Hello,

I need a little direction with an issue I am having with our web designer/host. When we purchased our design/host package, they stated that the website would be W3C compliant. I have been made aware that a feature that we required would be considered an upgrade at a cost of £1000. We need our website to be accessible to the visually impaired. Here is a link to the W3C website that explains what we need.

Is this a best practice, or should they have coded this as part of the original build? If it is just a best practice, and not considered a requirement from W3C to be compliant, then I am okay with that....if it should have been part of the original build, then I think they need to eat it as it was an oversight on their part.

Any ideas or input would greatly be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Dave

There is absolutely no reason why the site could not have been developed to WAI / WCAG guidelines from the start, and even moreso why they DO NOT use it as a atandard.

Even the sites we develop for a few hundred pounds pass WAI guidelines. I personally do not care about W3c "validation" but I do pay attention to accessibility.

^ what he said.

Any half decent developer working on a customers site should be writing W3C standards complient code from the outset, it shouldn't cost any extra. It's considered best practice nowadays.

For accessibility (WCAG/WAI etc) there are several "levels" you can code for. Which level is aimed for is something your developer should have discussed with you while planning the project.

I personally do not care about W3c "validation"

You should. I saw sites that had errors so the bots could not crawl it correctly.
If you are a good coder/designer all the sites you develop should be valid, IMO.

Ok, sometimes it is just not possible, but at least you should do your best to avoid errors.

Or would you buy a car with "errors"?

You should. I saw sites that had errors so the bots could not crawl it correctly.

Why should I?
I've never had a page that DIDN'T get crawled and I do not turn out "broken" code

If you are a good coder/designer all the sites you develop should be valid, IMO.

I'm NOT a designer, developer yes but I don't design, I leave that to the ones with artistic abilities.