UWSAG Rating Criteria Further Explanations

Any kind of copyright infringement.
Am I breaking the law? You are breaking the law if, without the consent or permission from the copyright holder, you upload or download graphics off an internet site, and reproduce or distribute in any way. (Just because another site has a photo of your favorite actor, does not mean you can right click, save the graphic, and use it for your own site!) These are also NOT Public Domain.

However, this is not limited to photos. It will include text content, clipart, graphics, or anything created by an individual and posted on their website. Anyone freely right-clicking, or cut/pasting anything without permission, and statement of such, is an infringement. Please note that there are MANY sites and/or cd's that may be purchased and/or downloaded, with graphics. But, most of the time it is plainly obvious what has been used without permission. Please note that scanning text and images that are included in a published book is also covered by copyright. It does not matter that you took the time to scan them in yourselves.

Copyright and public domain are very touchy issues. It is also important to note that not all public works are protected under copyright anymore. These works are what people consider "public domain." The following link will take you to more information regarding what is public domain and what is not. Please visit here for more information. [D] If you submit an application and their is a question regarding copyright, you will be contacted by the appropriate board member for more information.

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Less than five (5) winners listed.
UWSAG requires that your award program contain at least 5 winners. You must also have at least one winner in every "level" of your program. This means that if you offer gold, silver, bronze, and merit awards, you must have at least one winner in each. This does not relate to "site of the year," "site of the month," or "special" awards. There are many programs that offer the traditional leveled system of gold, silver, bronze and merit, but also offer other awards to special websites. These awards are exempt from this rule. However, it must be plain to the person applying or reviewing your award program that these are "extra" or "special" awards to be earned.

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Content
The points in this section are broken down into four parts: spelling, grammar and understanding. Spelling is a general area that shows whether the webmaster(s) has taken the time to spell-check and proof-read their program. Grammar is another general area that also shows whether the webmaster(s) has taken the time to read through and further proof-read their program. To see if your AP deserves the understanding point you need to view your program from the award seekers perspective. Do you feel your AP's content is easy for the applicant to read, follow, understand, and apply to their website? This cango from language structure to the visual display of the award program.

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Design
Design is one important area of a website that caters to different tastes. Some people appreciate an intricate and detailed design, while others still cater to the "less is more" theory. No matter your preference, it is always important to use proper white space, make sure all graphics are represented and linked properly, keep a consistent "look and feel," and make sure the entire design is related and representative of what you wish to promote as your AP.

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Navigation
Navigation is an extremely important part of any website. This is especially important with an award program, because the webmaster needs to convey all important information in an easy to understand and searchable manner. When an applicant decides to apply for an award, it is very important that they can find all of the needed information easily. There should be no need of the browser back button and navigation should be easy to find on every page of the award program. Having each and every page of the program interlinked in very important to ensure that all are viewed and read by the applicant. Having incomplete or incorrect navigation could result in many applications just searching for the application instead of reading the important criteria.

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Coding
Code is the building block of all websites. Without having correct and clean code the web page will not function correctly for all visitors. Correct and careful coding will enable your website to display properly in multiple browsers. Correct HTML tags and attributes (alt, height and width) should be present. A carefully constructed website will not have visible coding fragments on any page, nor will it require the visitor to scroll horizontally at a screen resolution of 800x600. New or advanced technology can greatly enhance a website, but should serve a specific purpose and work as intended. Pride in your website and regular maintenance will ensure that all links on your site are working and open in their respective windows (no points will be deducted for external links opening in the same window if the pages are valid xhtml 1.1).

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Award Graphic
The award graphic is an extremely important aspect to an award program. This is the aspect of your program that will be viewed by everyone in the community as well as those in the world wide web. It is first important that the creator of the award be credited; be this by yourself or someone else who created it for you, and this preferably on the same page the awards are on. The award should be clear, clean, and crisp with no pixilation. A small description should also accompany the graphic representing its size, weight, and meaning (=categorizing the winners).

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Evaluator Profile
A profile of the evalutor(s) in an award program is more a courtesy to the applicant than it is a "needed" part of the program. Many people are beginning to feel the impersonal "crunch" of the web and like to see the real people behind the website or program. This is especially true with award programs, because the applicant likes to "meet" the people who will be evaluating and passing judgment on their hard built program. The most important thing in building a good evaluator profile is not the get lost in daily newsfacts.... just give a clean but clear overview of why YOU are qualfied to judge their sites, and certainly don't summarize memberships here!

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Award Criteria
Not to get too corny, but we are now into the "meat and potatoes" part of an award program. The criteria is what can make or break an AP. It is important that a clear line is drawn between what is being looked for and what is not. This means that disqualifiers are what you do not want and criteria are the items you score on (if not present will diminish the score). There are many programs that are very cut and dry when it comes to criteria, and there are many programs that incorporate "flowery" language and leave the applicant wondering even after the application has been sent. Aside from having complete and understandable criteria, it is important that it is written in an encouraging manner. The goal of award programs is to make the web a better place, and this can not be accomplished by writing negative-themed criteria. Instead of always listing what you do not like and do not want, try to curb the language to state how you see the perfect site.

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Award Winners
You will find when creating an award program that these pages will be visited a lot by applicants and previous winners. These are the pages where you will showcase all of those websites you have found deserving of your award. Due to the place these pages hold with winners and applicants, it is important to make these pages something special. It is always important to offer a link to the winning website, the date it was awarded, a description of that website, and perhaps a screenshot. Offering a simple list of links will suffice, but it is always nice to see an award program go above and beyond the call of duty to make their list shine out among the others. (and that winning the top award clearly shows as more important than the lower levels)

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