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Compiled by Cynthia A. Lockley with additional submissions from Bill Killam and Kathy Bine. This handout was prepared for the 10 December 2003 presentation of "Section 508: Background, Practical Strategies and New Technologies" (speakers: Bill Killam, Cynthia Lockley, and Kathy Bine).

Additions and Updates will be added when needed to prevent link rot. When updates are made, they will be marked with a "New" flag.

Apache Server Tools

• Unix, SSI, Linux
  • Apache .htaccess Ultimate Guide
  • Ask Apache Mod Rewrite Tips and Tricks
  • Apache Server Side Includes  Updated
  • Rewrite Underscores to Hyphens for SEO URL
  • W3C Server Side Include Commands
  • Server Side Includes (SSI / .shtml) by Example
  • SSI Time and Date Format Codes  Updated
  • Apachee .htaccess Default Skeleton Samples
  • URL Rewriting | redirecting URLs with Apache's mod_rewrite

HTML and XHTML

• About HTML
• Boston-IA: Bringing Information Architecture
  • https://www.boston-ia.org/
• A delightful reference for HTML Symbols, Entities, Hex Codes, and ASCII Character Codes by Total Designers.
  (With usage, for example: apostrophe ')
  • HTML Arrow Symbol, Arrow Entity, and ASCII Arrow Character Code Reference ↑→
  • HTML Punctuation Symbols, Punctuation Entities, and ASCII Character Code Reference &—
  • HTML Currency Symbols, Currency Entities, and ASCII Currency Character Code Reference $¢
  • HTML Letter Symbols, Letter Entities, and ASCII Letter Character Code Reference Aö
  • HTML Math Symbols, Math Entities, and ASCII Math Character Code Reference %+
  • HTML Number Symbols, Number Entities, and ASCII Number Character Code Reference 1¾
  • HTML Currency Symbols, Currency Entities, and ASCII Currency Character Code Reference ©™
• HTML Techniques for Lists
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#lists
• HTML5
• W3C Document Object Model
  • https://dom.spec.whatwg.org/#what/#what
• W3C HTML Home Page
  • https://www.w3.org/MarkUp/
• HTML Living Standard – Last Updated 12 January 2021
  • https://html.spec.whatwg.org/
• XHTML™ 1.0 The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (Second Edition), A Reformulation of HTML 4 in XML 1.0, W3C Recommendation 26 January 2000, revised 1 August 2002, superseded 27 March 2018

  Extensible HyperText Markup Language is part of the family of XML markup languages. It mirrors or extends versions of the widely used HyperText Markup Language, the language in which Web pages are formulated. XHTML is a stricter, more XML-based version of HTML. XHTML is HTML defined as an XML application. XHTML is supported by all major browsers.

  • https://www.w3.org/TR/2018/SPSD-xhtml1-20180327/
• Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML). XHTML 1.1 became a W3C recommendation on May 31, 2001. The standard known as XHTML5 is being developed as an XML adaptation of the HTML5 specification.  New
• XHTML strict cheat sheet
  • http://www.cheat-sheets.org/saved-copy/HTML-XHTML_Tag_Sheet.pdf This reference notes some of the most commonly used HTML and XHTML tags.  New
  • XHTML 1.0 Strict Reference  New
• XHTML: Differences between Strict & Transitional
  • http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/internet/difference-between-xhtml-strict-and-transitional/

Accessibility

• Accessible-Techcomm
  • https://accessible-techcomm.org
• Access.Adobe.com
  • https://www.adobe.com/accessibility.html
• Accessibility Slideshows
  • "HTML Slidy: Slide Shows in XHTML", by Dave Raggett, W3C.org
  • Accessibility Presentations, CSS, and Design Systems
  • "Making Modal Windows Better For Everyone", by Scott O’Hara, Smashing Magazine, 15 Sep 2014
• Accessibility Testing & Remediation: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

