Suggested Web Site Best Practices

CAO - Web Solutions Branch

June 12, 2007

**S****uggested WSB Web Site Best Practices**

(Each of these suggestions was originally raised at a CAO-Web Solutions
Branch (WSB) Peer Review, WSB Skills Seminar, or another WSB-wide forum;
and appeared to represent a consensus of those in attendance. Material
in footnotes may not have been raised at those forums.)

[Abbreviations and Acronyms 7](#__RefHeading___Toc169405731)

["About" page 7](#__RefHeading___Toc169405732)

[Academy Nominations 8](#__RefHeading___Toc169405734)

[Accessibility Policy 8](#__RefHeading___Toc169405735)

[Accesskey attribute 8](#__RefHeading___Toc169405736)

[Acronyms 8](#__RefHeading___Toc169405737)

[Alignment 8](#__RefHeading___Toc169405738)

[\<applet\> tags 9](#__RefHeading___Toc169405739)

[Apostrophes and Quotation Marks 9](#__RefHeading___Toc169405740)

[Arabic language material 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405741)

[Archived House Web sites 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405742)

[\<area\> tags 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405743)

[Armenian language material 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405744)

[Artistic Discovery Contest 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405745)

[Audio files 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405746)

[Aural Style Sheets 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405747)

[Babel Fish 10](#__RefHeading___Toc169405748)

[Backgrounds 11](#__RefHeading___Toc169405749)

[Banners 12](#__RefHeading___Toc169405750)

[\<base\> tags 14](#__RefHeading___Toc169405751)

[\<basefont\> tags 14](#__RefHeading___Toc169405752)

[Biographies 14](#__RefHeading___Toc169405753)

[Blogs 15](#__RefHeading___Toc169405754)

[\<body\> tags 16](#__RefHeading___Toc169405755)

[Bolding 16](#__RefHeading___Toc169405756)

[\<br\> tags 16](#__RefHeading___Toc169405757)

[Browsealoud 16](#__RefHeading___Toc169405758)

[Browser compatibility 18](#__RefHeading___Toc169405759)

[Business with the Federal Government 19](#__RefHeading___Toc169405760)

[Cambodian language material 20](#__RefHeading___Toc169405761)

[Campaign material 20](#__RefHeading___Toc169405762)

[\<caption\> tags 20](#__RefHeading___Toc169405763)

[Casework 20](#__RefHeading___Toc169405764)

[Caucuses 21](#__RefHeading___Toc169405765)

[Centering 21](#__RefHeading___Toc169405766)

[Charts and Graphs 21](#__RefHeading___Toc169405767)

[Children 21](#__RefHeading___Toc169405768)

[Chinese language material 22](#__RefHeading___Toc169405769)

[Classes 22](#__RefHeading___Toc169405770)

[Colors 22](#__RefHeading___Toc169405771)

[Comments 22](#__RefHeading___Toc169405772)

[Commercial references 23](#__RefHeading___Toc169405773)

[Committee assignments and Caucus memberships
23](#__RefHeading___Toc169405774)

[Committee Web sites 23](#__RefHeading___Toc169405775)

[Communication 23](#__RefHeading___Toc169405776)

[Congressional Art Competition 23](#__RefHeading___Toc169405777)

[Congressional Page Program 23](#__RefHeading___Toc169405778)

[Congressional Record 23](#__RefHeading___Toc169405779)

[Congressional Research Service products
24](#__RefHeading___Toc169405780)

[Constituent Recognitions 24](#__RefHeading___Toc169405781)

[Constituent Services 24](#__RefHeading___Toc169405782)

[Consumer Protection Information 25](#__RefHeading___Toc169405783)

[Contact Information and Techniques 25](#__RefHeading___Toc169405784)

[Contrast 27](#__RefHeading___Toc169405785)

[Cookies 27](#__RefHeading___Toc169405786)

[COPPA 27](#__RefHeading___Toc169405787)

[Copyrighted material 27](#copyrighted-material)

[Courts 28](#__RefHeading___Toc169405790)

[Dates and time 28](#__RefHeading___Toc169405791)

[\<dir\> tags 28](#__RefHeading___Toc169405792)

[Disaster Preparation Information 29](#__RefHeading___Toc169405793)

[District Information 29](#__RefHeading___Toc169405794)

[\<!DOCTYPE\> declarations 30](#__RefHeading___Toc169405795)

[Download time 31](#__RefHeading___Toc169405796)

[Dutch (Flemish) language material 31](#__RefHeading___Toc169405797)

[Earthquake Preparation Information 31](#__RefHeading___Toc169405798)

[Election Campaign material 32](#__RefHeading___Toc169405799)

[Ellipsis 32](#__RefHeading___Toc169405800)

[\<embed\> tags 32](#__RefHeading___Toc169405801)

[E-Newsletters 32](#__RefHeading___Toc169405802)

[Events Schedule 32](#__RefHeading___Toc169405803)

[Farsi language material 32](#__RefHeading___Toc169405804)

[Favicons 33](#__RefHeading___Toc169405805)

[File Names 33](#__RefHeading___Toc169405806)

[Flags 33](#__RefHeading___Toc169405807)

[Federal Government 34](#__RefHeading___Toc169405808)

[FirstGov 34](#__RefHeading___Toc169405809)

[Floor Statements 34](#__RefHeading___Toc169405810)

[Fonts 34](#__RefHeading___Toc169405811)

[Foreign Languages 35](#__RefHeading___Toc169405812)

[Forms 35](#__RefHeading___Toc169405813)

[Frames and Iframes 39](#__RefHeading___Toc169405814)

[French language material 39](#__RefHeading___Toc169405815)

[Frequently Asked Questions 39](#__RefHeading___Toc169405816)

[German language material 40](#__RefHeading___Toc169405817)

[Government Resources 40](#__RefHeading___Toc169405818)

[Grammar 40](#__RefHeading___Toc169405819)

[Grants and Federal Domestic Assistance
40](#__RefHeading___Toc169405820)

[Graphics 41](#__RefHeading___Toc169405821)

[Graphs 44](#__RefHeading___Toc169405822)

[Greek language material 44](#__RefHeading___Toc169405823)

[Greetings 44](#__RefHeading___Toc169405824)

[Headings 46](#__RefHeading___Toc169405825)

[Hebrew language material 46](#__RefHeading___Toc169405826)

[Hindi language material 46](#__RefHeading___Toc169405827)

[Hmong language material 46](#__RefHeading___Toc169405828)

[Homeland Security threat index 47](#__RefHeading___Toc169405829)

[Homepage 47](#__RefHeading___Toc169405830)

[HOUSE.GOV Domain 48](#__RefHeading___Toc169405831)

[\<hr\> tags 48](#__RefHeading___Toc169405832)

[HTML 48](#__RefHeading___Toc169405833)

[Icons 49](#__RefHeading___Toc169405834)

[Id attribute 49](#__RefHeading___Toc169405835)

[Identity Theft Information 49](#__RefHeading___Toc169405837)

[Iframes 50](#__RefHeading___Toc169405838)

[Image Maps 50](#__RefHeading___Toc169405839)

[Images 51](#__RefHeading___Toc169405840)

[Immigration 51](#immigration)

[\<input\> tags 51](#OLE_LINK4)

[Internships 51](#__RefHeading___Toc169405843)

[Issues and Voting Information 51](#__RefHeading___Toc169405844)

[Italian language material 53](#__RefHeading___Toc169405845)

[Italics 53](#__RefHeading___Toc169405846)

[Japanese language material 53](#__RefHeading___Toc169405847)

[JavaScript 53](#__RefHeading___Toc169405848)

