Testing your site
To make sure your website does not cause any problems to your visitors, you should always test your pages before releasing them. In this section we explain what things you should test for and how to perform the tests.
Now we do not always perform all these tests on sites we design. That is because we have learnt from experience what works and what doesn't. If you however have only just started to learn how to design a website, you should run these tests - once you are more confident with HTML, you can start to experiment a bit more.
HTML Validation
The best way to make your website accessible to a wide variety of browsers is to write it in HTML that conforms to published standards. This is not to be confused with browser testing - a different issue all-together.
Accessibility
The main point here is to make your site accessible to people with some form of disability. They may have poor vision or some other disadvantage. You can design your site in a way which ensures they can still get the most of it, even if they cannot "see" the site in its full glory.
Browser Testing
Be aware that not all browsers are capable of displaying the same content in exactly the same way. Similarly, screen resolution and colour depth can make a difference. Some browsers cannot display graphics. Others have difficulty with Style Sheets, JavaScript or Java Applets.
Download Speed
As you design your site, you will most probably be viewing pages stored on your hard-drive. These will load a lot more quickly than pages that have to travel across a modem and phone line. Optimise your site to load as little data as necessary.