  Making online information accessible for everyone by Mary Gillen

  • Blog
  • Services
• CSS Aural properties
  • https://www.geoffknagge.com/webdevelopment/css/2/2ural.shtml
• Governmebt Guidelines and resources
  • Digital.gov Essential "how-to" guidance for product managers in government.
  • https://www.usability.gov Usability.gov is the leading resource for user experience (UX) best practices and guidelines, serving practitioners and students in the government and private sectors. This website provides overviews of the user-centered design process and various UX disciplines. It also covers the related information on methodology and tools for making digital content more usable and useful.
• The What and Why of Usability
  • https://www.usability.gov Usability.gov is the leading resource for user experience (UX) best practices and guidelines, serving practitioners and students in the government and private sectors. This website provides overviews of the user-centered design process and various UX disciplines. It also covers the related information on methodology and tools for making digital content more usable and useful.
  • "Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines" (21.9 MB .pdf).
    • Getting the Guidelines Up-to-Date blog post, August 2013
  • "Simple and Usable: web, mobile, and interaction design" is a practical guide to simplicity written by Giles Colborne. This book offers examples and stories that break the subject down into tips, strategies and guidelines you can follow to create websites, software or mobile apps which have a compelling simplicity.
• Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards
  • https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards
  • W3C Tutorials and Courses
• Guidelines for Accessible and Usable Web Sites: Observing Users Who Work With Screen Readers. Interactions, [X. 6], November-December 2003, 38-51, Redish and Theofanos.
  • https://redish.net/wp-content/uploads/Theorfanos_Redish_InteractionsPaperAuthorsVer.pdf
• Accessible ASCII Code ASCII table of ascii codes (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). The complete table of ASCII characters, letters, codes, symbols and signs. Accessible ASCII Printable Characters and HTML Entities For example, the verticle bar, verticle line, verticle slash: | (Also in Spanish)
• IBM Accessibility Research           
  • https://www.ibm.com/able/
• Are CSS Tables Better Than HTML Tables?
  • http://vanseodesign.com/css/tables/
• Real-Life Responsive Web Design, Smashing Book 5, published by Smashing Magazine, March 31st, 2015
• Responsive Design's Dirty Little Secret fluid grids and rounding errors
• The Role of Table Layouts in Responsive Web Design What to do if you have content that shouldn't alter dimensions such as ad blocks?, by Ian Yates, 23 Jan 2013.
• Microsoft and Section 508 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility
• Ohio State Policy and Resources for Web Developers
  • OSU Minimum Digital Accessibility Standards (MDAS) provide implementation standards for Ohio State's Digital Accessibility policy.
• Our SIG's "e-Lifelines": Tapping Online Resources to Help Meet Special Needs. Proceedings, STC 50th Annual Conference, 2003. Lockley and Murray.
  • https://wdcb.stcwdc.org/wp-content/PDF/Lockley_Murray_eLifelines.pdf
• Section 508 and Why It Matters. Bine, 2001.
  • https://www.stcsig.org/oi/hyperviews/archive/01Spring/012f3.htm
• Section 508: Section 508 Standards
  • U.S. Access Board Information and Communication Technology Revised 508 Standards and 255 Guidelines
• Tables: identifying table rows and columns
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#identifying-table_rows-columns
• TPGi (formerly The Paciello Group) – a leading international authority on Internet and software accessibility
  • https://www.tpgi.com/
• The Section 508 Universe, Buy Accessible database
  • https://www.section508.gov/
• This HTML Kills: Thoughts on Web Accessibility: A List Apart
  • https://www.alistapart.com/articles/htmlkills
• Trace Research and Development Center
  • https://trace.umd.edu
• Usability.gov
• Usability and User Experience SIG (STC).
  • https://redish.net/wp-content/uploads/Theorfanos_Redish_InteractionsPaperAuthorsVer.pdf "Guidelines for Accessible and Usable Web Sites: Observing Users Who Work With Screen Readers", Janice Redish and Mary Frances Theofanos.
  • https://user-centereddesign.com/files/positionpaper.doc "Position Paper on the Suitability to Task of Automated Utilities for Testing Web Accessibility Compliance", Killam and Holland.
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
  • https://www.w3.org/WAI/
    provides updates on accessibility legislation worldwide and for U.S.; describes solutions to inaccessible code; also comparison of validation/remediation software
• Web Accessibility for Section 508 Tutorial
  • https://jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm
• Web Accessibility Principles
  • https://webaim.org/resources/quickref/
  • The A11Y Project Content Style Guide is a living example of how to create beautiful, accessible, and inclusive digital experiences. It provides guidelines, general tips, examples, and lists resources.  Revised
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#gl-structure-presentation
• Web Tables
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#gl-table-markup

