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Code Validation

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From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Mar 8, 2006 10:40AM

John Foliot wrote:
> > developer(s) have taken the time to ensure that their source
> > code meets validation requirements, that they have also taken
> > a reasonable amount of time to ensure other "accessibility"
> > requirements have been met, addressed, or at least considered.

Andrew Kirkpatrick then wrote:
> That is a huge assumption and while it may be anecdotally supported, I
> doubt that it is really statistically true. I'd be more
> willing to say that those who take the time to validate their
> pages are more likely to run a "Bobby" test

If people code to the HTML/CSS standards, I wouldn't say they are more
likely to take time to check accessibility requirements, but I do think
that:
A) They are much more likely to be aware of them, as there is a lot of
overlap where they are talked about (e.g. W3C).
B) It is likely there will be less issues with their pages anyway.

If the code is valid, you just have to worry about correctly using
structural elements, design aspects, usability aspects, and
cross-browser support. Ok, that is quite a bit, but a lot less than if
you've used a WYSIWYG for template creation.

You *can* make valid pages that are inaccessible, but you have to work
harder. I would put good money on a bet that the average site with valid
HTML is more accessible than the average site which uses tag soup.

The problem here is that there is no direct causal factor. However, on
balance, I would definitely come down on the side of including code
validity in the next version of the WCAG guidelines.

Kind regards,

-Alastair

--
Alastair Campbell | Director of User Experience

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