GUIDELINES for Editors

Readability

Readability comes in several forms - from usability to the presence of ads or other annoying impositions. Sites included in bmesource should be highly useful in both perspectives - they should be easy to use and straightforward to navigate (if navigation is required) and they should not provide any imposition to getting to the content including having to login or having to read around ads.

Questions to ask:

Is special software required to access the site? Acrobat Reader and Flash are nearly ubiquitous and okay, but other specialized plug-ins or software are generally a no-no.

Do you have to register to see the content? We refrain from using such sites as it is our belief that there is enough free information (or at least registration-free) on the web to preclude having to provide sites with registration. That said, it is likely that there might be a site or two that are so valuable as to skip this exclusion rule.

Is the site in English, or does it provide an English version? If so, link to that part of the site.

Are there a predominance of ads or pop-ups? Do not include links to sites that use ads in their content.

Are there grammatical or typographical errors? This goes back to reliability as well, but sites where the integrity of the language is not imposed suggest that the integrity of the content is questionable.

Are graphics added unnecessarily and are they large and unwieldy? Graphics most often greatly enhance content. However, occasionally a site will place graphics on pages simply to have something there, not too add to the clarity of the content. Additionally, some graphics files are too large for the web and should not be included on web pages. When they are they make the page or site time-consuming to load and should not be included.

Are there geographical restrictions? Some sites are open just to the organizations that subscribe to them, and this may not always be obvious to the user. If the site provides on or near the top of the page a reference to your establishment (such as Welcome, Stanford University) it's fairly likely that your institution has paid a fee for that content. It may seem free to you, but in fact is not. Others will not have access to that content unless their organization has also paid.

Is content clear and easily read? Poor site design includes placing colored text over colored or picture backgrounds to the extent of making the site nearly unreadable. Avoid sites with poor design or poor navigation.