[Kids' pages 54](#__RefHeading___Toc169405849)

[Korean language material 54](#__RefHeading___Toc169405850)

[\<label\> tags 54](#__RefHeading___Toc169405851)

[Language of Text 55](#__RefHeading___Toc169405852)

[Lao language material 55](#__RefHeading___Toc169405853)

[Law references 55](#__RefHeading___Toc169405854)

[Layout 55](#__RefHeading___Toc169405855)

[Legal citations 57](#__RefHeading___Toc169405856)

[\<legend\> tags 57](#__RefHeading___Toc169405857)

[Legislative Material 57](#__RefHeading___Toc169405858)

[Library of Congress products 61](#__RefHeading___Toc169405859)

[Linking 61](#__RefHeading___Toc169405860)

[\<listing\> tags 64](#__RefHeading___Toc169405861)

[Lists 64](#__RefHeading___Toc169405862)

[Listserv and E-Newsletters 65](#__RefHeading___Toc169405863)

[Load time 66](#__RefHeading___Toc169405864)

[\<map\> tags 66](#__RefHeading___Toc169405865)

[Maps 66](#__RefHeading___Toc169405866)

[Margins 66](#__RefHeading___Toc169405867)

[\<menu\> tags 66](#__RefHeading___Toc169405868)

[\<meta\> tags and \<link\> tags 67](#__RefHeading___Toc169405869)

[Military Academy Nominations 67](#__RefHeading___Toc169405870)

[Missing and Exploited Children 67](#__RefHeading___Toc169405871)

[MP3 files 67](#__RefHeading___Toc169405872)

[Multimedia files and Audio files 67](#__RefHeading___Toc169405873)

[Name attribute 69](#__RefHeading___Toc169405874)

[Newsletters 73](#__RefHeading___Toc169405878)

[\<object\> tag 73](#__RefHeading___Toc169405879)

[\<optgroup\> tags 73](#__RefHeading___Toc169405880)

[Page Program 73](#__RefHeading___Toc169405881)

[PDF Files 74](#__RefHeading___Toc169405882)

[Photo Album 74](#__RefHeading___Toc169405883)

[Picas 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405884)

[Pixels 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405885)

[\<plaintext\> tags 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405886)

[Points 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405887)

[Polish language material 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405888)

[Political Language 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405889)

[Portuguese language material 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405890)

[Postal Abbreviations 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405891)

[\<pre\> tags 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405892)

[Presidential Greetings 75](#__RefHeading___Toc169405893)

[Press Releases 76](#__RefHeading___Toc169405894)

[Printing 76](#__RefHeading___Toc169405895)

[Privacy Policy and Cookies 76](#__RefHeading___Toc169405896)

[Pseudo-classes 77](#pseudo-classes-see-style-sheets-4)

[Punjabi language material 77](#__RefHeading___Toc169405898)

[Quotations 77](#__RefHeading___Toc169405899)

[Reuse of Content 78](#__RefHeading___Toc169405900)

[RSS 78](#__RefHeading___Toc169405901)

[Russian language material 79](#__RefHeading___Toc169405902)

[Samoan language material 79](#__RefHeading___Toc169405903)

[Schedule of Member 79](#__RefHeading___Toc169405904)

[Screen resolution 80](#__RefHeading___Toc169405905)

[Scripts 80](#__RefHeading___Toc169405906)

[Searching 81](#__RefHeading___Toc169405907)

[\<select\> tags 81](#__RefHeading___Toc169405908)

[Service Academy Nominations 82](#__RefHeading___Toc169405909)

[Site maps 82](#__RefHeading___Toc169405910)

[Skip-navigation links 82](#__RefHeading___Toc169405911)

[Social Security numbers 82](#__RefHeading___Toc169405912)

[Spanish language material 82](#__RefHeading___Toc169405913)

[Strike-through text 82](#__RefHeading___Toc169405914)

[Student Financial Aid 82](#__RefHeading___Toc169405915)

[Style Sheets 83](#__RefHeading___Toc169405916)

[Subcommittees 84](#__RefHeading___Toc169405918)

[Support Office Web sites 84](#__RefHeading___Toc169405919)

[Tables 84](#__RefHeading___Toc169405920)

[Tagalog language material 85](#__RefHeading___Toc169405921)

[\<textarea\> tags 85](#__RefHeading___Toc169405922)

[Thai language material 85](#__RefHeading___Toc169405923)

[Titles 85](#__RefHeading___Toc169405924)

[Tools for Validating Web Sites 86](#__RefHeading___Toc169405925)

[Tours 86](#__RefHeading___Toc169405926)

[Typeface *see Fonts* 86](#typeface-see-fonts)

[Ukrainian language material 86](#__RefHeading___Toc169405928)

[Unclaimed Property 86](#__RefHeading___Toc169405929)

[Underlining 86](#__RefHeading___Toc169405930)

[U.S. Code 87](#__RefHeading___Toc169405931)

[Urchin 87](#__RefHeading___Toc169405936)

[Usage Statistics 87](#__RefHeading___Toc169405937)

[Validation Tools 88](#__RefHeading___Toc169405938)

[VBScript 88](#__RefHeading___Toc169405939)

[Veterans 88](#__RefHeading___Toc169405940)

[Vietnamese language material 89](#__RefHeading___Toc169405941)

[Visiting Washington 89](#__RefHeading___Toc169405942)

[Voice 91](#__RefHeading___Toc169405943)

[Voting Information 91](#__RefHeading___Toc169405944)

[Waste 91](#__RefHeading___Toc169405945)

[Web Designer 91](#__RefHeading___Toc169405946)

[Welcome Messages 91](#__RefHeading___Toc169405947)

[WIDA 91](#__RefHeading___Toc169405948)

[Word Choice 92](#__RefHeading___Toc169405949)

[Write Your Representative 92](#__RefHeading___Toc169405950)

[\<xmp\> tags 92](#__RefHeading___Toc169405951)

[Appendix 1: Print Option 93](#appendix-1-print-option)

[Appendix 2: Federal Judicial Branch
95](#appendix-2-federal-judicial-branch)

[Appendix 3: Caucus Web Sites 98](#appendix-3-caucus-web-sites)

[Appendix 4: \<meta\> and Related Tags
102](#appendix-4-meta-and-related-tags)

[Appendix 5: Language Identification Codes
111](#appendix-5-language-identification-codes)

[Appendix 6: Model Privacy Policy 116](#appendix-6-model-privacy-policy)

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405731 .anchor}**Abbreviations and Acronyms**
*see also Forms #(5)*

Abbreviations should be coded with \<abbr\> tags (each having a "title"
attribute identifying what the abbreviation means). Acronyms[^1] should
be coded with \<acronym\> tags (with "title" attributes).[^2]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405732 .anchor}**"About" page** *see also
Biographies #(3)*

Each committee, caucus, or support office Web site should have an
"about" page that describes the purpose of the office (and perhaps the
philosophy of the office), the history of the office, who is in charge
of the office, and provides contact information.[^3]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405734 .anchor}**Academy Nominations** *see
Service Academy Nominations*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405735 .anchor}**Accessibility Policy**

Each Web site should include a page indicating what accessibility
standard(s) the site attempts to comply with and a way that persons with
disabilities can contact the office if they have problems accessing the
site. (See, e.g., [Rep. Jason Altmire's Accessibility
Policy](http://altmire.house.gov/accessibility.shtml).)

