Once you have separated your content from the layout on your site, the validity of your stylesheet(s) becomes very important in your efforts to get your site as accessible as possible, for so many as possible.
What is the easiest and most efficient way of validating your stylesheet(s)?
If you have never validated your stylesheet you definitely have to start off by using the W3 CSS Validation Service. Only once you have corrected any errors and validated your markup here, will your stylesheet(s) be ready for more sophisticated validation.
There are many online validation tests out there but the one I really find to be just great, and quick as well, is the Juicy Studio CSS Analyser. This validation will not only show any markup errors you might have missed on the previous validation but it will also check for fixed sizes in fonts as well as other elements you might have used. Another handy part of this validator is that it will show up any foreground colors you might have used that do not have sufficient contrast with the relevant background color.
While I am at it, allow me to tell you of yet another Juicy Studio service that is available. This one is the Juicy Studio Readability Test. If the readability of your content is too high, you could inadvertently be excluding some people from enjoying your site. This test provides results for many readability tests. The test I use most often is the Flesch Reading Ease. On this test you should aim to get a result of between 60 and 70.
Happy validating.
Thanks. I’m always screwing around with CSS without really knowing what I’m doing. This should help keep me on the right track.
In my opinion CSS is still the best thing since sliced bread. When CSS was first implemented it opened up a world of possibilities for all of us. Thanks for visiting.