Correcting Pages in Dreamweaver

1. Fix image without alt text (W3C & WebExact A error (1.1) -- Add alt text using the Image Properties Panel
2. Image alignment "value cannot be DEFAULT": this shouldn't happen unless the image was originally inserted using Contribute. To correct it, either edit the code to remove the align attribute altogether, or change to a legal value, such as "TOP", "MIDDLE", "BOTTOM", "LEFT", or "RIGHT". You can do this quickly using the Image Properties Panel.
3. Fix validation errors generated by search-string URLS:
   1. FIRST, reset Dreamweaver Preferences: Select Edit > Preferences, and then select the "Code Rewriting" category. Make sure both "Special Characters" boxes are unchecked, then click OK.
   2. Close your page in Dreamweaver, and open it in Notepad, or another plain-text editor (not Word).
   3. Find the offending URL and change the & to & (the semicolon is necessary). Save and close the file.
4. Validation errors can also occur if
   • you use a nonstandard character in your page.
   • you edit the code manually and leave out a quotation mark or a >, or forget to close an element that needs to be closed (see the W3C Index of Elements for which elements require end tags).
   • you paste in code from an unvalidated page.
5. Fix improperly nested headers: WebXact AA error (3.5)
   1. Reveal the headings structure of your page using the Web Accessibility Toolbar.
   2. Make sure headings follow in correct order: H1, H2, H3, H4. . . (more about Headings). Set them using the Text Properties Panel
6. Change to relative sizing and positioning (WebXact AA error (3.4). Use the Table Properties Panel to change the size of table cell to % (use Table Cell Properties panel to change an individual cell). TIP: Don't drag table borders -- this can result in the width being changed to a pixel value.
7. Mark up lists properly (don't just type in numbers or dashes): see How to Format Dreamweaver Lists)
8. Blockquote tags are inserted if you indent a paragraph with the indent button. This should not be done unless you have an actual block of quotation that is too long to be included in the main paragraph of your page. If you click the outdent button, they should go away (see Indenting for more information).
9. The font tag and other deprecated items usually arise when you paste code directly from older web pages. This is why it's always better to paste text, and reformat it in Dreamweaver. You can also insert font tags by formatting the face, size or color of the fonts (see Text Properties Panel). Please Use the Style Sheet instead.
10. Remove any empty links. Then, try making linked text more explicit -- consider how well a person reading the linked text only would understand where the link would take them. As a last resort, you can switch to Code View and add the title attribute to a link to distinguish it from identical link text (unfortunately, WebXact will still see it as an error).
11. "Avoid using tables to format text documents in columns unless the table can be linearized." (WebXact AA manual check (5.3))
    
    

    It's ok to separate content into into two table cells (like columns) as long as each block is marked as a paragraph or a list.

    Just be sure you want the content in the right table cell to be read immediately after the content in the left table cell.

12. When you use an acronym or abbreviation, you should "spell it out" using the acronym or abbreviation tag -- e.g. CQ Weekly (WebXact AAA manual check (4.2)). The markup looks like this:
    <acronym title="Congressional Quarterly">CQ</acronym>
    See W3C page on Acronyms & Abbreviations for more information.
13. "Whitespace" link error (WebXact AAA error (10.5)) -- In order to separate links you must either make them separate items in a properly formatted list, or place unlinked text or punctuation ( / , | ) between them. If you want to lay them out using a table, you can use the "invisible" style to hide the unlinked punctuation.
14. "Provide a Summary for Tables" (WebXact AAA error (5.5) ). The summary attribute lets blind users know what kind of tabular data is presented in your table (e.g. summary="names, addresses and phone numbers of patrons"). It can also tell them that the table their assistive technology has encountered will not be presenting tabular data (i.e. information that is organized across a number of rows and columns in a logical relationship) (e.g. summary="For layout only"). While you have the option of adding a summary when you first insert a table, you can also type it in manually in Code View.