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405736 .anchor}**Accesskey attribute** *see
Navigation #(8)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405737 .anchor}**Acronyms** *see Abbreviations
and Acronyms*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405738 .anchor}**Alignment** *see also
Centering*

Style sheets, not the "align" attribute, should be used to set
alignments.[^4] Which style sheet property is appropriate to use for
alignment depends on what is being aligned:

-   Alignment of text should be done with the style sheets "text-align"
    property.

-   Alignment of \<hr\>, \<iframe\>, \<img\>, \<input\>, \<object\> and
    similar tags should be done with the style sheets "margin-left" and
    "margin-right" properties.[^5]

-   Alignment of table captions (i.e., the \<caption\> tag) should
    ideally be done with the style sheets "caption-side" property.
    Internet Explorer 6, however, does not support the "caption-side"
    property.[^6] It is, nonetheless, recommended that the
    "caption-side" style sheets property be used (instead of the "align"
    attribute of the \<caption\> tag), with the understanding that the
    feature will not work until browsers become more standards
    compliant.

-   Alignment of \<legend\> content with respect to the \<fieldset\> tag
    does not appear to be supported by style sheets. Until the
    \<legend\> tag will accept style sheet "align" properties, it is
    reasonable to continue using the "align" attribute (note, however,
    that the only valid values for the "align" attribute of the
    \<legend\> tag are "left", "right", "top", and "bottom" -- "center"
    is not a valid value for the "align" attribute of the \<legend\>
    tag).[^7]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405739 .anchor}**\<applet\> tags**

The \<object\> tag, not the \<applet\> tag, should be used to insert
programs into HTML pages. The \<applet\> tag should not be used for any
purpose.[^8]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405740 .anchor}**Apostrophes and Quotation
Marks**

Open and close, single and double quotation marks (and apostrophes)
generated by Microsoft products, often generate proprietary coding that
is not compliant with the Unicode standard.

(1) When it is desired -- in the content of a Web site -- to use the
    curved open and close single and double quotation marks (or a curved
    apostrophe), use the decimal representations:[^9]

> ' open single quote &#8216;
>
> ' close single quote (or apostrophe) &#8217;
>
> " open double quote &#8220;
>
> " close double quote &#8221;

(2) When using a single or double quotation mark in the coding of a Web
    site (e.g., in \<a href=\"index.shtml\"\>), use neutral (i.e.,
    uncurved) single or double quotation marks:

> \' single quote
>
> \" double quote

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405741 .anchor}**Arabic language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405742 .anchor}**Archived House Web sites**

The National Archives and Records Administration's official copy of the
House and Senate Web sites of the 109^th^ Congress is available at
<http://webharvest.gov/collections/>. Additional copies of former House
office Web pages are available (going back to 1996) through the Internet
Archive at <http://www.archive.org/index.php>. Copies of Web sites of
former Members of the House that were recognized by the Congressional
Management Foundation with their 2006 Gold, Silver or Bronze Mouse
Awards, are available at <http://www.connectingtocongress.org/>.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405743 .anchor}**\<area\> tags** *see Image
Maps #(3)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405744 .anchor}**Armenian language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405745 .anchor}**Artistic Discovery Contest**

Member offices should be encouraged to provide information about how to
apply to compete in their competition in the Artistic Discover Contest.
Offices may also want to include information about previous winners of
the contest from their district.[^10]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405746 .anchor}**Audio files** *see Multimedia
files and Audio files*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405747 .anchor}**Aural Style Sheets**

If using aural style sheets, keep in mind that Jaws (starting with
version 8) uses screen style sheets -- not aural style sheets -- to
determine the text to be presented.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405748 .anchor}**Babel Fish** *see also
Language of Text; Linking #(11); and Privacy Policy and Cookies*

Offices desiring to include the Alta Vista's free [Babel
Fish](http://babelfish.altavista.com/) language translation function on
the office's Web site should be cautioned that:

-   Babel Fish generates third party cookies on the PCs of people who
    use their service. Use of cookies on Congressional Web sites has
    generated bad publicity in the past.[^11] If an office does decide
    to use Babel Fish, the office should be strongly encouraged to (a)
    provide notice on their Privacy Policy page that use of this feature
    may generate third-party cookies on their PC; and (b) include (in
    the office's Privacy Policy) a link to [Alta Vista's Privacy
    Policy](http://www.altavista.com/about/privacy) (with an appropriate
    exit message)[^12].

-   The [Babel Fish
    software](http://www.altavista.com/help/free/free_searchbox_transl)
    imports a JavaScript on the office's Web site and jumps the user to
    a non-House of Representatives Web site
    (http://babelfish.altavista.com/) without informing the user that
    they are leaving the House Web site and that neither the office nor
    the House is responsible for the content of that site. This would
    appear to violate the provision in the *Members' Congressional
    Handbook* concerning Web sites[^13] that states that "HIR will
    display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the House of
    Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of Representatives
    Web site. The exit notice will include a disclaimer that neither
    Members nor the House are responsible for the content of linked
    sites. Member offices maintaining their sites on the Public web
    server are required to incorporate the exit notice into their
    external links." (Similar language is contained in the *Committees'
    Congressional Handbook*.)[^14]

-   Babel Fish may not accurately translate some of the nuances of a Web
    site's text. As the sponsor's of Babel Fish point out, "Expect Babel
    Fish to allow you to grasp the general intent of the original, not
    to produce a polished translation."[^15]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405749 .anchor}**Backgrounds** *see also
Centering; and Navigation #(1)*

(1) Background colors should be designated with style sheets (using the
    "background-color" property). The "bgcolor" attribute should not be
    used for this purpose.[^16]

(2) Background images should be designated with style sheets,[^17] not
    with the "background" attribute.[^18]

(3) Different browsers have different default background colors.
    Background colors, therefore, should be specified by style sheet,
    rather than relying on browser defaults.

(4) The contrast between any text and its background should at least
    meet the minimum level set out in a respected accessibility
    standard, e.g., [Guideline
    1.4.3](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#visual-audio-contrast-contrast)
    of the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility
    Guidelines 2.0 (May 17, 2007 working draft).[^19]^,^ [^20]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405750 .anchor}**Banners** *see also Navigation
#(1); Printing; and Searching*

(1) Avoid unnecessary blank space under the banner.

(2) Each page should have a banner with the name of the office.[^21] The
    banner of a Member's Web site should also include the Member's state
    and district.

(3) On Member Web sites, having multiple pictures of different aspects
    of the district in the banner helps convey the diversity of the
    district and shows that the Member takes pride in all of it. To
    expand the ability to cover a wide number of images, consider having
    a slide show[^22] in the banner (see e.g., [Rep. Dan Lungren's Web
    site](http://www.house.gov/lungren/)).[^23] **Note:** When a script,
    applet, object, or similar technique is used to generate such a
    slide show, the coding needs to be done in such a way that browsers
    that do not support the technique (or have been set by the user not
    to support the technique) will display either (a) links to the
    images from the slide show, or (b) a composite of the images from
    the slide show, or (c) one image from the slide show.[^24]

(4) When a Member Web site's banner includes scenes or symbols related
    to the Member's district and/or state, as well as scenes or symbols
    related to Congress or the Federal Government, consider placing the
    district/state material closer to the Member's picture than the
    Federal material. See, e.g., the banner on [Rep. Abercrombie's
    site](http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/).