Color

• See the Color section in Accessibility Resources for additional resources.
• Safe web colours for colour-deficient vision: Choosing safe colours, by Christine Rigden
• Colour Contrast Analyser. Updated This native application (available for both Windows and Mac) allows you to evaluate the color visibility and contrast of foreground/background color combinations. It provides an initial pass/fail assessment against WCAG 2.0 color contrast success criteria. n addition, the Colour Contrast Analyser provides functionality to simulate certain visual conditions such as dichromatic color blindness (protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia) and cataracts. Note: the image simulation features are currently not available in the Mac version. [From TPGi (formerly The Paciello Group).]
  • Download Windows and Mac versions available in several languages.
• Color Contrast Analyzer: "Luminosity Colour Contrast Ratio Analyser allows you to check the contrast of two colours using the W3C's colour contrast algorithm by specifying the colours directly." [From Juicy Studio]
  • https://juicystudio.com/services/luminositycontrastratio.php
• Color Laboratory The color laboratory allows you to select colors and see how they appear next to one another and in various foreground / background combinations. It also allows you to see those colors as they might appear to color-blind users.
  • http://colorlab.wickline.org/colorblind/colorlab/
• Colour Vision Easy to use tool to quickly see color deficiencies with color palettes for Protanomaly (low red), Protanopia (no red), Deuteranomaly (low green), Deutanopia (no green), Tritanomaly (low blue), Tritanopia (no blue), Typical Monochromatic, ATypical Monochromatic.
  • https://www.iamcal.com/misc/colors/
• "Computer Color Matters -Is your computer color blind?" [from Color Matters® Computers]
  • https://www.colormatters.com/color-blind-computers
• Design for the Color Impaired using the Colorblind Evaluation Tester Color Oracle is a FREE color blindness simulator for Windows, Mac and Linux. It takes the guesswork out of designing for color blindness by showing you in real time what people with common color vision impairments will see. Color Oracle applies a full screen color filter to art you are designing, independently of the software in use. Download Version 1.3, May 5, 2018 for MacOS, Windows, Linux.
• Fonts excellent resource for information about fonts [from Webaim]
  • https://webaim.org/techniques/fonts/

