Starting from scratch

	Home Register Search Help Login

Sponsors
Frontpage website templates
Creative Website Templates for FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Flash, SwishMax
Shopping Cart Software
Ecommerce software integrated into Frontpage, Dreamweaver and Golive templates. No monthly fees and available in ASP and PHP versions.
Website Templates
We also have a wide selection of Dreamweaver, Expression Web and Frontpage templates as well as webmaster tools and CSS layouts.

Recent Posts
Todays Posts
Most Active posts
Posts since last visit
My Recent Posts
Mark posts read

Starting from scratch

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> Web Development >> Cascading Style Sheets and Accessibility >> Starting from scratch

Page: [1]


rdouglass Posts: 9280 From: Biddeford, ME USA Status: offline	Starting from scratch - 12/7/2007 14:29:44 Hi all you accessibility folks, I'm starting a new site from scratch that will cater to the Christian community, local, regional, (and globally I hope). I plan to include articles, member/church areas, scheduling events, etc. I'm posting this as a request for any advice, pitfalls, tools, and methods that you folks would consider when building from the ground up. I intend to make this site fully accessible (or at least as much as I can) and I know designing for that from the beginning will much improve my chances for sucess. Thanks much for all your input. _____________________________ Don't take you're eye off your final destination. ASP Checkbox Function Tutorial.


Tailslide Posts: 6758 Joined: 5/10/2005 From: Out here on the raggedy edge Status: offline	RE: Starting from scratch - 12/7/2007 16:09:59 Hi Roger. Ok so obviously css layouts rather than table layout. Links for list of menu items Skip link right at the start of the code either visible or AP'ed -999px left. Labels around the inputs on a form (and pref no tables there either) If you've got complex navigation then ensure it works for keyboard navigation and without JS (doesn't have to work exactly the same - just ensure that people can find pages). Ensure the site works without images visible (be careful about background colours). If you use an image replacement method for banner image/logos/headings whatever then be careful as some are better than others. Informational images are best kept in the markup - non-informational images best kept in CSS (obviously it's not always possible - but as a general rule) Have a decent amount of contrast between background and text. Don't use PX or PT etc for font-sizing - allow users to increase their text size in their browsers and plan for that in the layout of the site so that it doesn't break (either go for fluid layout or elastic layout). If you need tables for tabular data then ensure you include helpful things like THs etc. Use alt text properly (as a replacement for the image rather than a description of it). Don't use title attributes unless you need them - they can end up being confusing if included unecessarily. Things to avoid - Accesskeys, tabindexes, flash navigation, JSonly navigation. Personal Biases: Don't bother with text-size widgets - if you want to use a styleswitcher then make it for a zoom stylesheet (goolge that term for a ton of stuff - basically single column, simplified layout, larger text, light on dark - for easier reading). I now include an accessibility page with details about how they can increase text size in different browsers using the whole give fish/teach how to fish thinking. Basically I'd keep it simple and keep it semantic - you'll find it easier. Course one thing to consider for this type of site is a WordPress site - it is PHP and I can't remember whether you're ASP only - but (depending on the theme) it generates semantic, fairly accessible code out of the box and can be added to or templated from scratch pretty easily. Might save a lot of work on your part. Other stuff: If you need a bulleting board - PunBB is fairly simple but produces pretty good code for a forum. SMF is more complex and far as I know not quite as nice code but still better than most. If you've got PHP then use Mike Cherim's secure accessible contact form - very good for anti-spam and very nice code-wise. _____________________________ Little Blue Plane Web Design \| Land Rover project (in reply to rdouglass)


jaybee Posts: 14441 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Starting from scratch - 12/7/2007 17:29:51 What she said. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to Tailslide)


rdouglass Posts: 9280 From: Biddeford, ME USA Status: offline	RE: Starting from scratch - 12/8/2007 10:30:13 Great stuff to consider when starting a site from nothing. Thanks very much for your input. Won't be using PHP but rather will be using .NET throughout. I'm not ASP only but I've done very, very little PHP. So rather than use those products, I will probably use them as output guidelines. Thanks again. _____________________________ Don't take you're eye off your final destination. ASP Checkbox Function Tutorial. (in reply to jaybee)