School of Computing

publishing guidelines

Web Site Validation and Auditing Tools

Tools for | authors | assessing popularity | administrators | miscellaneous |

Using The Service

The CS Web site has been configured so that a range of remote Web site validation and auditing tools can be accessed by appending ,tool-name to the URL of a web page on the CS Web site. For example, to HTML-validate this web page, use

http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/dept_info/documentation/publish/tools.html,validate

To see the list of tools available, append ,tools to a URL. For example

http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/mlb/,tools

Please note:

  • The tool name always starts with a comma (e.g.,   ,validate)
  • This service can be used with web pages which are visible from off-campus (usually denoted by URLs ending in .html). However, it does not work with web pages which are only visible locally (those URLs ending in .local or containing LOCAL-ONLY ) because the remote tool which is being invoked cannot access a local web page.
  • This this is an experimental service. We reserve the rights to change the names or withdraw any or all of the options.

A list of valid tool-name options is given below.

Tools for authors

Tool Name Description Comments Test
,bobby Checks the page with compliance with Bobby AA accessibility guidelines. (Also available: bobby-a, bobby-aa, bobby-aaa) Uses Watchfire's Bobby service ,bobby
,checklink Checks links on the page (broken, redirected, ... ) Uses W3C's link checking service ,checklink
,cssvalidate Validates the CSS of the page. Uses W3C's CSS validation service ,cssvalidate
,html-tidy Displays an option to view the html of the web page in a tidy format. Uses W3C's HTML-tidy ,html-tidy
,link-extractor Extracts HREF links from the page. Uses the Webmaster's Toolkit's LinkExtractor ,link-extractor
,lynx See how the lynx browser views your page. Useful for detecting accessibility problems. Uses delorie software. Has other useful services. ,lynx
,spell Spell checks the page. Uses W3C's spell service ,spell
,tablin Linearising the page Uses W3C's table linearising service ,tablin
,text Displays a text version of the page. Uses W3C's text service ,text
,tools Displays the Web Site Validation Tools page (this page). Uses CSWeb server redirection ,tools
,validate HTML validation of the page Uses W3C's HTML validation service ,validate
,wave Check the accessibility of the page. Uses WAVE service ,wave

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Tools for assessing popularity

Tool Name Description Comments Test
,backlinks Displays links to the page. Uses AltaVista ,backlinks (research page)
,backlinks-h Displays links to the host. Does not inlude links from CSWeb pages. Uses AltaVista ,backlinks-h (research page)
,cachability Displays the cachability of the page. Uses the mnot's Cacheability Engine ,cachability
,dejanews Displays references to the site in Usenet News postings. Uses Google's Groups service ,dejanews
,dejanews-p Displays references to the page in Usenet News postings. Uses Google's Groups service ,dejanews-p
,linkpopularity Displays links to the page. Uses Google ,linkpopularity (CSWeb homepage)
,linktool Displays links to the page. Uses Linkstoyou ,linktool(CSWeb homepage)
,related Displays relationships with other Web sites. Uses Google's Similar pages service ,related

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Tools for administrators

Tool Name Description Comments Test
,ping Pings the CS server to see if the server is available Uses Network Tools's ping service ,ping
,traceroute Gives a traceroute to the UKOLN server to see if the server is available Uses Network Tools's traceroute service ,traceroute
,robots-check Reports on the validity of the robots.txt file. Uses Edinburgh's robots checking service ,robots-check
,server Reports on the Web server software and uptime. Uses Netcraft's What's that server running? service ,server

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Miscellaneous Tools

Tool Name Description Comments Test
,archive Displays versions of the page stored by the Internet Archive. Uses the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine ,archive
,headers Displays the HTTP headers for the page Uses W3C's HTTP analysis service ,headers

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About The Service

This approach is based on that used by the W3C. Appending , or ,tools to any resource on the W3C Web site will display a list of tools which can be used - why not Try it.

This approach provides simple access to a range of validation, testing and auditing tools. Normally you would have to access the service's Web site and then enter the URL of your page.

The approach makes use of several externally-hosted Web services. This approach has several potential dangers: (a) the service may be withdrawn; (b) the service may change its licencing conditions; (c) it is reliant on the availability of the remote site and the network connection to it.

However as the functions provided by this approach are not mission-critical they can be replaced if necessary. In addition if a service is felt to be useful in a number of cases it would be possible to install the software locally. The W3C, in particular, tend to make their software tools available under open source licensing conditions.

Please notify cs-webmaster if you notice that any of these tools are inaccessible or if you have suggestions for new ones.

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This service is based on the W3C tools service and this web page has been adapted from material hosted at UKOLN authored by Brian Kelly.




School of Computing, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF

Enquiries: +44 (0)1227 824180 or contact us.

Last Updated: 26/03/2014