overview key writings pictures interaction standards

standards and questions This page looks at standards.      accessibility Will your site be visited by people with hearing, sight or other disabilities (around 25% of the population, according to some studies)?  Or by visitors in regional Australia, often equipped with older browsers or who choose text-only access because of connection times/costs. Irrespective of legal requirements - particularly the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act - it's good sense to ensure your site is accessible. We've provided a detailed guide on accessibility.  It explores the impact of Australian legislation and highlights tools and emerging standards.      other standards We'll shortly be providing pointers to global standards - and debate about them - regarding the design of sites and their display on browsers or other tools. If you like a buzz from the left, check out The Wasp at The Web Standards Project (a coalition of designers and developers "Fighting for Standards in our Browsers").  US metrics group StatMarket reports that, as of February 2001, Microsoft's Internet Explorer had 87.71% of the world browser market (defined as "the percentage of people using a particular browser). Netscape had a 12.01% share, with other browsers such as Opera occupying the remaining market space. Nestscape's share has declined from around 33% in February 1999.   The significance of browser standards is gaining increasing recognition. Different browsers display information differently and Explorer for example has been 'optimised' to display websites built with Microsoft products. Marcus Maher's 1998 paper An Analysis of Internet Standardization offers a legal perspective on connectivity standards.      a comment Many web designers think that the user is "just like me". As a result many sites are designed by designers for designers, or by technicians for technicians". As a result there's some truth in the gibe that the "single greatest enemy of good web design" is the designer from a traditional visual design background who considers web design is all about graphics, color, space, and balance. Those designers want the site to look good, be different, or be "cool". They want the reader to have an experience, although its clear from empirical studies that most users are in search of content (and impatient about finding it) rather than in search of an "experience". Others come from a technical background and consider that design is about pushing technical boundaries. They assume (or require) users have fast machines, bandwidth to spare, free time and loads of plug-ins. Many, alas, also assume that everyone has a degree in technical engineering and view playing with web gadgets as "fun."