(5) The height of the banner should be as small as possible, while still
    conveying the information desired by the office.[^25]

(6) When practical, graphics used in the banner should be implemented as
    background images.[^26] Deployment of images as background images
    (rather than using \<img\> tags) promotes scalability of web
    pages.[^27]

(7) On Member Web sites, consider including a map of the Member's state
    with the location of the Member's congressional district
    highlighted.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405751 .anchor}**\<base\> tags**

Each file should contain no more than one \<base\> tag. The \<base\> tag
should be between the \<head\> tag and the \</head\> tag. A \<base\> tag
should not be used between the \<body\> and \</body\> tags.[^28]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405752 .anchor}**\<basefont\> tags** *see Fonts
#(3)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405753 .anchor}**Biographies** *see also
Committee Assignments and Caucus memberships; Legislative Material;
Navigation #(4); and Word Choice*

(1) Each Member Web site should have a biography of the Member.[^29]

(2) When a Member's biography mentions an issue, it is recommended that
    the mention be hypertext linked to the place in the Web site that
    sets out the Member's position or accomplishments on the issue.[^30]
    Likewise, if the Member's biography mentions a committee, caucus, or
    other organization that the Member has an affiliation with, it is
    suggested that the mention be hypertext linked to that
    organization's Web site; and if the biography mentions an event
    (e.g., receipt of an award) where there is a relevant press release
    on the Member's Web site, it is suggested that the mention be
    hypertext linked to the press release.[^31]

(3) Rather than having "Biography" (or "My Background") as a major
    navigation heading, consider making the Member's biography part of a
    section titled "About \[Member's name\]". This facilitates including
    additional material about the Member, e.g., the Member's committee
    assignments and caucus memberships, a description of a typical day
    (or week) of the Member[^32], and the Member's upcoming
    schedule.[^33]^,^ [^34]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405754 .anchor}**Blogs**

Offices interested in having blogs on their Web site[^35] should be
encouraged to use the House Web Log Utility.[^36] Offices using the
House Web Log Utility include [Rep. Dan
Burton](http://www.house.gov/apps/blog/in05_burton/index.shtml), [Rep.
Tom Feeney](http://www.house.gov/feeney/wwwblog/index.shtml), [Rep. Tom
Tancredo](http://tancredo.house.gov/press/press_blog.shtml), the
[Republican Policy Committee](http://policy.house.gov/), and the
[Republican Study Committee](http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405755 .anchor}**\<body\> tags** *see Layout
#(2)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405756 .anchor}**Bolding**

(1) Where bolding would be appropriate on a visual display, use
    \<strong\> tags, not \<b\> tags.[^37]

(2) Other than in headings, bolding should normally be limited to a few
    words -- entire sentences or paragraphs should normally not be
    bolded.[^38]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405757 .anchor}**\<br\> tags**

The "clear" property in style sheets should be used instead of the
"clear" attribute of the \<br\> tag.[^39]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405758 .anchor}**Browsealoud**

Offices should consider including a Browsealoud link on each page.
Browsealoud is a screen reader designed particularly for people with
English literacy problems and/or learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
The Browsealoud link should point to a page on the office's Web site
that has the content of the House "About The Browsealoud Plug-In" page
(<http://www.house.gov/house/browsealoud.shtml>).[^40]

Possible graphic links to Browsealoud include:

(1) ![](media/image2.png){width="0.15555555555555556in"
    height="0.1673611111111111in"} [^41]

(2) ![](media/image3.png){width="0.3659722222222222in"
    height="0.2604166666666667in"} [^42]

(3) ![](media/image4.png){width="0.96875in"
    height="0.3236111111111111in"} [^43]

(4) ![](media/image5.png){width="1.3527777777777779in"
    height="0.3659722222222222in"} [^44]

(5) ![](media/image6.png){width="1.34375in"
    height="0.4166666666666667in"} [^45]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405759 .anchor}**Browser compatibility**

(1) Designing Web sites to only run well in one type of browser is
    contrary to industry best practices and will generally produce Web
    sites that are not accessible to people with disabilities.[^46]
    Sites should be checked[^47] against a range of browsers and
    versions of browsers. To help identify which browsers should be
    tested against House Web sites, CAO-WSB conducted an analysis of
    www.house.gov usage for April 12 to 16, 2007, and found that the
    following browsers each accounted for at least 0.1% of the
    identifiable, non-robot access to the site:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
1.  Internet Explorer 6.x 50.90%

2.  Internet Explorer 7.x 25.34%

3.  Internet Explorer 5.x 6.85% [^48]

4.  Firefox 2.x 6.78%

5.  Firefox 1.x 4.85%

6.  Safari 2.83% [^49]

7.  Firefox 3 (Minefield) 0.45%

8.  Netscape 7.x 0.33%

9.  Opera 0.19%

> 10\. Netscape 8.x 0.17% [^50]

(2) Browser compatibility does not require that a Web site look
    absolutely identical from one browser to another. Instead, it
    expects that a site will be at least presentable (and have at least
    equivalent functionality) from one browser to the next.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405760 .anchor}**Business with the Federal
Government**

Member offices (and other House offices that deal regularly with people
seeking business opportunities with the Federal government)[^51] that
are hosted on an HIR Web server should be encouraged to include the
[CRS-maintained "Business Opportunities with the Federal Government"
page](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_crs_fedbiz.htm)
in their Web site. Offices not hosted on an HIR Web server should be
encouraged to iframe the page.[^52]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405761 .anchor}**Cambodian language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405762 .anchor}**Campaign material** *see
Election Campaign Material*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405763 .anchor}**\<caption\> tags** *see
Alignment*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405764 .anchor}**Casework**

Avoid using the term "casework" -- it is jargon and may confuse or
alienate constituents. Consider, instead using something along the lines
of "How I Can Help You with Government Agencies".[^53]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405765 .anchor}**Caucuses** *see "About" page;
and Committee Assignments and Caucus memberships*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405766 .anchor}**Centering**

Style sheets, not \<center\> tags, should be used to achieve
centering.[^54] Which style sheet property is appropriate to use for
centering depends on what is being centered,

-   centered text should use the style sheets property
    "text-align:center"

-   background images being centered should use the style sheets
    property "background-position"

-   all other items being centered (e.g., the \<hr\>, \<iframe\>,
    \<img\>, \<input\>, and \<object\> tags) should use
    "margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"[^55]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405767 .anchor}**Charts and Graphs**

All charts and graphs should have a link to a table that contains the
same data as the chart or graph.[^56] Such tables should conform to the
standards for accessible tables.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405768 .anchor}**Children** *see Missing and
Exploited Children*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405769 .anchor}**Chinese language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405770 .anchor}**Classes** *see Style Sheets
#(5)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405771 .anchor}**Colors** *see also
Backgrounds; and Tools for Validating Web Sites #(3)*

(1) When color is used to supply information (e.g., listing in red the
    school districts where most of the enrolled students receive
    subsidized meals), the information also needs to be made available
    to people who are color blind and to people who are using monochrome
    monitors -- in order to comply with § 508 of the Rehabilitation
    Act.[^57]

(2) Consider using "browser safe" colors.[^58]

(3) Text colors should be designated with style sheets (using the
    "color" property). The "text" attribute should not be used for this
    purpose.[^59]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405772 .anchor}**Comments**

Comments should be preceded with a less-than-sign, an exclamation mark,
two dashes, and a space (\<!\-- ). At the end of each comment should be
a space, two dashes and a greater-than-sign ( \--\>). In between those
two delimiters, do not use two or more consecutive dashes. Some browsers
(including FireFox 1.5) have problems with comments that do not conform
to this standard.[^60]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405773 .anchor}**Commercial references** *see
also District Information #(2)*

Other than possibly in comments in the source code, House Web sites
should not contain any reference to the commercial firm or developer who
designed, coded, or maintains the Web site.[^61]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405774 .anchor}**Committee assignments and
Caucus memberships**

