Standards

I have lived in Texas all my life, so I think I know a thing or two about the second biggest state in the union. When it comes to Web design, you can think of your Web site as a lot like any state out there today. When I first describe Web design [...]

Forgot password should be instant, request email address and immediately let you know if your email address is in the system or not. Otherwise, you lose out on ordering opportunities. We tried to order dinner online and Paul forgot his password. He entered the email address and the response page said it was mailed. Nothing [...]

I like the following article. Right out of the gate, we have someone in place who understands some of the most commons misconceptions and immediately shoots them down one at a time.

Think of it as a Web page validator for the 21st century! OK, so it’s not really a validator per se. Rather a way to help you determine whether or not you are on the ball with SEO and Web standards.

Oh this is too perfect. While I will be the first to say that I have not tried this just yet, I might see just how well I stumble along as I too, take on the quiz for Web standards pros. Who knows, I might end up with a better score than I would normally [...]

Some Web designers may call me a stickler for standards, but I see no reason why large-scale Web sites with professional Web developers behind them won’t use completely valid HTML 4.01 or XHTML 1.0. It just doesn’t make sense. If I can use completely valid HTML 4.01 on my measly little blog Web site, why [...]

I still remember how things were when I first got Online. Now I was far from being first, but about the time I got into the Internet way of life things were already starting to change. I started seeing URLs listed on commercials, products and services. It seemed like all the big [...]

CTO of Opera Software and father of CSS, Håkon Wium Lie, has publicly announced a challenge to Microsoft through a test suit known as Acid2. Lie and the Web Standards Project are developing a test page that uses features such as fixed positioning of elements. The purpose of this effort is to encourage Microsoft to [...]

I think that this article has a point regarding Website designers that claim to be serious about what they do, only to show their site which is done in a way that does not meet with proper standards. Speaking as someone who is not a designer, we are lucky. I can make my site as [...]

We have all heard of alt and title tags when it comes to Web site coding, but how many of us are using them to our advantage? Any search engine optimization guru will tell you that they are the perfect place to put your Web site’s keywords. Others will tell you they are [...]

Ever wonder what the idea of Internet Explorer 7 looks like from the developers perspective? Here is an interesting post that allows us to see the thoughts and concerns the issues surrounding IE 7 and what needs to be addressed to make sure this is an effective upgrade from IE 6. So far, it all [...]

“Since people like Jeffery Zeldman started persuading browser manufactures to support standards through the Web Standards Project, browsers have come a long way.
“While there may be no official standard for how Web developers code Web sites, we need look no further than the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for some recommendations. Only by following these [...]

It may take ages, but it is all worth it in the end. Validating your
site’s HTML to XHTML gives your visitors a good impression on your Web
page, showing them how tidy - and how strict - your code really is.
XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) is fairly simple
to learn and to catch on. Basically, it’s just [...]

According to my own traffic statistics, based on a sample of over 600,000 visitors from over 180 countries, Internet Explorer controls slightly more than 70% of the browser market, where, just twelve months ago it had over 91% of it.

For myself, I stick with verdana or tahoma usually when designing a Web page or plugging fonts into my style sheets. Others may use something different, and that is okay too. What you do not want to do though is use an oddball font that nobody but you might have. If you [...]

Everybody and their grandmother should know that a Web site should be easy to use. You shouldn’t have to hunt for navigational links. You should be trying to guess if that is content, a trick or an ad. Over the past few years more and more Web sites have started to take [...]

Most of you probably know about W3C’s validators. WDG has a validator. My first thought, “Why create a validator when we’ve got the W3C, the official organization?” WDG covers that with its explanation.
I ran google.com on both validators. WDG’s explanation, in my opinion, is easier to understand than W3C, which uses formal (rules) language. It’s jolly [...]

I’ve had the privilege of interviewing Jim Ramsey, the person who spearheaded the redesign to a Web standards compliant design. Jim has written an article for Digital Web explaining the process.
“The San Francisco Examiner recently became one of the first newspapers in the country to fully adopt Web standards and publish a site that utilizes [...]

At Digital Web Magazine, Nick Finck writes:
Keith goes into some detail about the concept that a lot of Web designers and Web standards advocates seem to be confused about. His post is entitled Web Standards = 100% Validation?. I made the same kind of comment to one of my readers recently. Since when did moving [...]

“Web accessibility has so many benefits that I really do wonder why such a large number of websites have such diabolically bad accessibility. One of the main benefits is increased usability, which according to usability guru, Jakob Nielson, can increase the sales/conversion rate of a website by 100% and traffic by 150%.
“At which point you [...]