I am a web designer by trade, and things are in an uproar in our business, because of the new web design standards proposed by the world wide web consortium, W3C. All of our web pages will have to be redesigned within the next couple of years. Some of the highlights of the proposed rules: - <Alt> tags will be required on all images - They are getting rid of many of those old familiar <tags> like <font>, to be replaced by cascading style sheets, CSS - All pages must be accessible by all browsers - All paired codes must be closed<open>blah blah</close> - No improper nesting of codes<code1><code2> blah blah</code1></code2> You can check your HTML code at: http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/ and you can check your CSS code at: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ A good resource for optimal page size is: http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/stat_trends.htm#res It also has stats on how many colors, which browsers, etc. As for pet peeves, see: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ Job security, huh? Suzanne

> I am a web designer by trade, and things are in an > uproar in our business, > because of the new web design standards proposed by > the world wide web > consortium, W3C. All of our web pages will have to > be redesigned within the > next couple of years. Some of the highlights of the > proposed rules: Technically, we can expect that browsers will support the old way of doing things for many years to come, and for many designers a strict adherence to the "old" HTML 4.01 standard will give much of the same benefit as a conversion to the newer XHTML way (all tags being closed, etc.). Of course, if you're already playing by the rules then a conversion to XHTML 1.0 and cascading style sheets is not really that much of a leap. The important thing is avoiding browser-specific and sloppy coding practices which will come back to bite you as the major browsers move toward greater compliance with current Web standards. If you had problems with your pages when IE6 came out and wondered what "standards" and "quirks" modes are, it's related to how the browser interprets your compliance with the standards. > A good resource for optimal page size is: > http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/stat_trends.htm#res > It also has stats on how many colors, which > browsers, etc. Excellent resource! Not only do they discuss the nonstandard screen size of WebTV/MSN TV, but the additional twist given it by the squashing of a page to fit on the screen and the resolution problems inherent in using a television to read text. One thing they don't mention is the emulator available at <http://developer.msntv.com/>; between the screen size and the quirky CSS support, you never know quite what your pages will look like without trying them out. Regarding the disability issues raised by Elsi and others: anyone interested in a more in depth discussion should check out _Building Accessible Websites_ by Joe Clark. Opinionated, no-nonsense and full of real-world examples, it is widely considered to be the best book out there on the subject. You may not be quite able to comprehend how someone would use a Braille display to read your page, but you will be motivated to try to make it as easy as possible for them. Bob Sullivan NY SC / Schenectady County CC Schenectady County Public Library (NY) <http://www.scpl.org/> Schenectady Digital History Archive <http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/> __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com

At 07:39 PM 5/3/2003 -0600, Suzanne Leonard wrote: >I am a web designer by trade, and things are in an uproar in our business, >because of the new web design standards proposed by the world wide web >consortium, W3C. All of our web pages will have to be redesigned within >the next couple of years. Some of the highlights of the proposed rules: It's not just the "standards proposed" by W3C that's got us web designers busy. There are governmental standards. For example, the US Government has published Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which defines criteria that spell out what makes products accessible to people with disabilities, including those with vision, hearing, and mobility impairments. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use such technology. Many states and municipalities, universities and libraries, also adhere to the Section 508 regulations. Now, our USGenWeb sites don't fall under Section 508 restrictions as such. The interesting language in this bill is that the standards apply when Federal agencies (and one presumes the other governmental agencies) *USE* technology. So, our failure to adhere to accessibility standards might mean that our site would not be LINKed from the county government or local library web site -- thus making it more difficult for our information to be accessed. Now, my sites are no better or worse than anyone else. I have *not* gone back through them to fix the accessibility problems. I need to do so -- and will over the next few months. If I create something that I'm particularly proud of, I'll invite everyone over to see the results. Regards, Elsi