How to Check Website Usability in Dreamweaver

When you're designing and programming a website, usability is a key concern. Macromedia's web-authoring software, Dreamweaver, provides several tools that make it much easier to check a site's usability. Factors that can be checked include broken links, the presence of image ALT tags, page titles and browser compatibility.

Things You'll Need

• Macromedia Dreamweaver

Instructions

1. Open your website in Dreamweaver. Launch your software and open the "Files" window by clicking Window > Files from the main Dreamweaver menu. "Show" the site files you would like to check by clicking the selected site in the drop-down menu at the top of the Files window. Your file list and directory structure should appear at the right side of the box.

2. Check site for broken, orphan or external links. From the Site menu, click "Check Links Site Wide." A "Results" window will open showing a list of any broken links found within your files. The file name will appear in the left column, and the specific link URL will appear in the right column. You may manually change the link URL or browse for the correct one by clicking the link shown or the small folder icon to the right of the text box. By clicking the drop-down menu at the top of the Results box, you may also view orphan files, which are files included in your site directories that are not linked to from any other page. You can then view external links, or links to pages outside of your website, to verify whether they are correct.

3. Check the site for image ALT tags. Including alternate text with each image used on your web pages is a website development best practice; it increases both your site's usability and its indexing with search engines. In your Results window, click the "Site Reports" tab. Click the green arrow at the top of the first left-hand column. A dialog box of report options will open. Click the box beside "Missing Alt Text," select "Entire Current Local Site" from the drop-down menu and click "Run" to create your report. When the file list appears, you may double-click each one to open the relevant file. The image that does not contain the alternate text will be highlighted.

4. Check the site for untitled pages. Page titles are another helpful usability feature on web pages, as well as a great way to boost search-engine keyword listings. To review site pages that do not contain titles, again click the green arrow at the left of the Results box and select the "Untitled Pages" check box. Click "Run" to create your report. You may double-click each file name that appears in the report to open the file and add a title.

5. Check for browser compatibility. Because different browsers support different types of website programming, this feature can be helpful in making sure your website is accessible to the majority of popular browsers. In your Results window, click the "Target Browser Check" tab. Be sure that "Site Report," rather than "Current Page," is selected from the drop-down menu. The results of this feature will indicate what site features may not be compatible with various browser versions. To change the target browsers and minimum versions referenced in your report, click the green arrow and "Settings" from the drop-down menu.