Nem5 Web Maggic Awards Program Helpware - Article 5 - Page 1 Opinions, Everybody's Got Them! © Maggi Norris - May 1, 2000 In my opinion a well-designed site that earns a Gold Award is one that is so beautiful I want to hang it on my living room wall. It has to leave me stunned with the skill and mastery that went into making it. In order for it to earn that Gold Award every other site already on that wall has to be taken into consideration. Is this site as good as or better than previous winners? Is it unique? Will it stand on its own merit if hung beside the others? Does it show strength and personality in its makeup? If the answer to these questions is no then it will not get a Gold Award. Does Opinion Matter? There is one basic factor to judging sites that is often overlooked but is as important as any part of any awards program. No matter what criteria or requirements are established for a site to win an award, a site is going to be judged on the personal opinions of the judge doing the reviewing. People give us their permission to use our opinions when they apply for our awards. They say they trust that we have good judgment and that we are able to use our skills to review their site for quality at the level of excellence that our program expects. Everybody has an opinion. It is something I keep reminding my judges over and over when they ask me what I think of a site. I tell them to judge it how "they" feel it should be judged using the criteria, as they understand it. I will not tell them what I have scored a site or why I scored it the way I did until after they send their score. I do not want to influence their opinion of a site. Their opinions do matter, each and every one. It helps give a better view of whether a site will be liked by all or by a few. The whole point of any site winning more than one award is to establish its distinction on a diversity of opinion. By showing that it can be part of a broader context of recognition a site may predictably be enjoyed by many surfers. That is why different opinions matter so much. It is also why the same site that wins a Gold Award from one award program will only take a Merit Award or no award at all from another program. Fixed Point vs. Opinion Point Some core criteria points should be set so that it is understood that the final score a site will receive is also based on concrete design elements. A site will either have these points or it will not. A good example of this is the often overlooked, but helpful element called the "alt tag." Some award programs may not consider it worth a point. Others will consider it a crucial element of the whole site's design and will penalize heavily for the absence of these descriptive little helpers to site users. Their absence would mean a mistake on every single image used on a site. Points like alt tags are what I call "fixed points." I use this term to describe those points that leave nothing to subjectivity or opinion. These items are either part of a site's makeup or they are not. If they are there they earn a point. If they are not there that point is not added to the final score. Having points that are not left to opinion lends consistency to scoring for every site. Whether a point is fixed or based on opinion should be stated clearly in the criteria for a site. All points should come from what is stated in the criteria, exactly as it is stated. In the next few sections I will outline some of the judging elements where a judge's opinion plays a major role in determining the score. Originality What is original and has never been seen before by one judge may be last month's news to another judge. Some award programs receive lots of applications from artistically styled websites. Other programs will receive more applications for sites that are based on commerce or education. A judge that has reviewed hundreds of applications to sites that are artistic in nature will find it harder to see something new and original in those types of sites than a judge who is reviewing them for the first time. When a web site earns a point for originality, it is earning a point for something that is innovative in the eyes of a judge: a totally new mode of design or a uniquely creative application or re-elaboration of the not so new. Content Whether a site has "content" is subjective to the opinion of the reviewer simply because all people see content value from many different perspectives. A good example would be a site about art where there was little or no text. One judge may consider the fact that the site has no text the same as having no content. Another judge could review that same site and see a wealth of information from the art alone. Some judges may see the entertainment value of a site or a good sales pitch as content while others do not. This is one of the main points where I see differences among my judging staff. They all view the concept of what is real content differently. When all of them agree a site is filled with informative, comprehensive and useful content I know that I will learn something special from that site. Impression According to Webster, impress means "to firmly fix in the mind" and "a strong effect made on the mind." Based on these definitions, the ability to impress a judge will vary according to that judge's reception on his/her mind. Impression can come from many sources: unique layouts, touching poetry, beautiful images, elegant design techniques and many other possibilities too numerous to name here. When a site impresses me, I leave with its memory firmly in my mind. It will draw me back repeatedly. I will think of it after I am gone. If the impression is strong enough that memory will remain with me for a very long time. What may impress me may leave another judge feeling absolutely nothing at all. The other judge may have seen it all before. In that case, I would give a point for "strength of impression" and the other judge would not. We would both be correct in our assessment. Go to Page 2 of this Article           Top of page.