Member offices should be encouraged to list the committees,
subcommittees, and caucuses[^62] that the Member serves on; provide
links to those committees, subcommittees[^63] and caucuses; [^64] and
explain the purpose of each committee, subcommittee, and caucus.[^65]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405775 .anchor}**Committee Web sites** *see
"About" page*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405776 .anchor}**Communication** *see Contact
Information and Techniques*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405777 .anchor}**Congressional Art
Competition** *see Artistic Discovery Competition*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405778 .anchor}**Congressional Page Program**
*see Page Program*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405779 .anchor}**Congressional Record** *see
Floor Statements*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405780 .anchor}**Congressional Research Service
products** *see Business with the Federal Government; Grants and Federal
Domestic Assistance; Issues and Voting Information #(3); Legislative
Material #(1); and Student Financial Aid*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405781 .anchor}**Constituent Recognitions**

Consider having a page devoted to recognizing constituents (as part of
the site's photo album or as part of the site's congressional district
section).[^66]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405782 .anchor}**Constituent Services** *see
Artistic Discovery Contest; Business with the Federal Government;
Consumer Protection Information; Disaster Preparedness Information;
District Information; Flags; Grants and Federal Domestic Assistance;
Identity Theft Information; Missing and Exploited Children; Greetings;
Internships; Navigation #(4); Page Program; Service Academy Nominations;
Student Financial Aid; Unclaimed Property; Veterans; and Visiting
Washington*

(1) Where possible, include step-by-step instructions for what a
    constituent needs to do (and provide) to get assistance.[^67]

(2) Avoid using the term "constituent services" -- it is jargon and may
    confuse or alienate constituents. Consider, instead using something
    along the lines of "How I Can Help You".[^68]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405783 .anchor}**Consumer Protection
Information** *see also Identity Theft Information*

(1) Member offices (and offices that have consumers as a constituency)
    should consider including consumer protection information on their
    Web site. The Federal Trade Commission's May 2006 *For the Consumer:
    Congressional Outreach Projects Using FTC Resources*, sites as
    examples the consumer protection pages of the following
    Congressional offices: [Rep. Neil
    Abercrombie](http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/consumers.shtml),
    [Rep. Spencer
    Bachus](http://bachus.house.gov/HoR/AL06/Helping+You/Consumer+Information/),
    [Rep. Mary
    Bono](http://bono.house.gov/ConstituentServices/Consumer_Protection.htm),
    [Rep. William Lacy Clay](http://www.house.gov/clay/con_pro.htm),
    [Rep. Byron Dorgan](http://dorgan.senate.gov/services/consumer/),
    [Rep. Bob
    Goodlatte](http://www.house.gov/goodlatte/consumerfraud.htm), [Rep.
    Gene
    Green](http://www.house.gov/green/issues/consumer protection.shtml),
    [Rep. Sue
    Kelly](http://web.archive.org/web/20060207192318/suekelly.house.gov/consumerprotection.asp),
    [Rep. Dennis
    Moore](http://moore.house.gov/service.asp?service_ID=9), [Rep. Henry
    Waxman](http://www.henrywaxman.house.gov/services_consumer.htm),
    [Sen. Tim
    Johnson](http://johnson.senate.gov/consumer_protection.html), and
    [Sen. Jon Kyl](http://kyl.senate.gov/constit_center/consumer.cfm).

(2) When linking to consumer protection Web pages from the Federal Trade
    Commission, consider using the icons available at
    [[http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer/partners_buttons.html]{.underline}](http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer/partners_buttons.html).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405784 .anchor}**Contact Information and
Techniques** *see also Blogs; Listserv; Navigation #(4); and Privacy
Policy #(1)*

(1) Consider including, in the "Contact Me" page, a method to allow
    constituents to communicate electronically with the office[^69]
    (preferably through a form[^70] on the "Contact Me" page)[^71].

(2) Consider including, in the "Contact Me" page, an electronic
    newsletter[^72] subscription sign-up opportunity (via
    [Listserv](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/update/listserv/index.htm)).

(3) Consider including a staff directory.[^73]

(4) Consider including a form to allow constituents to schedule a
    meeting with the Member (see e.g., [Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s
    Contact Me page](http://www.house.gov/jackson/Contact.shtml)).[^74]

(5) Consider including the regular office hours along with the addresses
    of Washington and district offices.[^75]

(6) Offices are urged to include a fax number on their Web site.[^76]

(7) Consider including information as to how soon a constituent can
    expect to get a response and how they will be contacted.[^77]

(8) Offices should be encouraged **not** to include an "e-mail this page
    to a friend" capability on their Web site because of the security
    problems that such a feature may create.[^78]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405785 .anchor}**Contrast** *see Backgrounds
#(4)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405786 .anchor}**Cookies** *see Privacy Policy
and Cookies*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405787 .anchor}**COPPA** *see Kids' pages; and
Privacy Policy and Cookies*

# Copyrighted material 

(1) Copyrighted material[^79] should be used only with the written
    permission of the copyright owner.

(2) Copyrighted material should not be photo-edited (or otherwise
    altered) unless the copyright owner has given written permission for
    the alteration (permission to use copyrighted material does not
    imply permission to alter the material).

(3) Where copyrighted material used on a Web site contains a copyright
    notice (e.g., "©," "copyright," or "copr.;" with the name of the
    copyright owner and the year of original publication), the copyright
    notice should not be removed from copyrighted material without
    specific written permission of the copyright owner.

(4) Material prepared by (or for) a House office is not copyrightable
    and should not have a copyright notice.[^80]

(5) Material copied from any Web site -- other than a Federal government
    Web site -- should be presumed to be copyrighted. Material from
    state and local government Web sites; commercial Web sites;
    newspaper, television, or radio Web sites; educational Web sites;
    and non-profit Web sites should all be presumed to be copyrighted.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405790 .anchor}**Courts** *see Government
Resources*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405791 .anchor}**Dates and time**

(1) If you dynamically generate the current date or time, use a
    server-side include, rather than grabbing the information from the
    user's PC.[^81]

(2) When referring to congresses (e.g., the 109^th^ Congress), also
    provide the years. Do not assume that people off of Capitol Hill
    know what a particular congress is.[^82]

(3) Information on the Web site should be kept up to date.[^83]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405792 .anchor}**\<dir\> tags** *see Lists
#(5)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405793 .anchor}**Disaster Preparation
Information**

Member offices should consider including information on their Web sites
concerning disaster preparation information. Rep. Mary Bono's Web site,
for instance, provides [earthquake preparation
information](http://bono.house.gov/HomePage/earthquake.htm).[^84]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405794 .anchor}**District Information** *see
also Banner #(7); Constituent Recognitions; Maps; Navigation #(4); and
Government Resources #(1)*

(1) Member offices should be urged to include on their Web site material
    on the history of their congressional district. See, e.g., [Rep.
    Diana DeGette's district history
    page](http://www.house.gov/degette/history.shtml), which lists all
    of the Members of the House who have represented the district since
    1861, when Colorado became a territory.

