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Re: CSS files unpredictable

for

From: HAA
Date: May 28, 2005 11:05AM

Thanks - will investigate and follow through............ Appreciate the
comments as I'm a novice at complex css layouts.

Helen

At 16:57 28/05/2005, you wrote:

>A few comments and suggestions please see below.
>
>The site is built using a transitional dtd rather than strict. Use a
>strict dtd and validate you site using an automated tool such as the W3Cs
>validator found at http://validator.w3.org/ When I tested your page
>using its current dtd on the W3C validator it failed. Moving to a strict
>dtd and correcting all of the validation errors will go a long way toward
>correcting your issues with cross browser compatibility and css consistency.
>
>Validate your CSS, the CSS for the page also fails the W3C validator.
>http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ This should help clean up most of the
>remaining CSS issues that you are experiencing.
>
>Avoid the use of deprecated elements - use of a strict dtd will help you
>here as well. You can usually (border within the img tag was spotted by
>Cynthia-says).
>
>Don't design for a specific screen size or resolution. It is impossible
>to anticipate all of the possible combinations and devices that are out
>there or will be out there. For instance, my laptops default resolution
>is 1600X1200 on a 15.5in display, my home desktop has a 19 in display set
>to 1280X1024, my secondary monitor at work is 17in and gets set to a wide
>variety of resolutions depending upon my testing mode, and my cell phone
>has a 2in display with what I think may be a 400X400px resolution and a
>browser that I have set not to download any images.
>
>So what the heck does all or any of this have to to with the topic of this
>list, accessibility. The use of valid mark up helps ensure that your site
>will work with the widest array of presentation technologies
>possible. These technologies whether they are browsers, screen readers,
>bots or whatever may be created in the future are designed by their
>manufacturers using these dtds when we conform to these dtds we give them
>the best chance of working as desired.
>
>Moving on to the subject of not designing to a specific screen resolution
>or size. The use of elastic and fluid design enhances accessibility by
>allowing documents to scale and to flow to fill the available space. The
>benefits of fluid design are controversial because of concerns regarding
>the width of text columns and their relationship to readability and
>eyestrain. IMHO these arguments are not particularly valid in light of my
>discussion of screen size and resolution possibilities above. If the text
>column is uncomfortably wide user can scale his or her browser
>window. Friends of mine who are lucky enough to have very large monitors
>(21in and above) seldom use their browsers with the window maximized.
>
>But wait, should we depend upon users knowing that they can scale their
>browser windows to make our pages more accessible or usable? Well, we use
>good structured, semantic markup to benefit screen reader users and other
>user agents that can take advantage of the documents structure to improve
>navigation. We use link text that makes sense out of context to allow
>users who are knowledgeable to take advantage of link lists. IMHO window
>scaling is a basic computer survival skill and is known to all but a few
>of the most novice users who will quickly learn this feature.
>
>To learn more google the following topics:
>
>Web Standards
>Universal Design
>Liquid Design
>Elastic Design
>
>
>Mike
>
>
>HAA wrote:
>>Try this one: http://www.newchaletclub.co.uk/0/index.htm (it worked for
>>me just now).
>>I've not nested most of my layout <div>s, at this point I get more
>>confused with working out which </div> is connected to which <div> so
>>essentially the site is one column anyway. I use 800x600 anyway (on a 19
>>inch monitor but it wont let me size down to 640x480) and one of *my*
>>personal peeves is when I find a site that was designed for a minimum of
>>1024x768! I hate having to scroll left, so I try to avoid doing that on
>>my sites, with varying sucess I suspect.
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