Standards Compliant & Accessible Web Design

Statistics may tell you that the large majority of web users view sites using 'x' browser on 'x' type of computer with their screen resolution set to 'x by x'... but that doesn't help the users who aren't.

When we start to design a client's website we look at their users' demographics. Often this will include the 'silver surfer' (the older generation), and those users with some sort of disability. In these cases it is important to AT LEAST make a site that can have resizeable text and options for those who sit outside of the 'x'.

The World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) are an organisation who oversee the development of Web Standards - to ensure that the development of web technologies maintain a level whereby as many internet users as possible are able to view websites using 'Standards Compliant' code.

How accessible can a website be?

It is possible to create websites that have a very high degree of usability for those with quite severe disabilities. In cases where the user has little or no sight, for example, screen readers are used that relay the information on the website to the user via the spoken word. With this type of user the most important variables to think about are how easy we can make it to allow that user easy access to the information that is on that web page and what links are available to that user to navigate to other web pages of related interest.

There are some quite simple rules to follow to allow users with disabilities easy access to your web pages - and Fibonacci Designs make websites with these users in mind.

What other benefits are there to having a 'Standards Compliant' website?

The most obvious benefit is that you can have more users view your website - that's a given. Other benefits include how much traffic your site will get, as websites that are coded with 'Standards Compliant' XHTML and CSS are easily accessible by Search Engines and thus maintain a consistently higher ranking than those that don't.

Needless to say, Fibonacci Designs code the majority of our websites with Standard Compliant code wherever possible.