I decided to run the computerworld article through JAWS (A Windows-based screen reader) and their site seems a good example of why it's so frustrating. (JAWS has a 40 minute mode which web people can use to test their designs, I find it very useful).
Here is what you hear:
"Link Graphic Click here to find out more, Link Graphic Click here to find out more, Link Graphic Click here to find out more, Link Graphic Click here to find out more." Then you get the top images, which are well described, then you have a Jump To section, again, not too bad, and the search is clear.
Then you're thrown into the navigation without any kind of skip link and no access keys. Then you get ads to download MS Search Server and an Ebook, Network Scanner, Virtualisation something. Then a Table to sign up for newsletters, then print edition. THEN you reach the content.
Admitedly you can use headings to skip to content, which is a bonus, but I've not seen a huge number of sites that use headings correctly.
You get the Heading, Sub Heading, then the comments, recommended and share links, then the Comments/Related box to the left of the article. Then the Zone advert THEN you get to the content of the article. The quote isn't obvious, there's a message for me to get the latest flash player, then the remainder of the article.
After this are the page links. "Link 2, Link 3, Link Next Right double angle bracket"
It should be noted that I am not a very competent screen reader user and that experienced users can speed this process up and if you have headings (Which computerworld do) you can skip to H1 and save a lot of time, but to be honest their site could do with fixing, just like the majority of ones I see (myself included sometimes, I'm still learning too).
One of my friends from China is teaching me Chinese. I found an image with some characters I liked on a Falun Gong website and sent her the link.
She doesn't live in China, but her PC blocked the site and she couldn't see the image. Her ISP wasn't blocking it, it was hard coded into the OS. (She uses IE). This article has no idea what China is doing.
I validate each page on my site, and my job also expects that I will write code that is W3C compliant.
I validate because it means I have a better chance of my site working in all browsers (for longer). Plus I wanted to learn, and because trying to use CSS on code that isn't valid is tricky.
The main thing abount compliance is that it isn't the last thing on your list to do, it's something you aim for from the start of a project, and having worked with and without compliance, I prefer with.
And yes, I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I validate a page.
Slashdot Mirror
I decided to run the computerworld article through JAWS (A Windows-based screen reader) and their site seems a good example of why it's so frustrating. (JAWS has a 40 minute mode which web people can use to test their designs, I find it very useful).
Here is what you hear:
"Link Graphic Click here to find out more, Link Graphic Click here to find out more, Link Graphic Click here to find out more, Link Graphic Click here to find out more." Then you get the top images, which are well described, then you have a Jump To section, again, not too bad, and the search is clear.
Then you're thrown into the navigation without any kind of skip link and no access keys. Then you get ads to download MS Search Server and an Ebook, Network Scanner, Virtualisation something. Then a Table to sign up for newsletters, then print edition. THEN you reach the content.
Admitedly you can use headings to skip to content, which is a bonus, but I've not seen a huge number of sites that use headings correctly.
You get the Heading, Sub Heading, then the comments, recommended and share links, then the Comments/Related box to the left of the article. Then the Zone advert THEN you get to the content of the article. The quote isn't obvious, there's a message for me to get the latest flash player, then the remainder of the article.
After this are the page links. "Link 2, Link 3, Link Next Right double angle bracket"
It should be noted that I am not a very competent screen reader user and that experienced users can speed this process up and if you have headings (Which computerworld do) you can skip to H1 and save a lot of time, but to be honest their site could do with fixing, just like the majority of ones I see (myself included sometimes, I'm still learning too).
Email validation is no longer a useful tool. Our forums were hit by spamming bots, and all of them had valid email addresses.
It can't be that hard to write a script to read forum registration emails and click the first link they see to activate the account.
Here in New Zealand it's 1:47PM on 01/01/2007, so it's a bit more than 14 minutes late.
One of my friends from China is teaching me Chinese. I found an image with some characters I liked on a Falun Gong website and sent her the link. She doesn't live in China, but her PC blocked the site and she couldn't see the image. Her ISP wasn't blocking it, it was hard coded into the OS. (She uses IE). This article has no idea what China is doing.
If they don't open it does it mean they aren't fired?
So you get them from a US company which then bugs them to help them secure Government contracts.
I validate each page on my site, and my job also expects that I will write code that is W3C compliant.
I validate because it means I have a better chance of my site working in all browsers (for longer). Plus I wanted to learn, and because trying to use CSS on code that isn't valid is tricky.
The main thing abount compliance is that it isn't the last thing on your list to do, it's something you aim for from the start of a project, and having worked with and without compliance, I prefer with.
And yes, I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I validate a page.