css is useless

[JustOneUK]

just thought i would start a possibly controversial post regarding css, especially when related to website usability.

why is it (and there are some on this forum) that webdesigners claim to be compliant with w3 protocols when their text does not resize using Internet Explorer? which is the most widely used browser on the planet.

There are many web designers using this as a selling point to their customers on their websites, and their own websites are not even compliant

here's just one example to showcase what i mean..and.... it's from the acclaimed and much posted css zengarden

http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile...188.css&page=0

try selecting 'text size' 'larger' in your IE browser !!!!
good job you are not visually challenged.

any thoughts?

James

[eggplant1]

It all depends how they are used, on your link, firefox resized the text, IE didnt. I'm not an expert in web page design, but what I usually do is on the page, detect browser type then use in "include" file accordingly, each include being slightly different to make the page display properly, I must admit, I never tested changing the text size though.

[MacMyDay]

It does pass WC3 validation, even though it may not allow text resize. This is because the WC3 simply validate what is 'good' code from 'bad' code. With CSS, it's incredibly difficult to do something wrong to not validate it and still have the code appear correctly.

What that person has done is just used exact measurements for the width so that they cannot be resized. It's now considered better practice to use percentages or em. Three years after Internet Explorer for Mac had text zoom enabled, Internet Explorer for Windows still did not offer the feature, so there are many problems with the browsers as well as the pages. But, yes, you should work around them instead of blaming them, so in that instance the user focused more on design than accessibility

[www.t6c.co.uk]

I came across a training site for the disabled a few days ago which had fixed font size.

So the partially sighted will have an issue with that. It just shows the lack of understanding when it comes to usability.

[EWB-James]

It still astounds me how many developers ignore FireFox and Safari!

We recently put out a press release that we have committed to FireFox and Safari usablilty in all our products and got over 1400 visits from MacNN.com and MozillaZine.com in only 2 days! Imagine if they went to our site and couldn't ciew it properly.

[sjc]

You really only have to think about the people using your site to ensure that it meets their needs. It isn't difficult to put yourself in the client's but it's amazing the amount of people who don't!

Back to the original point though - css is an absolute godsend, as far as I'm concerned! It might not solve all usability issues, but it goes a long way to helping most designers, whether experienced or just starting, to create better and more flexible websites.

Perhaps criticism should be levelled at the users rather than the tool?

[JustOneUK]

css does have some advantages, so perhaps it's not totally useless.

hyperlinks are always worth setting up in css..... er...that's about it !!

If you have a site that only has one or two design features, eg The same font throughout the site, or set heading styles... then css can work, but for more complex designs or something that you may change frequently, css is more of a burden.

[davidhorn]

CSS is most certainly not useless ... it is the most useful development in web design since tables were introduced.

However, some people using CSS *are* useless. That's the distinction to make.

[JustOneUK]

Well it's not completely useless, The thread title was a bit harsh possibly to promote discussion
If a site was black arial text on a white background with a few burgundy headers, css would then work fine.

[Teresa2084]

Hi

I was hounded into using firefox and I didnt like it at all and safari wasnt much better. But both are improving a great deal but your right, not many companies cater for those browsers.

I now use netscape and opera for all my browsing and updating things.Opera is brilliant for browsing in one place, but it has so many security features on it, it stops certain sites being accessed. Ive given up on IE because even with the pop up blocker on it, i get so many adverts pop up it does my head in. I now only use IE if a web site builder doesnt allow me to upload images without using IE. Netscape is good with css.

I use CSS and its great and gives me so many options although you have to find a good company.

Im using a site with css and it is really great. Its cheap, it has 24/7 chat support and i have chatted to them all over xmas, had fantastic results from them.
never use bravenet. I have used them and its probably the worst service ever.

I am now using a company called pickaweb.co.uk

If you want to make your site friendly to visually impaired, font size matters, colours too and also if your adding anything to your site, try not to add things that are flash or banners that flash on and off.