Category: Web standards

Beyond Validation

For any qualified web developer, code validation is a step. Usually a step which is repeated frequently through the development process – and an important step, certainly, but just one small step in the process to create a standards-based, accessible web design. Validation, by itself, should never be considered as a primary signifier concerning the quality or accessibility of a website: not all validations are equal, after all. There are a number of important questions to be asked when looking […]

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Semantic formatting for interviews

January 8, 2007

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Topics: Semantics, Web standards.

This is a question which came up once upon a time at Cre8asite Forums, and it intrigued me. An interview, next to a standard article format, is possibly the most common type of written document on the web. Interviews pretty much always follow a very straightforward sequence: Question and Answer. An interview may have one interviewer with one interviewee, or may have several of each. In either case, the tag should be able to support some form of citation to […]

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What CSS means for Accessibility

December 20, 2006

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Topics: Accessibility, Semantics, Web standards.

Loren Baker recently published an article by Mikhail Tuknov entitled Benefits of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in Search Engine Optimization. It’s a basic article describing the potential benefits of cascading style sheets in regards to SEO, maintenance, etc. General purpose CSS advocacy. In general, if you aren’t convinced that CSS is worth using, it’s probably worth reading – however, it does emphasize one fallacy which is, personally, a pet peeve. CSS makes your website more accessible. […] By separating style […]

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What we want in IE “Next”

December 13, 2006

3 Comments

Topics: Web standards.

IE (Internet Explorer), the Next Generation. I know – version 7 has only been available for a month and here we standards guys are, whining about it’s flaws. Let’s face it, though: IE 7, though better than it’s predecessor, is ultimately just a clumsy patch job. Roger Johansson has written up his big wishes, asking for some pretty wishful thinking options such as “Rewrite or replace the layout engine.” That’s a huge demand, and personally, I won’t be holding my […]

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Different Standards

November 2, 2006

3 Comments

Topics: Usability, Web standards.

On a day to day basis, I deal with W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standards. However, there are certainly sets of standards (or guidelines) outside of the W3C which are good to be aware of. Thanks to Kim Krause Berg, I’m now aware of another document: Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines, courtesy of the United States Government. One of the keys which makes this worth noting is those two first little words: “Research-Based”. There’s nothing better than research (and […]

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