web standards with v8

[newtothis]

Hi All

sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, im new to this software.

what level of web standards can be meet with v8?

im interested in using v8 to build an online store, but it must comply with the latest accessablity / usability / web standards.

any info please

thanks, New To This..

[jont]

Hi Lee, welcome to the forum,

it depends to what level of compliance you need. Most v7 sites pass level 1 and most of 2 with some level 3 after modifications.

Not tested v8 fully for compliance but it does look to have addresses many of the common issues and with a little user intervention will be great step forward.

Obviously need to bear in mind e-commerce sites due to their very nature are always a blend between function / usability / compliance ..... they are never as friendly as creating a XHTML / CSS page in notepad

[newtothis]

hi jont

thanks for the info.

i suppose im looking to create a site that will pass the w3c validation markup service: http://validator.w3.org/

i need to be able to validate the html and css plus make sure it complies with booby guidelines.

is there an online v8 demo store anywhere?

thanks again

[RuralWeb]

create a site that will pass the w3c validation markup service

V7 never passed and having checked V8 I dont think that it will pass either due to some Actinic specific code that shows as HTML errors.

It will pass Bobby at level 1 (A) on some themes, others are showing fail due to missing image alt tags in the template.

[pinbrook]

is there an online v8 demo store anywhere?

I would just upload your own test site either to local apache or webspace, different themes will throw up different issues, thus one online demo store is bot going to help

[newtothis]

hi Rural Web / Pinbrook

thanks for your input.

i will do as you say and try and few themes to see what errors i get.

thanks again

[Bob Isaac]

You may not get complete validation with stuff like Actinic, nor other PHP programs. All of my several hundred pages would have 100% validation if I didn't use includes to various parts of my forum and gallery. I think making sure the pages display in various browsers is more important.

Bob

[chris ashdown]

very ignorant here, but what practical use is compliance to w3c validation markup service and why should we aim for it

[newtothis]

hi chris / bob

thanks for the posts

in a nut shell - as to why:

Compliance help insure accessibility for the disabled.

Compliance helps insure that your website is accessible from a number of devices; from different browsers to the growing number of surfers using PDA's and cellular phones.

Compliance will also help insure that regardless of the browser, resolution, device, etc. that your website will look and function in the same or at least a very similar fashion.

but just do a google on "why w3c compliant" and you will find lots of info.

thanks again

[RuralWeb]

what practical use

There is also a theory that Google likes sites that meet W3C guidelines so the better a page validates the higher it will rank.

[RuralWeb]

Executive Theme has improved W3C compliance (but not fully compliant yet)

Beta 2 release notes.

[newtothis]

hi ruralweb

do you think / know if the plan is to make that theme fully compliant before v8 is offically released?

thanks

[RuralWeb]

Dont know - if they can do it it will be a very good theme.

[cdicken]

Sadly, it impossible to get a fully compliant theme as the validator doesn't recognise our proprietary tags such as <Actinic:BASEHFREF...> and <Actinic:PRICES..>.

It also doesn't seem to cope with comment marks within <script> and <style> tags, which is a bit surreal.

Other than this though, there are no errors.

[RuralWeb]

Sadly, it impossible to get a fully compliant theme

To be fair Actinic is about the best of the bunch as far as I can see. With a few simple mods it can be made very accessible. V8 is better than V7 looking at the tests I have done so things are moving forward.