But today I finally got the www.baptcare.org.au website to validate – and it’s only taken a whole year, hurrah!

If you run a website, why not go to http://validator.w3.org/ and test its pages (not just the home page) for HTML errors? If you find any, instruct your web designer to fix them, although if you didn’t originally insist on standards compliance they might well refuse. If you’re commissioning a new website, insist on 100% validation in the contract, and be clear that you’ll withhold payment until it’s achieved.

What types of errors needed fixing on the Baptcare site? Here are a few of the most common ones:

• An XHTML DOCTYPE was changed to a transitional HTML and that solved about 75% of the errors.
• Some tags ended in /> and some in just >. I changed them all to > to match the DOCTYPE.
• Tags were nested incorrectly. For example, there were dozens of <a> anchor tags that contained <h3> heading tags, like this <a><h3></h3></a>. It should have been the other way round.
• There were plenty of lonely, forgotten </p> tags sitting there on their own with no preceding <p> tag.
• Lots of ampersands & in URL links had to be changed to &amp; in order to validate.

So do all Baptcare’s pages now validate 100%? Well, let’s be honest, no. There’s still one recurring error I haven’t got rid of yet, an empty <ul></ul> that the CMS automatically sticks in some pages and not others. That’s technically a validation error because an unordered list should contain one or more <li> list items, but let’s be reasonable… it’s not the end of the world!

And I’m ignoring the Locations page which currently has over 500 errors (originally it was 1,400 which is a quite impressive figure!) and which I intend to completely replace soon with a new, standards-compliant version incorporating the Google Maps API.

1. Is your HTML code valid?

   The code on your website should meet certain standards. Use this free tool to check the pages on your website for errors: http://validator.w3.org. The results are full of techie jargon so let’s make this simple for you: if you get a green banner saying “this page is valid” then your site passed the test; if you get a red message then it failed and you should ask your web designer to correct however many errors are listed.

2. What about your CSS?

   CSS code dictates how your website looks: its fonts, sizes and colours, widths of columns, margins and backgrounds etc. Use this free tool to check the code for errors:  http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator and let your web designer know if you find any.

3. Can Google find the pages on your website?

   Get yourself a Google account and sign up for the free Webmaster tools. The Sitemap tool will tell you whether Google can or cannot reach all the pages on your website. If Google can’t find some of your pages, it probably indicates a web design fault, most likely a problem with your navigation links. You can do a more basic version of this test by simply typing “site:www.yourdomain.org” into Google and checking whether all your pages are listed.

4. Identify the missing links

   The links from your website to external websites will need updating occasionally. Other websites may change their address, delete pages or even disappear completely. Use the W3C’s free Link Checker tool to check individual pages or the Dead Links tool to check an entire site at once  – it may take some time so go make a coffee and come back later.

5. Are font sizes resizable?

   In Internet Explorer select Page > Text > Largest. If all the text on your website increases in size then well done. If not then your site probably uses fixed font sizes e.g. 12pt. Ask your web designer to change them to variable sizes e.g. using percentages or ems. This will benefit visitors with poor eyesight.

6. How many other websites link to your site?

   If your website is to attract visitors you need a lot of other sites to link to yours. You could use Google to find out how many websites link to yours by typing in “link:www.yourdomain.org”. However, if you try the same search in Altavista you’ll actually get a more accurate result. If you find that only a few websites link to you, start emailing other websites in your area of work to politely request a link.

7. Where are your contact details?

   Are your contact details on every page of your website? If not, is there a prominent link to a page with your contact details on it? You should at least provide your address, phone and email and registered charity number. If you expect people to visit your building, a map will also be helpful. You’d be surprised how many charity websites fail this basic test.

8. Check your website statistics

   Every organisation needs statistics for how many people visit their website, how many pages are looked at, which are the most popular pages etc. Start checking your stats monthly and making a note of the number of visitor sessions and page views. Hopefully, if your content is good and you’re promoting your website well, you’ll see a steady increase. If your website is popular, produce a couple of simple graphs for your management committee to show them how worthwhile the website is. If not, start a campaign to get your website noticed.

   Don’t have statistics? Unsure how to understand them? Take a look at some of the discussions on the TechSoup web building forum, especially October 2007′s online event about web analytics.

I’d be very interested to know what results you get. Please come back to this website and leave a comment or ask a question!

Firstly, the case was certified as a class action on behalf of blind Internet users throughout the country under the Americans with Disabilities Act; and secondly, the court held that similar websites are required by Californian law to be accessible.

By having an inaccessible website, retailers are discriminating against many of their potential customers. That’s why the President of the National Federation of the Blind said in a statement:

“This is a tremendous step forward for blind people throughout the country who for too long have been denied equal access to the Internet economy.  All e-commerce businesses should take note of this decision and immediately take steps to open their doors to the blind.”

Web accessibility standards and laws apply in many countries – here’s a list of countries and relevant legislation. The Disability Discrimination Act covers UK websites and if you’re in the UK it’s worth knowing that the charity Abilitynet can give you advice and a free accessibity check of your own charity’s website. Plus, the ICT Hub publish an excellent free Web Accessibility Pack which all charities should read.