(2) Many Members of Congress view it as one of their responsibilities to
    serve as the goodwill ambassador for their district. As such, they
    may want to feature (and link to) attractions and industries in
    their district. The *[Members' Congressional
    Handbook](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#content)*
    and the [*Committees' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=37#contenthttp://cha.house.gov/services/committeehandbook.htm)**,**
    however, prohibit House Member and House committee Web sites from
    including "any advertisement for any private individual, firm, or
    corporation, or imply in any manner that the government endorses or
    favors any specific commercial product, commodity, or service." Two
    practices have been developed by House offices that wish to provide
    links to external Web pages that provide information on attractions
    and industries in their district, while staying within the House
    rules:

    a.  Listing **all** of the companies in a Member\'s district that
        are within a specific segment of the economy (e.g., all
        professional sports teams in the district, or all the wine
        vineyards in a district) and linking to informational pages --
        not pages primarily containing solicitations for money,
        volunteerism, or other things of value; [^85] and

    b.  Including a statement on the Web page with the links, that these
        links are not intended to be an endorsement.[^86]

(3) Where there are offices of Federal agencies in (or near the
    district), Member offices should be encouraged to include
    information about the offices (or at least links to their Web
    sites). Consider placing these references in the District
    Information section of the Web site and/or in the Constituent
    Services section of the Web site and/or in the Federal Government
    section of the Web site.[^87]

(4) Member offices should be encouraged to include Census Bureau data
    about their district.[^88]

(5) On Member Web sites, consider providing links to the Web sites of
    military units stationed in (or near) the district; and military
    units associated with the district. See, e.g., Rep. Rush Holt's
    "[Guard and Reserves](http://holt.house.gov/NationalGuard.shtml)"
    page.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405795 .anchor}**\<!DOCTYPE\> declarations**

(1) Each file should have a \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration. Unless there is an
    important reason to do otherwise, the \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration on
    each file should be[^89]:

> \<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN\"
> \"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd\"\>
>
> If that \<!DOCTYPE\> is not used, then it is recommended that a
> \<!DOCTYPE\> from the W3C *[Recommended List of
> DTDs](http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html)* be used.
> (Note that the \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration **is** case sensative.)

(2) There should only be one \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration in a file and it
    should precede everything in the file.[^90]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405796 .anchor}**Download time** *see also
Graphics #(1) and (5); and Tools for Validating Web Sites #(5)*

Offices should be encouraged to have each Web page take no more than 15
seconds to download on a 56.6kb connection.[^91]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405797 .anchor}**Dutch (Flemish) language
material** *see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text:
and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405798 .anchor}**Earthquake Preparation
Information** *see Disaster Preparation Information*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405799 .anchor}**Election Campaign material**
*see also Political Language*

(1) Material originally developed for (or originally paid for by) an
    election campaign should not be used on House Web sites.[^92]

(2) House Web sites should not contain election campaign information or
    links to election campaign sites.[^93]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405800 .anchor}**Ellipsis** *see Quotations*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405801 .anchor}**\<embed\> tags**

The \<object\> tag, not the \<embed\> tag, should be used to insert
programs into HTML pages. The \<embed\> tag is not compliant with the
W3C XHTML 1.0 standard.[^94]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405802 .anchor}**E-Newsletters** *see Listserv
and E-Newsletters*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405803 .anchor}**Events Schedule** *see also
Schedule of Member*

Offices should be encouraged to list upcoming events that they are
sponsoring (e.g., town hall meetings).[^95]^,^ [^96]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405804 .anchor}**Farsi language material** *see
Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405805 .anchor}**Favicons**

(1) Each Web page should specify its favicon[^97] with a \<link
    rel=\"SHORTCUT ICON\" /\> tag, where the "href" attribute specifies
    the URL of the image to be used as the favicon,[^98] e.g.:

\<link rel=\"SHORTCUT ICON\"
href=\"http://altmire.house.gov/favicon.ico\" /\>

(2) Favicon file names must end with a .ico extension.[^99]

(3) The "Favicon from Pics" tool at
    <http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/> can convert gif,
    jpg, png, and bmp files into ico format. Adobe GoLive and CorelDraw
    also are able to generate ico files.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405806 .anchor}**File Names** see also Favicons
#(2)

When redesigning a Web site, whenever possible reuse the file names of
the old site in the new site, so that pre-existing bookmarks and links
from other sites will continue to work. If it is not possible to reuse
the previous file names, then use redirects to take users who attempt to
access the old pages and move them to the corresponding new page (not
just to your new homepage).[^100]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405807 .anchor}**Flags** *see also Forms*

(1) Member offices should be encouraged to include information on how to
    order U.S. flags flown over the Capitol Building.[^101]

(2) Member offices should be encouraged to use the [E-Flag
    Calculator](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_flag_forms.htm)
    as part of their Web pages for ordering U.S. flags flown over the
    Capitol building. The E-Flag Calculator will calculate the cost of a
    flag request (including postage) and produce an invoice that the
    constituent can mail to your office with their check. Additionally,
    the cost of the flags are automatically updated by the House Office
    Supply Service and postage rates are automatically updated by the
    U.S. Postal Service.

(3) Consider including a link (from the flag order page) to a page with
    instructions for the proper care of a flag. See, e.g., Rep. Steven
    LaTourette's "[Care and Presentation of the
    Flag](http://www.house.gov/latourette/flag_care.htm)" page.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405808 .anchor}**Federal Government** *see
Government Resources*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405809 .anchor}**FirstGov**

FirstGov.gov (the U.S. Government information portal maintained by the
U.S. General Services Administration) was renamed USA.gov, effective
January 18, 2007. House Web sites should, therefore, not contain
references to FirstGov.gov, except in a historical context.
Additionally, House offices should link[^102] to pages on
[www.USA.gov](http://www.USA.gov/), rather than to www.FirstGov.gov.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405810 .anchor}**Floor Statements** *see also
WIDA*

Member offices should be encouraged to include Floor statements made by
the Member.[^103] The official text of all House Floor statements is
available in the Congressional Record -- which is available on the
Internet (through Thomas).[^104] Alternatively, offices may provide its
own transcripts (see, e.g., [Rep. Jason Altmire's Web
site](http://altmire.house.gov/floorStatements.shtml), which uses WIDA
and presents the material in chronological order and in subject order).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405811 .anchor}**Fonts** *see also Bolding; and
Italics*

(1) Style sheets, not \<font\> tags, should be used to set font colors,
    type faces, and type size.[^105]

(2) Font sizes (for material that will be displayed on a screen)[^106]
    should be specified in ems or percentages, not in points, picas,
    centimeters, inches, or pixels.[^107]

(3) Style sheets associated with the \<body\> tag should be used to set
    the document-wide default values for text size, color, and
    typeface.[^108] The \<basefont\> tag should not be used for this or
    any other purpose.[^109]

(4) When specifying a serif font for screen display, consider specifying
    Georgia, rather than Times New Roman. When specifying a sans-serif
    font for screen display, consider specifying Verdana, rather than
    Arial. Georgia and Verdana were designed for screen display, whereas
    Times New Roman and Arial were designed for printing.[^110]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405812 .anchor}**Foreign Languages** *see Babel
Fish; and Language of Text*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405813 .anchor}**Forms** *see also Alignment;
Centering; Contact Information and Techniques #(1); Flags #(2); Graphics
#(3);Social Security numbers; and Visiting Washington #(1)*

(1) Identifying required fields: [^111]

    a.  If you use an asterisk to identify required fields, then include
        a title=\"required field\" attribute in a tag pair surrounding
        the asterisk (e.g., \<span title=\"required
        field\"\>\*\</span\>).

    b.  Consider highlighting in yellow[^112] those cells that
        correspond to required fields. Highlighting those cells,
        however, should not be the only method used to indicate that the
        field is a required field.[^113]

    c.  Underlining should not be used to indicate that a field is a
        required field.[^114]

    d.  Any instructions indicating how to identify required fields
        should precede the form.[^115]

(2) Every form should either have a "submit" button (or its equivalent)
    or clear instructions as to how to activate the form.[^116]

(3) Normally, each input field (whether created by an \<input\>,
    \<select\>, or \<textarea\> tag) has text associated with it that
    explains what information should be put into the field (e.g., "First
    Name", "Street Address", or "City").

