A word about Web Standards and the Web Accessibility Initiative.

disclaimer

Web standards:
An attempt has been made to adhere to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Standards, however, some browsers are so old that this is practically impossible. For example, should you be viewing this web site with Netscape Navigator 4, you will probably find that this site is not 'compliant' and does not 'Validate'. All other commonly used web browsers should be compliant with the web development guidelines.

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) standards:
WAI standards are partially open to interpretation. We have made every effort to assist people with motor disabilities to navigate our site.
One of the features of Web Accessibility which is open to interpretation, is the use of the 'accesskey' attribute for hyperlinks. The accesskey attribute allows people with motor impairment to be able to press a corresponding key stroke or combination of keys in order to jump straight to a link. One interpretation suggests that web designers should use the accesskey attribute on ALL links, whilst another holds that the accesskey should be used only for general navigation – jumping between page sections for instance. Another aspect of accesskey is that some interpret the guidelines to mean that any alphanumeric key on the keyboard is able to be used, whilst others infer that only numerals are to be used. As a result, Atomic Design Studio has opted to use accesskey to navigate between page sections or menu sections which need to be opened and to only use numerals for the accesskeys.
Should you have any queries in this regard, or have difficulty using our site, we would gladly welcome some constructive feedback in order to help us help you with future web site development and revisions. The following list is the assignments we have placed for the accesskeys (the corresponding bullet number is the accesskey number as it is assigned for the page):

1. Menu 'Home'
2. Menu 'About Us'
3. Menu 'Primary Services' Sub Section
4. Menu 'Secondary Services'
5. Menu 'Portfolio' Sub Section
6. Menu 'Web Design' Sub Sub Section
7. Menu 'Contact Us'
8. Menu 'Help'
9. Page Section – Begin Main Content
10. '0' First field in our Contact Form

further information

Web Standards:
Just as there are standards governing the way businesses produce products (such as the ISO 9001:2000 standards), there are standards which govern the way that the internet runs and the way web sites should be built. The standards have been laid down by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C – the people who invented the internet) and, when put into practice, bring a stability to the internet and allow true cross-platform conformity. An example is that if a web site is designed to adhere to the HTML 4.01 Strict standard, it should, in theory, display properly regardless of the computer you are using at the time, or the browser software you use to view the internet.

Validation:
Validation is simply a process whereby a person can check to discover whether a web site meets the specification of a certain web standard such as the HTML 4.01 Strict standard mentioned above.

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI):
The WAI is one of the standards set out by the W3C to help people with physical disabilities to access the internet. The WAI has three levels of certification, ranging from level 'A' at the most general, through 'AA' and finally 'AAA', which is the strictest level.