|
 Between
April and July 2002, the following criteria has been reviewed
several times as part of Web Services' operating practice.
During August 2002 these criteria were substantially updated.
The design was launched August 22, 2002.
Coding Standards
The design is coded in XHTML 1.0 transitional. Cascading
style sheets (CSS) are used for formatting in the place of
HTML whenever possible, preserving the separation of formatting
and structure. However, HTML tables are still used for page
layout and positioning because those functions are not universally
supported using CSS by the browsers. We have verified that
the code of this design is complaint with the relevant standards,
which you may test for yourself:
Validate
this page's XHTML
Validate
this page's CSS
Accessibility
The design of this site validates as Section 508 compliant.
We cannot certify that the code of every page of the site
is fully compliant, but we have validated the headers, footers,
and style sheets that form the basis of every page. We do
not use Javascript in the design at all. Although we use cascading
style sheets (CSS), the design is accessible without them.
The design consistently renders text with sharp contrast between
foreground and background colors, and does not use color to
present information. These design considerations help the
overall design meet Section 508 compliance requirements.
Browser Compatibility
Web Services tested this design on a number of platforms
to ensure visual consistency when possible, and usability/reabability
in all cases. The following are the most common browsers,
and the ones on which we designed for visual consistency.
| Mac |
Netscape 4.7x, Internet Explorer
5.x |
| PC |
Netscape 4.7x, 6.x, Internet Explorer
5.x and Opera 6.x |
We also tested the design on a number of other browsers,
including Lynx, Internet Explorer 4.x, Netscape 3.x &
6.x, Mozilla, Opera, and WebTV. The content is legible and
the functionality is usable on these platforms.
We had reports of significant page display problems
in several Mac OS X browsers, including those based on Mozilla,
like Netscape 6. This problem has been fixed and the templates
have been updated. However, the fix caused visual consistency
problems in Netscape 4.x (a gap between the images in the
left-corner curve) due to Netscape's poor implementation
of the HTML standard. The decision was made that it was
more important to be forward-looking in our approach to
browser compatibility and standards compliance.
Therefore, when a decision
must be made between visual consistency on a single
obsolete browser and standards compliance to achieve
better consistency in all present and future browsers, we
will favor the standards. We highly recommend that users
of Netscape 4 or any other proprietary browser upgrade to
any modern browser that is standards-compliant.
Style Templates
Server-side include templates and CSS ensure consistency
and standardization. However, OIT is a large and diverse organization.
We have predicted that this site will have 30-40 different
templates maintained by different groups throughout the organization.
OIT Web Services will help keep the templates functionally
and visually consistent, but we cannot mandate that they be
so.
Page Optimization
The page and images are optimized for faster page loads.
| Connection Speed |
Page Load (In Seconds) |
| 14.4 |
39.27 |
| 28.8 |
21.64 |
| 56.6 |
12.97 |
| ISDN |
7.97 |
| T1 |
4.35 |
Images
All images employ an "alt" tag. (The "Alt"
tag is meant to provide alternative or substitute text,
primarily for use when the image is not being
displayed, e.g. using adaptive technology for a screen reader
for the visually impaired).
University of Maryland Visual Identity Program Guidelines
(http://www.umd.edu/identity/web/)
All pages have a standard statement in the page footer including
a copyright statement, maintenance information, an e-mail
contact, last modified date and a link back to the organization's
home page. The University of Maryland logo is included in
every header, with a link to the University's home page.
Online Evaluation Tools
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