If the ESPN and Wired redesigns (among others) are factors encouraging you to develop standards-compliant sites, visits to the W3C QA Interest Group article about standards compliant development techniques and their full list of valid DOCTYPE declarations are must-reads.
The Checky project has released version 1.5 of their great little validation add-on for Mozilla, Phoenix/Firebird, Beonex and Netscape. New in this version is the ability to check files on your local filesystem with the services that accept file uploads, like the W3C's markup and CSS validators.
Other additions since the last time we mentioned Checky here include Matthew Wickline's Colorblind Web Page Filter and Web Site Optimization's Web Page Analyzer.
The winners are in for the WThRemix contest. The challenge was to come up with a fancy new design for the W3C homepage using valid, accessible XHTML and CSS and eschewing tables.
A couple o' cool tools are now available—the kind you really want because you'll actually use them. What's more, they're free.
First up is LogValidator, a new utility from the W3C that works using your server's logs. It validates the most frequently visited pages allowing you to clean up your high-traffic areas first.
Next in line is the pnh toolbar for Mozilla and Netscape. Written by WaSP member Chris Casciano, this fantastic toolbar provides instant access to a wide range of standards resources, page tests, and developer tools. Toggle CSS off and on, outline elements and table cells to see a page's layout, turn off images, and even show cookies and form details.
Right in step with the subject of WaSP notables, Meet the Makers had an interesting conversation with our very own Steve Champeon. Increasing the already mammoth number of "Scowling Steve" pictures on the Internet by one, this article is a great read. Find out everything you ever wanted to know about Mr. Champeon, his views, and uncover a bit of WaSP gossip, too.
For those of you who loved Eric Meyer's terrific CSS browser charts and lamented their disappearance upon the shutting down of WebReview's servers, lament no more!
Netscape's DevEdge has not only published these much-loved CSS Support Charts on DevEdge, but has done so under a Creative Commons license, ensuring that this content will always be available to the community no matter what.
Whoever said there was no such thing as a free lunch never sat down to dine with the great folks at Westciv. If you're looking to beef up your CSS layout skills, add a dash of spice to your forms, and serve up non-screen media, you need to place your order now.
Dave Hyatt: Safari to drop table support.
The next release of Safari will be fully embracing Web standards by dropping all support for tables. From now on, any pages that use tables will cause Safari to play a very loud raspberry sound and refuse to display the page.
Auto width tables will actually cause Safari to crash, accompanied by a loud explosion. Safari will then search your hard drive for all files that contain the word "table" and it will replace them with Egyptian hieroglyphics.
For all sites that attempt to nest tables more than four levels deep, Safari will play a loud flushing sound, and it will remove itself from the dock and erase itself from your system in order to protect itself from your bad taste.
Happy April Fool's Day from all of us at WASP ("We Annoy Safari Programmers").