    a.  If that explanatory text is present, it should be preceded by a
        \<label\> tag and followed by a \</label\> tag. The \<label\>
        tag should have a "for" attribute with a value equal to the
        value of the "id" attribute of the \<input\>, \<select\>, or
        \<textarea\> tag.[^117] For example:

> \<label for=\"querytext\"\>Search for:&nbsp;\</label\>
>
> \<input type=\"text\" name=\"QueryText\" id=\"querytext\" size=\"10\"
> value=\"\" /\>

b.  If the explanatory text surrounds the \<input\>, \<select\>, or
    \<textarea\> tags, e.g.,

  ------------ --------------------------- ------------------------------
  User name:                               (E-mail address: xxx@xxx.xxx)

  ------------ --------------------------- ------------------------------

> surround the entire string in the \<label\> tags. For instance,[^118]
>
> \<label for=\"user2\"\>User name:\
> \<input type=\"text\" name=\"user2\" id=\"user2\" /\>\
> (E-mail address: xxx@xxx.xxx)\</label\>

c.  If there is no explanatory text that can be associated with an
    \<input\>, \<select\>, or \<textarea\> element (e.g, were the label
    asks for a telephone number, but there are three \<input\> tags, one
    for the area code, one for the exchange, and one for the remaining
    four digits), then either:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
1.  use a "title" attribute in the tag to indicate what information is
    to go into the field; or

2.  add the information and put it between a \<label\> tag (with an
    appropriate "for" attribute) and a \</label\> tag; and give the
    \<label\> tag a class (e.g. class=\"hidden\"), where the class
    places the text off screen and minimizes the size (e.g.,
    position:absolute;left:-999em; font-size:1%);[^119] or

3.  add the information and put it between a \<label\> tag (with an
    appropriate "for" attribute) and a \</label\> tag; and use the
    technique suggested in "[Labels.js: A Re-introduction to
    DHTML](http://webapp.youngpup.net/?request=/articles/labels.xml)"
    (December 23, 2001).

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(4) If a \<select\> tag has a substantial number of \<option\> tags
    associated with it, the \<option\> tags should be grouped together
    with \<optgroup\> tags. See, for example, the "What is the general
    topic of your message?" pull-down on [Rep. Dan Boren's "Contact Dan
    Online Form"](http://boren.house.gov/emailsignup.shtml) page.[^120]

(5) Where a form has a pull-down menu of postal abbreviations, each
    \<option\> tag should have a "title" attribute that specifies the
    name of the state. See, e.g., the "[Contact Me About Constitutional
    Amendments](http://www.house.gov/jackson/ContactReAmends.shtml)"
    page on Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s Web site.[^121] Note, however,
    that from a usability and accessibility point of view, it is
    preferable to provide an \<input\> field where the visitor can type
    in the 2-character postal abbreviation, rather than puling the
    information from a \<select\>/\<option\> pull-down.[^122] If the
    form is only meant to be filled out be visitors from the Member's
    state, it is preferable to hard-code the state value and use an
    \<input type=\"hidden\"\> tag to pass the postal abbreviation to the
    appropriate software.

(6) JavaScripts, VBScripts, and other scripts should not be used as the
    exclusive way to submit forms.[^123]

(7) Any \<input\> tag with a type=\"text\" attribute should not have a
    "value" attribute.[^124]

(8) If a \<form\> tag has a "name" attribute, it should also have an
    "id" attribute with the same value [^125]

(9) Within every group of radio buttons, the \<input\> tag for one of
    the buttons should have a checked=\"checked\" attribute.[^126]

(10) Within every \<select\> tag, one of the \<option\> tags should have
     a selected=\"selected\" attribute.[^127]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405814 .anchor}**Frames and Iframes**[^128]
*see also Alignment; Banners #(3); and Centering*

(1) When a frame (or iframe) calls in a page from outside the HOUSE.GOV
    domain, there needs to be a prominent message indicating that the
    material is not from the House of Representatives and that neither
    the office nor the House are responsible for the content.[^129]

(2) If a \<frame\> tag or a \<iframe\> tag has a "name" attribute, it
    should also have an "id" attribute with the same value [^130]

(3) Frames may be used, as long as the \<frame\> or \<iframe\> tag has a
    "title" attribute that describes the specific function of that
    frame.[^131]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405815 .anchor}**French language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405816 .anchor}**Frequently Asked Questions**

Offices should be encouraged to have FAQs in their Web site.[^132] The
Web site of the late [Rep. Juanita
Millender-McDonald](http://web.archive.org/web/20060211090329/www.house.gov/millender-mcdonald/bio.htm),
for instance, had FAQs as a primary navigation item.[^133]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405817 .anchor}**German language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405818 .anchor}**Government Resources** *see
also District Information #(3)*

(1) Member offices should be encouraged to include material about (or at
    least links to) the Federal courts that have jurisdiction within the
    Member's congressional district.[^134] See Appendix 2: *Federal
    Judicial Branch* of this document for information on Federal
    Judicial Web sites.

(2) On Web sites that have non-English pages, consider also providing
    links to government information pages that are linked from the
    Federal Citizen Information Center's Multilanguage Gateway.[^135]
    Those Web sites with Spanish pages should be encouraged to include
    the Spanish version of the [CRS-maintained "Grants and Federal
    Domestic Assistance"
    page](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_crs_grants.htm)
    on their Web site.[^136]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405819 .anchor}**Grammar** *see Word Choice*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405820 .anchor}**Grants and Federal Domestic
Assistance**

Member offices (and other House offices that deal regularly with grant
applicants)[^137], that are hosted on an HIR Web server should be
encouraged to include the [CRS-maintained "Grants and Federal Domestic
Assistance"
page](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_crs_grants.htm)
in their Web site. Offices not hosted on an HIR Web server should be
encouraged to iframe the page.[^138] A Spanish-language version of the
["Grants and Federal Domestic Assistance"
page](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_crs_grants_spanish.htm#resources)
is also available.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405821 .anchor}**Graphics** *see also
Alignment; Backgrounds; Banners; Centering; Colors; Favicons; Lists
#(1); Multimedia files and Audio files; Photo Albums; and Tools for
Validating Web Sites #(3)*

(1) Optimize graphics to cut download time.
    [GIFBot](http://www.netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm) is
    an easy to use graphics optimizer from NetMechanic that works with
    JPGs as well as GIFs.

(2) Where a small graphic will communicate as well as a large graphic,
    use the smaller graphic. Also consider using thumbnails that link
    large versions of the image.

(3) Every graphic needs to include an "alt" attribute (or its
    equivalent).[^139] The "alt" attribute (or its equivalent) should
    convey the information that the graphic provides.

    a.  If the graphic includes text, the "alt" attribute (or its
        equivalent) should include that text.

    b.  If the graphic conveys no information (e.g., it is purely
        decorative), then set the value of the "alt" attribute either to
        null (\"\") or to a single blank (\" \").

    c.  When using an "alt" attribute with a value that exceeds 100 to
        125 characters, also use a "longdesc" attribute.[^140]

    d.  Phrases such as "photo of" or "link to" should not be used as
        part of an "alt" attribute (or its equivalent).[^141]

    e.  Abbreviations should not be used in an "alt" attribute.

    f.  File names should not be used as the value of an "alt"
        attribute.[^142]

(4) Where a graphic consists principally of text, use actual text rather
    than an \<img\> graphic. Use style sheets to control size, color,
    background, positioning, etc. This approach maximizes accessibility,
    scalability, and download speed.[^143]

(5) It is recommended that headings (particularly on text-heavy pages
    that deal with multiple topics) be supplemented with relevant
    icons.[^144]

(6) Every \<img\> tag should either have a "width" attribute and a
    "height" attribute[^145] or should have the height and width set
    through style sheets.

