RE: Validation as test for basic accessibility

Charles McCathieNevile wrote:
"The point is not that validation equals accessibility, but that the two are
related, and often one is a good indicator that the person has thought about
their site and done the other."

Agreed. So what if we promoted accessibility thus:

1. Make sure your code is valid. This will ensure that it works well on a wide variety of browsers and is an important first step towards accessibility.

2. Once you have valid code, consider more specific items:

	a. Are you using Alt and/or Longdesc properly?

	b. Are multimedia items accessible (e.g., captioned)?

etc.

Would this be more effective than starting with, say, alt text, and only mentioning validity later on?

I think that it might be, and that Bruce is on to something, but let's hear what others think.

Charles Munat,
Munat, Inc.
Seattle, Washington