First Step: Validate Pages to Discover Errors
From the beginning of this series the focus has been on the Montrose Citizens for Responsible Growth site and how I wanted to make this site as accessible and usable as possible for the greatest number of viewers. The site was created for a non-profit organization in Colorado, and my intent was to discover all current accessibility and usability issues and to integrate their principles into the
In the first design and accessibility article, I illustrated how I discovered the errors within the Montrose Citizens for Responsible Growth when I took the home page through W3C’s (World Wide Web Consortium) HTML (HyperText Markup Language) validation process and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) validation process. While the site, for all intents and purposes, appeared “normal” to the average user, the validation processes showed that a number of errors were contained within both the XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) and within the accompanying CSS document. While I could immediately fix the “errors” and eliminate some “warnings” discovered through the validation processes, I realized that deeper problems existed within this site’s structure.
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.