An opinionated list of best practices for textual websites

seirdy.one

2 points·Seirdy··3 comments

Thank you for posting this. It is validating to read, and I've been working to check all these boxes (minus Mozilla's test suite).

I've even tested in all the browsers you listed (w3m, Dillo, NetSurf, links, lynx, w3m, in addition to Netscape3, Netscape4, IE3, IE4, IE6, Opera3, Opera12, Mosaic).

I do use cookies, but only when the client requests to register or sign in.

I don't use images, except for a pixel gif which is needed for some JS trickery for older pre-XHR browsers.

If you're interested in seeing what it looks like, the link is in my profile. :)

Love your website, but I'm not sure it need to follow this post's advice since it isn't exactly a text-based website; retro graphics are clearly a big part of its content. I'd be missing a lot if I just used my browser's reader mode.

Maybe I should clarify what I mean by textual websites that in the article. Thanks!

Thank you for your compliments and encouragement, I really appreciate them.

While there is a graphical element to my site, I consider it to be "text first, graphically enhanced", meaning the graphics are a non-essential and optional part of it.

If you switch the site to Light Mode (aka Compatibility Mode, aka Accessibility Mode), all non-essential HTML will be stripped, and it will take on the appearance of a regular, nearly-unformatted, primarily-text website.

This mode can also be enabled by default.

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