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Prevalence and classification of web page defects

Ejike Ofuonye (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)
Patricia Beatty (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)
Scott Dick (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)
James Miller (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)

Online Information Review

ISSN: 1468-4527

Article publication date: 23 February 2010

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on previous surveys that have looked at the quality of HTML documents on the worldwide web. Previous surveys have indicated that the quality of HTML documents tends to be quite poor, with most documents containing defects.

Design/methodology/approach

To determine the extent of this problem, the paper undertook a large‐scale study of HTML document quality among the most popular web sites (approximately 100,000).

Findings

This paper found that the vast majority (over 95 per cent) of web sites did not adhere to the worldwide web consortium standards for HTML.

Research limitations/implications

This study represents a single investigation over a short timeframe. Hence, ideally the study needs to be replicated in the future to help generalise the findings.

Practical implications

Such poor quality may jeopardise the security or usability of a web site, making the site's users vulnerable to malware attacks. This poor level of quality has drastic implications for web usability and security.

Originality/value

This new survey undertook a more extensive examination of popular web sites than previous surveys.

Keywords

Citation

Ofuonye, E., Beatty, P., Dick, S. and Miller, J. (2010), "Prevalence and classification of web page defects", Online Information Review, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 160-174. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521011024182

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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