While it's infeasible for FAA Web Management to provide a complete list of what not to do, we've gathered a few prominent examples of problematic content and programming practices.
Form issues
Due to the high degree of interactivity that forms afford the user, a significant proportion of usability and accessibility problems involve form controls and labels.
Images of text
According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Level AAA, images of text are only used for pure decoration or where a particular presentation of text is essential to the information being conveyed. In all other cases, use CSS, if necessary, to embellish true text or surrounding page elements. There are several benefits of using true text instead of images of text.
Improper Markup
Improper markup includes — but is not limited to — malformed tags, orphaned closing tags, opening tags without their corresponding closing tags, incorrect tag nesting, deprecated/obsoleted elements or attributes, and proprietary elements or attributes.
Use a markup validation service such as the W3C's Validator or the Living Validator to help identify most instances of improper markup.
Learn the language. Consult the specifications or contact the Web Team when you are not clear on a topic. Know the differences between HTML 4.01 and HTML5. Learn what tags have been deprecated or obsoleted in the version of HTML for which you code.
Consistently using proper, valid markup aids in interoperability and ensures that your pages will appear as intended in the widest array of browsers.
Pop-up windows
Whether initiated via JavaScript or HTML, pop-up windows and new windows/new tabs are the wrong solution in nearly all scenarios. According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, success criteria (SC) 3.2.5, pop-ups usually constitute an unanticipated change of context. Furthermore, they take control away from the user and make presumptions about the user’s intent.
Recreating browser features
Recreating browser features always results in redundancy, and, when viewed holistically, also results in inconsistent appearances.
Tables for layout
Tables and their associated elements carry semantic meaning. That semantic meaning is lost when tables are used solely for layout purposes, or when normal page content (such as headings and paragraphs) is shoehorned into a tabular format.
Vague link text
Vague phrases such as "here", "read more", "go now", or "click here" do not give the user any indication as to what the linked content is about.
Considerations
- If the user has not been reading the page linearly, or is scanning the page for links (with or without the assistance of a screen reader), then he must backtrack to determine the context of the vague link text.
- Search engines use the appearance of keywords in link text in their page ranking algorithms.
- The phrase "click here" is now anachronistic — many users no longer "click" on links — they touch. Browsing on mobile and other touch-enabled devices accounts for the majority of web traffic in the United States. (June 2017)