On 11/1/05, kvnmcwebn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > hello all, > Ive started designing sites for this company that specilizes in .net > databases driven/xml feed type sites. I just give them a graphics file and > they slice it up. Anyway they asked me yesterday if i could do this > particular job with web accessability in mind. But heres the thing-when they > mark up my designs and ad the vb .net code a typical page will be running > validation errors in the hundreds. I told them that they need to start with > web standards and get thier pages to validate before they start on > accessability. > Was that sound advice?
I'd say it depends on what they're already doing. The fact they ask this means they're aware there is an issue, so how ingrained in their development process is consideration for accessibility? If the "validation errors in the hundreds" are just unencoded ampersands or odd tag that doesn't self-close (such as <br /> or <img />, etc.), then who cares if their stuff validates? (Apologies to anyone offended by such a laissez faire approach!) Accessibility and validation are often paired, but that seems to be more of an incidental thing (because those who care enough to follow specs are also more likely to take an interest in best practices, including what we term "accessibility"). Also, if you're in a design role, was there an element of "can you make your designs USABLE" in their request? Without falling too much into a discussion of the division between that and "accessibility", that's a fairly valid concern for them to voice. I'd say you're right if their validation errors are non-trivial, but, as John Allsopp's recent survey [ http://westciv.com/style_master/house/good_oil/best_practices/ ] of practices in large Australian sites demonstrated (amongst other things), otherwise respectable sites can fall down on little things such as that... and claiming validation is prerequisite to accessibility CAN (not neccessarily) be potentially unhelpful. Josh ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
