[gray]

what do you generally put in a text only stylesheet, do you just strip everything out, or leave some kind of formatting in? Any good examples? Or just use no stylesheet?

cheers tia

edit: btw im on about the "Text Only" buttons on accessible sites

[Stickman]

Go text-only that still looks nice (basic formatting and colours) or rejig it so it's high visibility (blue/yellow, big text etc).

Random links:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/web/accessibility/textonly.html
http://www.naarvoren.nl/artikel/high_accessibility.html

[gray]

perfect, cheers, i did try a google search but found nothing like that

[Brown]

text only for me means no style sheet. they get the info as their browser wants it to be displayed.

[gray]

was also wondering if i should use something like

img{
visibilty: hidden;
}

[Brown]

depends why you are giving them a text only site. is this for pda's etc or accessibility reasons or quicker downloads?

[gray]

accessibility mainly but also fast downloads.. mainly the fact that when i press "Text Only" i expect only text.. maybe its the link that needs to be changed to "Accessible Version" or something

[Bill Posters]

img {
display: none;
}

You shouldn't be using images to force out your layouts, so removing them (rather than making them invisible) shouldn't wreck the layout.


There's no reason to be using img tags for decorative imagery (nowadays) so stripping decorative imagery out can be done entirely through the (alternative?) css.

I'm not decided whether I'd go for no css or simply no imagery (but keeping the layout intact.
S'not something I've had to give any thought to.

[Stickman]

In theory, if the site is built properly then a text-only version won't be any more accessible than the full version.

[gray]

this is the site in development... i wasnt trying to keep the layout in the text only version, but rather loose the images which looked a bit nasty floating around.. bit of a bug in ie5 mac in that the nav disappears on the text version atm

[Brown]

you can't use 'hidden' b'cos that is relying on a viewer's client (and i mean client not browser here) to understand css. that's not the same people who want a text only version (unless they're a bit odd and backward in their ways, i imagine nielson surfs with images turned off as standard).

imo, if you're pressing a button that says 'text only' it should be just that, text only. as the stick says, it should be accessible anyway if built properly.

[Brown]

oooh, access keys.

[Bill Posters]

also: if you're going for the no-css variety of text-only, you'll need to (re)implement the olde worlde alink, vlink, bgcolor, etcc… presentational attributes for 'high visibility' presentation.

www.bbc.co.uk has a broadly representative text-only site

just a thought

[Mr Fred]

Betsie Error Page


Sorry, but Betsie was unable to find the page at text only stylesheet.

The error was as follows: text only stylesheet not on safe list. Sorry.

If you have just found a bug in Betsie (it's possible), please email the details to webweaver@bbc.co.uk

Return to the Betsie homepage, or select your browser's 'back' button (or equivalent) to return to the page you just came from.

Inpath: /www.designerstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3155

Root: www.designerstalk.com

Path: /forums/

File: showthread.php?t=3155 ??????

[beseku]

Originally Posted by gray

what do you generally put in a text only stylesheet, do you just strip everything out, or leave some kind of formatting in? Any good examples? Or just use no stylesheet?

cheers tia

edit: btw im on about the "Text Only" buttons on accessible sites

I have created one for my dissertation project, (http://generator.beseku.com).

Click lite on the bottom of the page for the "lite" mode.

(The switcher is the standard javascript Alistapart model).

[Bill Posters]

I'm inclined to see the use of javascript styleswitchers to offer text-only (as a 'highly usable/accessible' measure) versions as having slightly/largely missed the point.
Those most likely to want/need a text-only version are also those least likely to have js enabled.

Might be an idea to default to the lite css, but use js to switch to the normal css before the page starts to load.

-

Actually, just checked your page sans-js and it breaks quite badly.
You wouldn't somehow be using js to establish your layout now, would you?

-

btw, like the blue.

[beseku]

No, the only js apart from the switcher is for form validation and a pop-up script.

What browser/os, and can you get me a screenie?

Ta.

EDIT:

I have played around in IE with JS turned off, and it doesn't load any img tags, and thus fooks the layout. Any reason for that?

Also, good idea about loading the lite page first. That works well! Ta.

[Stickman]

OS X 10.2.8 / Safari 1.0 / 56k / millions / 1152x870 (820x680)

A shot in the dark.

[Bill Posters]

Here ya go.
(@ 50%)

[beseku]

Originally Posted by Bill Posters

Here ya go.
(@ 50%)

There is absolutely no reason why JS should do that???????????

I use CSS P for everything else.

The only thing I can think about is if the switcher being turned off fucks it up.