CSS

• All CSS Properties Listed Alphabetically
  • http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/css/propindex/all.htm by Brian Wilson, Last Update: Oct. 1 2003
• Alternate style sheets
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/present/styles.html#h-14.3.1
• Apple Development Resources
  • https://developer.apple.com/develop/ scroll to Resources index
• Assigning browser-specific styles
  • https://www.thesitewizard.com/css/excludecss.shtml
• Aural style sheets
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html
• Box Model Hack – Web Design History
  • https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/web-design-history/box-model-hack-2002
• Browser Detect object checks
  • https://github.com/mtschirs/js-objectdetect
• Browser sniffer – a VERY bad thing to rely on!
  • http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/tutorials/jsexamples/sniffer.html
• Cascading Style Sheets
  • https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
• CSS Snapshot 2020, W3C Working Group Note, 22 December 2020
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS/
• Cascading Style Sheets, Level 3, current work & how to participate
  • https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work
• CSS Required Order for anchor link elements using pseudo-classes: link, visited, hover, active
  When styling colored links in CSS, the pseudo-class elements must be listed in a specific cascading order for them to work (link, visited, hover, active). Remember the cascading order as "love hate": LVHA; "LOVE" (LV) "HATE" (HA)
  • a:link
  • a::visited
  • a:hover
  • a:active
• Free CSS3 Tools and Resources
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/
• CSS3 Border / Outline Generator
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/generator/border-outline/
• CSS3 Border Radius Generator
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/generator/border-radius/
• CSS3 Box Shadow Generator
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/generator/box-shadow/
• CSS3 Color (RGB) Codes, Color Pickers, and Converters
  • https://rgbcolorcode.com/
• CSS3 Columns Generator
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/generator/font/
• CSS3 Multicolumn Layout – W3C Module
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/css-multicol-1/
• CSS3 Float
  • https://www.sitepoint.com/atoz-css-screencast-float-and-clear
• CSS3 Font Style Generator
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/
• CSS3 Gradient Generator
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/generator/gradient/
• CSS3 Responsive Menu Generator
  • https://www.cssportal.com/css3-menu-generator/
• CSS3 Text Shadow Generator
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/generator/text-shadow/
• CSS3 Transform Generator: Scale, Rotate, Translate, and Skew
  • https://html-css-js.com/css/generator/transform/
• CSS3 Z-index property
  • https://www.css3.com/css-z-index/
• CSS3 Layout Templates from Max Design – Hands-On CSS3
  • https://css.maxdesign.com.au/#layouts
• Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2.1
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/
• Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2.1 colors
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/colors.html
• Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/
• Cascading Style Sheets CSS2 Tutorials – Demos, Menus, Layouts, and more
  • http://www.cssplay.co.uk/menu/
• Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1/
• CSS Aural Style Sheets
  • http://www.brenkoweb.com/tutorials/css/css-aural-styles
• CSS Background Properties Table for Netscape, IE, and W3C Standards
  • https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_background.asp
• CSS Buttons
  • https://sbpoley.home.xs4all.nl/webmatters/cssbuttons.html
• CSSCheck, a Cascading Style Sheets Lint
  • https://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/csscheck/
• CSS Cookbook: Bullet Lists
  • https://www.westciv.com/style_master/house/tutorials/quick/bullets/
• What is @font-face and How to Use It in CSS
  • https://designmodo.com/font-face/
• CSS Designing Without Tables
  • https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6385293/simple-two-column-html-layout-without-using-tables
• CSS Print Profile
  • https://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-css-print-20030813/
• CSS resources, CSS tutorials, cascading style sheets, tutorials, articles,
  tips, resources –
  • Design Principles for Developers: Processes and CSS Tips for Better Web Design
  • Modern CSS Solutions for Old CSS Problems
• CSS Table backgrounds
  • https://p2p.wrox.com/html-code-clinic/2996-css-table-definitions.html
• CSS – Print Tutorial
  • http://www.pmob.co.uk/faqcss/tutorial03/
• CSS2 Edge Design
  • https://meyerweb.com/eric/css/edge/
• CSS Properties
  • http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/css/propindex/all.htm by Brian Wilson, Last Update: Oct. 1 2003
• CSS Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design
  • https://www.csszengarden.com
• CSS Tutorial
  • https://www.w3schools.com/css/
• CSS Tabs: with sub-menus
  • http://www.kalsey.com/tools/csstabs/
• CSS Vertical Alignment
  • https://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/text/vertical-align.html
• Eric Meyer on CSS: Tricking Browsers and Hiding Styles
  • http://www.ericmeyeroncss.com/bonus/trick-hide.html
• Favelets for IE
  • http://tantek.com/favelets/
• Forms Using CSS
  • https://www.sitepoint.com/style-web-forms-css-4/
• From Table Hacks to CSS Layout: A Web Designer's Journey: A List Apart
  • https://alistapart.com/article/journey
• Guide to Cascading Style Sheets
  • https://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/
• IE 6 CSS improvements
  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/internet-explorer/ie-developer
• JavaScript Fix For Text That's Too Tiny
  • https://www.thenoodleincident.com/tutorials/box_lesson/font/matt_round.html
• Little Boxes
  • https://www.thenoodleincident.com/tutorials/box_lesson/boxes.html
• Listamatic: Listamatic: one list, many options
  • https://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/
• Making the Absolute, Relative
  • https://stopdesign.com/archive/2003/09/03/absolute.html
• CSS Menu Bar – horizontal and vertical
  • https://www.w3schools.com/Css/css_navbar.asp
• Opera supported Web Specifications
  • https://help.opera.com/en/latest/
• Practical CSS Layout Tips, Tricks, & Techniques: A List Apart
  • https://alistapart.com/article/practicalcss
• RichInStyle.com
  • http://www.richinstyle.com/
• Style Sheets.com
  • W3C Tableless Layout: HOWTO and FAQ
    • https://www.w3.org/2002/11/homepage
• W3C Tableless Layout HOWTO
  • https://www.w3.org/2002/03/csslayout-howto
• Web Matters – CSS Buttons – Netscape
  • https://sbpoley.home.xs4all.nl/webmatters/cssbuttons.html
• Web Style Sheets
  • https://www.w3.org/Style/

