Standards / Accessibility
Standards
The web is constantly evolving. People are not only surfing from their home pc, but also on the move from mobile devices. You can even get fridges these days which are "internet enabled". To enable a site to "scale" between these various viewing devices, it needs to be built in a certain way. For example, someone visiting website on a PDA on the move- probably does not want to watch or download a large flash animation, before they can read any information. A well constructed site will take care of these situations, with the actual core information separated from the "visual" layer allowing the page to be viewed on a variety of devices, and browser software.
The World Wide Web Consortium creates the specifications that all the major web browsers follow, and building a site which conforms to these standards, has many advantages. A standards compliant structure allows search engines to extract data more accurately which will give better visibility in searches. It also ensure that the site works as it should on future web browser versions or devices, and allows the content to be easily converted to other formats (such as a PDF, office document or incorporated into a database).
It is very important to us that we develop sites which follow these standards, and the high quality of our work is paramount.
Accessibility and Features
Separation of content (xhtml) from style (css)
As mentioned we build our sites with separate content and style. We can even include multiple styles for various devices (so the site could have a custom minimal look when viewed on a PDA). As the layout is separate the flow of text is more logical meaning the site works well for visitors with visual impairments, such as those using "speech browsers" which read the page aloud.
Strict Markup, Standards Compliance, and Additional Tags
In addition to the high quality and standards compliance of the markup/code we produce, we also include elements mentioned in W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (http://www.w3.org/WAI/). We aim for AAA conformance in our work. This includes for example, including descriptive "alt" tags for images, using labels, and descriptive names on tables. More information can be read in the w3c Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/).
Access Keys
Access keys allow assigning of keyboard shortcuts to common/useful links. This means the site can be navigated quickly with a few key presses. We make use of common combinations, so that visitors who wish to use them - will be able to navigate right away.
Text Only / Colour Combinations
If required we can integrate some functionality to allow the site to be switched to text-only. This is advantageous for those on slow connections, or on an unusual display device. We can also add the facility to change the colours and font sizes on the site, to aid those with visual impairment.
Printable Mode
At times it can be quite annoying when printing a webpage. Many website's do not include code to make printouts clean and legible. I'm sure everyone has clicked print on a site before, and ended up with 4 pages of graphics in addition to the text they wanted. We can include a custom stylesheet for your site for printing, so that visitors can print the information they need. This can be done automatically, or with a link to a "printable version".
For a more information on web standards in general and links to more resources please visit The Web Standards Project.
