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The primary accessibility feature of this web site is that it is written to the standards of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) rather than some vendor's corruption of it. In addition to validating the syntax, I try to follow the semantics as well, although I must admit I have used some less-than-optimal markup because I couldn't convince the browsers to present it properly.
Further, I use XHTML 1.0 Basic , which strips away most of the presentational clutter retained from outdated versions of HTML, and is designed to work on cell phones, PDAs, voice readers, and other limited platforms. Even within this, I use no browser-side scripts, no motion, flashing lights, bells, or whistles. The vast majority of the presentation logic is in a single CSS 2 file, where it can be easily ignored, overridden, or replaced by compliant browsers. I regularly check the pages' presentation in Firfox, Mozilla 0.9, Internet Explorer, Konqueror, and the text-based links. I am in a long process of marking up acronyms and abbreviations, but am not done yet. If you place your cursor over an acronym or abbreviation in most visual browsers, the expansion of the term will appear as a tiny popup window, often called a tooltip. For an example, try WArP .
Currently, the site is at Web Content Accessibility level 1-A, but I have already completed most of the criteria for level triple-A, and will be continuing to work towards full accessibility.
This site has a "tree
" layout. The home page and a dozen or so
other pages include a list of links to pages considered the "children
"
of that page. Web pages without this list are referred to as "leaf
"
pages.
Using access keys is browser-dependent, but many seem to use the Alt-# convention: Hold down the alt or other special key while pressing the number. In the case of Internet Explorer, this must be followed by the enter key to actually follow the link; in Mozilla and some others, the Alt-number is sufficient. The key codes are listed in the navigation menu list at the bottom of each page. The convention used for keys is based on the the convention suggested in 30 days to a more accessible website :
leaf" pages.
You may have noticed that the keys used to navigate through the site's tree structure (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8) have been selected so that on most numeric keypad layouts, navigation in the opposite direction is using the key on the opposite side of the grid.
All of the active accesskey links are grouped into a linkbar at the bottom of each web page. The key number for each link is indicated in the bar. If viewed without a stylesheet, the linkbar appears as a list.
The Site Map is a list of the pages on this web site, presented as nested lists to portray the site's tree layout. It also contains lists of this site's style sheets and images, and duplicates of all external links, sorted by the alt or title attribute, or file name if these are null. It is automatically compiled by reaping all of the various links on the other pages. It is accessible from any page on the site through the main menu, or access key 5.
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