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The ASHA Web site is built to provide access for a widening variety of newer technologies and Web browsers, including assistive technologies for the Internet. For most visitors, our site is now easier to use, quicker to access, and more streamlined for updates and modifications.
We are continuing to improve the site to comply with Web standards outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium. Our site now uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for most page layout and design details. While there may still be tables and spacer GIFs in a few spots — which are often used on Web sites to set up and control page structure — we're systematically working to remove these potential barriers to accessibility. These steps will make ASHA content ready for deployment via a number of Web-enabled devices (like PDAs and cell phones) in the coming years.
The change to CSS-driven layout and formatting make this site more accessible to most Web browsers and specialized browsing environments used by the visually or physically impaired. By removing most font, color, and margin rules from the markup, and listing our style rules in CSS files that are cached (saved locally) when a visitor arrives at our site, our pages appear more quickly and consistently on Web browsing devices, and future design changes can be applied to our site's pages quickly.
To help move Web technologies forward — toward accessibility, additional security, and functionality — ASHA supports the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Standards initiative, which encourages users to upgrade their browsers. Older browsers weren't built to fully support CSS. Consequently, our site's presentation on older browsers may look "different," although our content can still be accessed from older browsers.
Visitors who continue to use older browsers will see a much simpler presentation — one that offers the full content in a stripped-down design. We recognize that imperfections are bound to appear, even though we've done our best to ensure our site renders as consistently as possible. If you continue to have issues in terms of access to our content, please contact us at webmaster@asha.org.
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