognition.com and maybe use it as a helpful reference when or if you have any say in a situation where a site (or sites) will receive recognition.

Update

This got a mention in the April 10 issue of Smashing Newsletter. I saved it as a PDF and a PNG.