Test Your Pages
Mistakes will always be present in your pages no matter how careful you are, so test every page and every link. True, there are tools that will validate your code, but nothing beats a personal inspection.
A personal inspection pays off in several ways:
- You see what your students will see.
- You are confident that your courseware is stable. You see that your pages can be referenced, the graphics can be found, links to other sites are correct, and so on.
- Errors are often found that a validator didn't catch and you can make corrections.
- It's your chance to play. You have spent a lot of time and effort on your project; you have a right to relax and enjoy the results.
Once you have tested your course, have someone else test it. The reason for this? You know how your pages are laid and what will happen when you select a particular link. Others, however, do not know these things and they will most likely find problems that you have missed.
When a problem is found, do not take offense. Problems must be fixed. Your students will be depending on a solid, easy-to-use course. If a "problem" is really a difference of opinion between you and the tester, you have two options:
- Hash it out and convince the tester that your way is correct.
- Take the tester's views as a suggestion for improvement and use it.
No matter how much testing is done, some problems will creep through. Eliminating all of them is nearly impossible, but you can at least make your course as error-free as possible. Once the pages have the information you want to impart, and they are apparently free of errors, go ahead and post them. When errors are noticed later, fix them.
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Last Modified: February, 2005