Changelog Grader
Paste the address of any public changelog. In a few seconds you get a score out of 100, a map of how often it has shipped, and a plain list of what a reader, a feed reader and a search engine each find there.
How the score is worked out
Ten checks, each worth the points shown, adding up to 100. Every check is a fact about what the address sent back at the moment it was read, never an opinion about the writing. The tool reads the HTML a server sends, as a link preview and a search engine's first pass do, so anything a page adds later with JavaScript is not seen.
| Check | Points | How it is decided |
|---|---|---|
| Served over HTTPS | 10 | The address, after any redirects, is an https:// one. |
| A feed readers can follow | 15 | 15 points when the page announces an RSS or Atom feed in its head; 10 when a feed exists at a usual path but is not announced; 0 when none is found. |
| Posted recently | 20 | From the newest dated entry in the feed: 20 points within 30 days, 12 within 90, 6 within 180. |
| A steady rhythm | 15 | From the feed's entries dated in the last 12 months: 15 points for 24 or more, 11 for 12 or more, 7 for 6 or more, 3 for at least one. |
| Every entry has its own address | 10 | At least nine in ten feed entries link to an address of their own, rather than to the changelog page or an anchor on it. |
| Entries are dated | 5 | At least nine in ten feed entries carry a date a program can read. |
| Shared links get a preview | 10 | 4 points for an og:title, 6 for an og:image or twitter:image, in the page's head. |
| Search engines may index it | 5 | The page carries no robots meta tag saying noindex. |
| Loads little from other sites | 5 | Counting the other sites the page's script tags load from: 5 points for none, 3 for one or two, 0 for more. |
| Readers can subscribe by email | 5 | The HTML contains an email field. A form added later by JavaScript is not seen. |
Questions
- What does the Changelog Grader check?
- Ten things a program can read from a public changelog: HTTPS, an announced RSS or Atom feed, how recently and how often the feed shows posts, whether each entry has its own address, whether entries are dated, link-preview tags, whether search engines may index the page, how many other sites its scripts load from, and whether the HTML offers an email sign-up.
- Does it work with any changelog tool?
- Yes. It reads the public page and its feed, whatever publishes them. It cannot see content a page adds later with JavaScript, and the report says so where that matters.
- Is the result public?
- A result has an unguessable link, so anyone you send it to can see it. Result pages are not indexed by search engines, are never listed anywhere, and are deleted after 90 days.
- What do you keep about me?
- Nothing. A result stores the address that was checked and the report, and nothing about who asked — no IP address, no account, no cookie.
- Why did my page score low when it looks fine?
- Most often because the page has no feed, since four of the ten checks read the feed, or because the page is drawn by JavaScript and the HTML the server sends is nearly empty. Both are worth fixing for their own sake: a feed is how readers and automation follow a changelog, and link previews and search engines read the same HTML this tool does.
Guides that go with this
The other free tools
Your changelog, on your own domain
One plan at $19 a month: your domain, the widget, subscriber emails, no watermark and no trackers on your readers. Writing is free — a card starts the 7-day trial when you publish.