Web Standards

We have always held that online services should follow web programming standards to the closest extent possible. This is especially true now that the browser wars are a thing of the past and maintstream browsers adhere to standards better than ever before.

On a philosophical note, we do not believe in the concept of backward compatibility, for one very simple reason: If browsers of the past did not follow standards properly, why should we be expected to break standards now in order to accommodate them?

Forward compatibility is the only way – the only way to ensure that we do not create tomorrow's legacy problems today is to stick rigidly to the standards. ITnews displays equally well in the latest, standards-compliant version of mainstream browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Opera.

Standards Certifications

Programming mark-up languages and other standards used to build web sites are published and controlled by W3C It also publishes guidelines to allow sites to be accessed by the disabled. W3C runs validation services allowing anyone to test any web site against it's published specifications. ITnews has achieved the certifications shown below.

Programming Mark-up

Every page on this site is programmed in XHTML and adheres to the published XHTML 1.0 Specification. No mark-up is used to style text content. Prior to publication, each individual page is certified using the W3C validation service.

Formatting and Presentation

This site makes extensive use of CSS styling to control the formatting and display of text on the screen as well as for printed output. Additionally, CSS is used to provide a number of themes for the site, to suit both personal preferences and disability requirements. All styles sheets are validated against the W3C CSS2 Specification as part of the publication process.

Accessibility

As part of its WAI programme, W3C has published guidelines for making sites accessible to disability groups. This is known as WCAG. WCAG 1.0 is tiered in three priorities (A, AA and AAA rating) of incresingly stringent measures for supporting accessibility. ITnews achieves the highest possible WCAG standard, Priority 3 Triple AAA rating.