WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Importancy of Doctype & Text Encoding

for

From: Keith Parks
Date: Jan 19, 2007 10:00AM


On Jan 18, 2007, at 8:28 PM, Kallie Swanepoel wrote:

> What doctype, text encoding, and font should one use to make pages
> accessible, but also to ensure that pages are beeing displayed
> correctly
> by all browsers? Not the font on the page as it's beeing displayed on
> the page, but the font of the text encoded in the html.
>
> I'm writing raw html code, for I haven't found a program yet that is
> accessible enough for me to use, and I believe some programs put these
> properties in by default.

I'm not positive I understand your font question (had to read it a
few times ;^), but if you are writing your code in a word processing
program, make sure you are saving the file as a plain text ("Text
Only") file. That way there should be no font or other formatting
information in the file.

Also, along the lines of doctype and text encoding, I believe
accessibility guidelines recommend that the document's natural
language be specified, as in...

<html lang="en">

HTH,

Keith

******************************
Keith Parks
Graphic Designer/Web Designer
Student Affairs Communications Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7444

(619) 594-1046

mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.sdsu.edu
http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/communications
----------------------------------------------------------

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, served with a side of
slaw.