Carrie Bickner, web developer for the New York Public Libraries, has an article in Library Journal, Summer2002 Net Connect, that discusses how using W3C XHTML and CSS standards will ensure the accessibility of your data and may possibly save your organization time and money in future development and redesign.

You've just launched your library's new web site when the calls start: "I just downloaded the latest version of Netscape, and your whole top navigation is invisible"; "I am using a screen reader, and your site reads like gibberish. I can't find a thing"; "I am calling on behalf of the board of tri-county library consortium; we appreciate all the hard work that you have done, but we have a few questions about the design of the new site."

The site--despite months of work, the best software, and exhaustive quality assurance testing--has problems. What went wrong? How do you remedy the situation while insuring you don't make the same mistakes again? The key may be found in adhering to a set of well-established, internationally recognized web standards.