One of our Human Factors Engineers just asked us to compile a list of “what makes good code”. He had a few initial suggestions, and they were added to for the following list. Although I think we are aware of certain principles, how do we create a checklist of what is “good” versus “poor”.

  1. The code is valid
  2. Inline comments are used consistently and effectively
  3. Alignment and structure of the code display allows for easy scanning and reading
  4. The code is accessible
  5. Tables are not used for layout
  6. CSS is used appropriately via an imported style sheet, a linked style sheet, or styles in the header (in that order).
  7. The code is as slim and compact as possible
  8. The code uses semantic markup
  9. Inline styling and scripting is kept to a minimum
  10. Graceful degradation is kept in mind
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