HTML is a mark-up language used to create websites, and is independent of platforms.
"HTML is not a programming language, since HTML does not allow to, say, control a robot, set a variable or programme a game." (Quelle)
The display of invalid or incorrect documents depends on the software reading them (browser, roboter, screenreader, etc; see above). However, the display will vary greatly depending on the software, and this can lead to errors, often without the knowledge of the website manager, since it is impossible to test the website against all updates of all the software.
Non validated HTML source text can cause high costs, especially if it causes the software to look for an error or if the functionality and therefore the user experience is impacted.
Further information:
The validity of the HTML source text can be checked with a so-called 'validator'.
Examples:
Further information
http://blog.antikoerperchen.de/beitrag/28/validierung-wozu-warum-valider-html-code-wichtig-ist.html
Acronyms:
HTML: HyperText Markup Language
The majority of the pages are valid, but not all.
"Description" is used to summarise the content of a HTML-page as short and incisive as possible. The content of this meta information is not shown to the user in the internet browser, but search engines do use them to a certain extent to evaluate the relevance of a site for the results page.
The description summarises the content in one sentence. The summaries are normally shown on the results page of search engines and contribute a great deal to the choice of web users.
Further information:
http://de.selfhtml.org/html/kopfdaten/meta.htm#beschreibung
Descriptions are either incomplete or not optimised on the tested website. Verify that the homepage and the sub-pages contain an appropriate description (a short and incisive sentence).
When clicking on a link, web users expect to see the new page in the existing window. Most users lose control if there are several windows open, are unable to navigate back with the back function and get lost. At the same time, and this is particularly true for old computers, the system can get overloaded and crash if too many browser windows open. If new windows open but are not seen by the user, the perception is that the website does not work properly. Experienced users who want to open new windows know how to do this by using the function "Open (link) in New Window", or with similar comands.
There is one important exception to this rule: files in .PDF or other Office format can be opened in new windows. Users know to close them to return to the original window. In this case, users should be informed that a new window opened, and they should be given the opportunity to save the file.
Technical hint: For XHTML Strict in particular, there is the possibility to send a .PDF file with ContentType "application/pdf" and HTTP Header content-disposition: attachment; filename=filename.pdf, since there is no target attribute. This test does not take it into account yet, but this is a feasible solution.
Source and further information:
"Prioritizing Web Usability" by Jakob Nielsen/Hoa Loranger
At least one internal hyperlink opening a new window was found.
Separating design and structure of the website carries great advantages. The sharper the distinction, the more independent the two areas are. A lack of such a distinction is also called a "spaghetti mark-up" or a "tag-soup" (from the term "HTML tag").
Nowadays it is easy to save colours, type fonts, design images and to a large extent even the layout of the website in CSS files (CSS = Cascading Style Sheet).
Further information:
http://www.style-sheets.de/guide/grundlagen/warum_css
http://www.vorsprungdurchwebstandards.de/theory/retro-coding/
Hint for IT technicians: "Code" does not refer to javascript, but to HTML source.
The tested website contains a small amount of spaghetti mark-up in CSS format.
The logical connection between definition and form field is missing if the form fields lack an explicit title.
This means that in the instance of a linear form, it is not apparent which definition belongs to which fiels. This is why the element LABEL was introduced with the attribute for, allowing the explicit definition for form fields.
Using the element LABEL allows Screen-Readerusers in particular to view the definition of the form field directly in the form field itself.
Source:
http://www.barrierefreies-webdesign.de/knowhow/formulare/label.html. Further information can be found in the W3C accessibility guidelines (12.4 Associate labels explicitly with their controls, Guideline 12, Accessibility Guidelines for Web Content 1.0, W3C recommendations 5th May 1999http://www.w3c.de/Trans/WAI/webinhalt.html) und http://de.selfhtml.org/html/formulare/strukturieren.htm.
Most, but not all, form fields on the tested website contain correct labels.
A table based layout carries many disadvantages if compared to a purely CSS layout. A CSS layout improves both accessibility and performance.
Further information:
A detailed article by Douglas Bowman can be found onhttp://www.stopdesign.com/articles/throwing_tables/.
Hint for webmasters: Be sure that when embedding third party content, e.g. with iFrame, there are no layout tables included.
On the tested website there are many tables, which most probably are also used for the layout.
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A potential hint has been identified.
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A potential hint has been identified.
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Using the ideal number of keywords can contribute to the searchability of a website. However, search engines may class it as "keyword spam" if too many keywords are used.
The number of keywords contained in the tested website is not optimal.
"According to RFC 2616, Internet HTTP Compression is a method to send, from the Web server, an HTTP response message in compressed format to a requesting Web browser.
HTTP Compression saves transfer data volume and reduces web page load time." As there are some known issues with Internet Explorer 6 you may want to disable compression for IE6.
Source: http://www.http-compression.com/
The website does not use or only partially uses a GZIP or deflate compression for html files.
"According to RFC 2616, Internet HTTP Compression is a method to send, from the Web server, an HTTP response message in compressed format to a requesting Web browser.
HTTP Compression saves transfer data volume and reduces web page load time." As there are some known issues with Internet Explorer 6 you may want to disable compression for IE6.
Source: http://www.http-compression.com/
The website does not use or only partially uses a GZIP or deflate compression for CSS files.
"According to RFC 2616, Internet HTTP Compression is a method to send, from the Web server, an HTTP response message in compressed format to a requesting Web browser.
HTTP Compression saves transfer data volume and reduces web page load time." As there are some known issues with Internet Explorer 6 you may want to disable compression for IE6.
Source: http://www.http-compression.com/
Die Website verwendet keine oder nur teilweise eine GZIP oder deflate Komprimierung for javascript files.
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A potential hint has been identified.