First Aid Quiz Update: Removing Tables and W3C Compliance

A while ago it most websites used tables to position the various elements on the page. This was a bit of a fudge, but was in response to the fact that the original html used to construct websites did not have any other way of laying out pages. This was not an issue when the web was invented, but the use of the Internet has changed considerably since then. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) provide a way of adding layout and style information to a html document removing the need to use tables. As most modern browsers now support CSS it is now the preferred way to develop sites.

Another thing that has become more important recently is ensuring that web pages are compliant with the proper html and css syntax. This is important from both an accessibility point of view, making it easier for audio browser; but also ensures that the website should work across multiple browsers and different operating systems.

I have therefore worked through The First Aid Quiz, website (www.firstaidquiz.com) to remove the tables used for layout, to introduce greater CSS control and to make the html compliant with the w3c guidelines. The pages currently validate at HTML 4 transitional.

In the future I hope to redesign the site using xhtml. I am looking at doing this along with updating the questions when the protocol is updated during 2006.

I am also looking at updating this site, but I am wanting to use the opportunity to make the site more dynamic and so it may be a while longer before it is fully html compliant.