The term web standards can mean different things to different people. For some, it is simply 'table-free sites', for others it is 'using valid code'. However, web standards are much broader than that. A site built to web standards should adhere to standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT, DOM, MathML, SVG etc) and pursue best practices (valid code, accessible code, semantically correct code, user-friendly URLs etc).

In other words, a site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly. In addition to the checklist below, we will use the following sites to test validation for the work we do for our clients:

XHTML Validator:    http://validator.w3.org/
CSS Validator:         http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Accessibility Guide: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html


The checklist

The following checklist is used by our staff to ensure we acheive high Web standards. This is not a perfect checklist, there are probably many items that could be added. It should also be noted that this is a list of items that we feel must be addressed on every site that we develop. It is simply a guide that can be used as a handy tool for developers during the production phase of websites as well as to communicate to our prospective clients how we achieve high web standards.

Quality of code
  • Does the site use a correct Doctype?
  • Does the site use unnecessary classes or ids?
  • Is the code well structured?
  • Does the site use a Character set?
  • How does the site perform in terms of speed/page size?
  • Does the site use Valid (X)HTML?
  • Does the site use Valid CSS?
  • Does the site use any CSS hacks?
  • Does the site have any broken links?
  • Does the site have JavaScript errors?
Degree of separation between content and presentation
  • Does the site use CSS for all presentation aspects (fonts, colour, padding, borders etc)?
  • Are all decorative images in the CSS, or do they appear in the (X)HTML?
Accessibility for users
  • Are "alt" attributes used for all descriptive images?
  • Is there sufficient colour brightness/contrasts?
  • Is colour alone used for critical information?
  • Is there delayed responsiveness for dropdown menus (for users with reduced motor skills)?
  • Are all links descriptive (for blind users)?Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size?
  • Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased?
  • Does the site use accessible forms?
  • Does the site use accessible tables?
  • Does the site use visible skip menus?
Accessibility for devices
  • Does the site work well when printed?
  • Is the content accessible with images switched off or not supported?
  • Does the site work well in Hand Held devices?
  • Does the site include detailed metadata?
  • Does the site work acceptably across modern and older browsers?
  • Is the content accessible with CSS switched off or not supported?
  • Does the site work in text browsers such as Lynx?
  • Does the site work well in a range of browser window sizes?
Basic Usability
  • Are heading levels easy to distinguish?
  • Are visited links clearly defined?
  • Is the site's navigation easy to understand?
  • Is the site's navigation consistent?
  • Does the site use consistent and appropriate language?
  • Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
  • Does the site have a sitemap page and contact page? Are they  easy to find?
  • For large sites, is there a search tool?
  • Is there a link to the home page on every page in the site?
  • Are links underlined?
Site management
  • Does the site have a favicon?
  • Do your URLs work without "www"?
  • Does the site have a meaningful and helpful 404 error page that works from any depth in the site?
  • Does the site use friendly URLs?

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