Checklist For Reviewing Webpages

I'm often asked "what do you think of this web page"?

I immediately have a surge of mental activity that leads to a whole load of things I'd change. Increasingly though, the same old things keep coming up. So here's my basic checklist.

What is the user journey?
This is the most important question to ask first of all - what is it we are trying to get people to do here? Remove yourself from the page, the design and the clutter and write it down in simple steps. Go back to the page now and review the design against those steps.

Using font that people can read?
At least 10 point. Maybe 12 point if you can. Small sucks. Make it easy!

Is the contrast OK?
Text should always be either light text on a dark background or (preferably) dark text on a light background

Are text links underlined?
Ideally they should be. Exceptions are place where it's obvious that this is navigation (tabs or menus for example).

DON'T USE CAPS, Use sentence case
It's easier to read

Use only the words you need
On the web, less is more. Look at every detail of the page - forms, buttons etc - and only use the words that are needed

Is it obvious what this site is about?
If the site is well known, this is less important (e.g. Dell, Amazon, Google), everyone else should explain what the site is about. Either in simple terms (e.g. Bargainholidays.com - "more holiday than you bargained for") or in a sentence near the top of the page.

Is it obvious what this page is about?
Page title, big, saying what the page is about.

Is it obvious what I should / could do here?
The call to action, whether it be a price point, form button or text link, should be obvious. A few obvious calls to action are more effective than many obscure ones.

Is is clear where I am on the site...?
(...relative to the rest of the site). Which section am I in? How deep am I? How do I get to other sections/products like this? How do I get to the homepage?

Does the page use standard conventions?
Form buttons that look like buttons, text links that look like links (in blue), click able images having text appear to describe the link destination (alt tags).

Is the page design consistent with the rest of the site?
Thinking here about layouts, colours, imagery and copy

Do links describe what you're going to get on clicking?
("Click here" is absolutely banned in my world)

Do forms state what's optional versus required?
Make it easy using asterisks or other well recognised devices

Does error handling make sense?
Try and break the page - see what error messages you get

Is the URL meaningful, canonical and unique?
It should describe the content, avoid parameters & dynamic URLS

Does the page load fast?
Simple to say, simple to test

Does the HTML validate against W3.org standards?
Build it right first time

Does it work in all browsers, in all of the main sizes?
IE 6 and 7, Firefox 1.5 and 2 as minimum, ideally Safari too, on Windows and Apple Mac.

Can we track the activity that we want to improve?
Install web analytics if need be, and use it.