Fonts, Code & Style Guides, Performance Testing

• A Few Things You Should Know About Working With Web Fonts
  • https://www.newfangled.com/how-to-work-with-web-fonts/
• ASP and how to work with it
  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/web-pages/overview/getting-started/introducing-aspnet-web-pages-2/getting-started
• Coding Guides
  • CSS Advanced Guide
  • CSS Beginner's Guide
  • CSS Intermediate Guide
  • HTML Advanced Guide
  • HTML Beginner's Guide
  • HTML Intermediate Guide
• Copyright: An Overview
  • https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/copyright
• Cross-Browser Testing
  • Run manual and exploratory tests across a range of real browsers: desktop and mobile. Tool from Smartbear BitBar.
• Forget the Fold, Focus on Your Content
• Forget the Fold-Part 2
• Font Guide for Webmasters
  • https://www.angelfire.com/al4/rcollins/style/fonts.html
• GPO Style Manual
  • https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2008
• Human Performance & Achievement Resources
  Link Directories Directory: The Best Human Performance Resources
  • http://superperformance.com/
• Lorem Ipsum – All the facts – Lipsum generator
  • https://www.lipsum.com/

Good Examples

• Eric Meyer's CSS/Edge
  • https://meyerweb.com/eric/css/edge/
• Firefox Features
  • https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
• SHRM Online (Site Map)
  • https://www.shrm.org/about-shrm/Pages/Site-Map.aspx

Bad CSS Examples

(a How To for making CSS do annoying things—use them
to destroy your otherwise perfect and visually attractive CSS design)

• CSS Best Practices to Follow and Bad Habits to Avoid
  • https://1stwebdesigner.com/css-best-practices/
• Bad CSS and How to Correct it
  • http://phrogz.net/css/HowToDevelopWithCSS.html

Tools

• Compliance Sheriff® checks websites (and validate applications such as Microsoft Office and PDF documents for any compliance regulation including custom rules) to assure compliance with federal and international accessibility guidelines (WCAG, Section 508, AODA, Canada's Standard on Accessibility). Monitors sites for brand integrity and site quality issues, including missing SEO keywords, inconsistent logos, broken links, typos, changed pages, and site up/down monitoring to promote site excellence.
  • https://www.compliancesheriff.com
• Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) is a web-based platform that provides a scalable, turnkey solution for meeting your Section 508, Americans with Disabilities (ADA) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance needs.
  • https://www.levelaccess.com/solutions/fedramp-authorized-solution/
• Style Master CSS Editor for Windows and Macintosh (their tutorial course
  is excellent)
  • https://www.westciv.com/style_master/

And for a little humor on the side when you get really frustrated:

• 150 computer one-liners
  • https://www.oneliners-and-proverbs.com/engels/computer.html

Related Links