(7) The width of borders around graphics should be set by style
    sheets,[^146] not by the "border" attribute of the \<img\>
    tag.[^147]

(8) When setting a buffer between a graphic and surrounding text, do not
    use the hspace or vspace attributes of the \<img\> tag -- instead
    use style-sheets.[^148]

(9) If an \<img\> tag has a "name" attribute, it should also have an
    "id" attribute with the same value.[^149]

(10) Graphics originally developed for (or originally paid for by) an
     election campaign should not be used on House Web sites.[^150]

(11) When modifying a graphic, it is normally best to conduct
     modifications in the following order:

     a.  red-eye correcting

     b.  blemishes and dark or shiny spots

     c.  color levels

     d.  color balance

     e.  brightness and contrast

     f.  shadows and highlighting

     g.  resizing

     h.  cropping

     i.  sharpening

     j.  saving

(12) When using Photoshop:

     -   **Red Eye:** avoid using the Red Eye tool (Shift-J) because it
         tends to be too extreme (turning dark gray whenever it finds
         any red). Instead, zoom in (Control-+) on the problem area. Use
         the Marquee select (Shift-M) or the Lasso select (Shift-L) to
         capture each eye (Shift-mousedrag to add to a selection,
         Alt-mousedrag to subtract from a selection). Use Hue/Saturation
         (Control-U) and attenuate the middle Saturation slider. Try
         darkening a little so you do not end up with gray eyes. Zoom to
         100% (double click the zoom tool) to see what it looks like
         within the entire image.

     -   **Blemishes, Dark Spots, and Shiny Spots:** use the spot
         healing brush (Shift-J). This works best on blemishes that are
         surrounded by the correct tonal value. Make your brush width 1½
         to 2 times the width of the blemish and click once over the
         blemish (the blemish should disappear). For areas with the
         correct tonal value only on one side of the blemish, use the
         healing brush. Alt-Select an area of the image that has the
         tonal value you want and then drag your mouse on the blemish.
         If the result is too harsh, then Edit-Fade immediately after to
         attenuate the effect. Alternatively, step backward and choose a
         different Mode, e.g., Screen, Lighten, or Darken. Another
         approach is to try Smear (Shift-R) to smooth out the result.

     -   **Levels:** use the Control-L function. The ideal curve for
         levels is a double bell curve tailing off at the edges of the
         window with the left tail at black; the right tail at white;
         and the center at gray. If there are peaks at the edges, there
         is too much contrast. If the curve does not reach the edges,
         then the contrast is too low.

     -   **Color Balance:** use Control-B. This is especially useful if
         the image is scanned or the flash was incorrectly set. Color
         balance is usually used to reduce the red in the midtones or
         highlights of an image or, conversely, to correct for overly
         sallow skin tone.

     -   **Brightness and Contrast:** use Image: Adjustments:
         Brightness/ Contrast. Avoid setting the brightness and contrast
         control above 20 or below -20.

     -   **Shadows and Highlights:** use Image: Adjustments: Shadow/
         Highlight. Once adjusting the shadows or highlights, it is
         usually necessary to readjust the color balance and or the
         brightness and contrast.

     -   **Resizing:** use "Bicubic" as the "Resample Image" value.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405822 .anchor}**Graphs** *see Charts and
Graphs*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405823 .anchor}**Greek language material** *see
Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking
#(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405824 .anchor}**Greetings**

(1) Member offices should consider having information on their Web site
    as to how a constituent can receive greetings from the Member to
    commemorate events of "public distinction" (e.g., graduation form
    high school or college; becoming an Eagle Scout; receiving U.S.
    citizenship; or election or appointment to public office).[^151]

(2) Member offices should consider having information on their Web site
    as to how a constituent can receive greetings from the President for
    important birthdays, anniversaries, and similar occasions.[^152]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405825 .anchor}**Headings** *see also
Alignment; Graphics #(5); Tables #(1); and Titles*

(1) Headings within a page should be coded with h tags (highest level
    being \<h1\>, second highest level \<h2\>, etc.). Use style sheets
    to set the typeface, bolding, font-size, alignment, etc. so that the
    result is both esthetically pleasing and consistent throughout the
    site.[^153]

(2) The words that convey the most information should be at the
    beginning of each heading -- preferably in the first two
    words.[^154]

(3) Headings should generally not exceed 60 characters.[^155]

(4) An "id" attribute should be associated with each heading so that
    links can go directly to that spot.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405826 .anchor}**Hebrew language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405827 .anchor}**Hindi language material** *see
Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405828 .anchor}**Hmong language material** *see
Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405829 .anchor}**Homeland Security threat
index**

Offices with Web sites that display the Department of Homeland
Security's threat advisory icon should be encouraged to make use of the
icon that the automatically changes as the Department's threat index
changes. Instructions for using the icon on a Web site can be found at:

<http://listserv.gsa.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0303&L=EXPRESS-L&P=R2602&I=-3>
.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405830 .anchor}**Homepage** *see also
Navigation #(1) and (7); and Privacy Policy #(2)*

One of the primary goals of a Congressional Web site is to get
constituents to return in the future. The first thing that most
constituents will see, when they go to the office's site is the part of
the homepage that will fit in a screen without scrolling down.[^156] It
is strongly recommended that as much of that initial screen be composed
of fresh, frequently updated information as possible.[^157] Offices
should be encouraged to not take up any appreciable amount of space on
the homepage for a welcome message.[^158]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405831 .anchor}**HOUSE.GOV Domain** *see also
Linking #(1)*

Every Web page that is part of a Member's Web site or a committee's Web
site must be in the HOUSE.GOV domain.[^159]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405832 .anchor}**\<hr\> tags** *see also
Alignment; and Centering*

(1) Instead of using the "noshade" attribute or the "size" attribute in
    \<hr\> tags, use style sheets.[^160]

(2) Instead of using the "size" attribute in \<hr\> tags, use the
    "height" property in style sheets.[^161]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405833 .anchor}**HTML** *see also \<!DOCTYPE\>
declarations*

(1) Use either the \<code\> tag[^162] or the \<pre\> tag to display HTML
    code on a Web page. The \<listing\>, \<plaintext\>, and \<xpm\> tags
    should not be used for this or any other purpose.[^163]

(2) Rather than using the "version" attribute of the \<html\> tag, place
    a \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration at the beginning of each page.[^164]

(3) There should be an \<html\> tag between the \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration
    and the \<head\> tag on each Web page. The \<html\> tag should
    include an xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\" attribute, a
    "lang" attribute (indicating the primary language used on the Web
    page), and an "xml:lang" attribute (also indicating the primary
    language used on the Web page).[^165] For example, a Web page that
    is written primarily in American English should use: \<html
    xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\" lang=\"en-US\"
    xml:lang=\"en-US\"\>

(4) Before publishing a new or revised Web site, at least some pages on
    the site should be validated through the W3C Markup Validation
    Service (<http://validator.w3.org/>).[^166] The service is free and
    will verify that all of the HTML coding is grammatically correct.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405834 .anchor}**Icons** *see Favicons; and
Graphics*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405835 .anchor}**Id attribute** *see also Forms
#(3) and (8); Frames and Iframes #(2); Graphics #(9); Headings #(4);
Image Maps #(1); Linking #(10); and Tables #(2)*

When assigning a value of an "id" attribute, use the purpose of the data
that the attribute's tag relates to, not how the data is to be portrayed
-- the "id" value should indicate function, not form. For instance,
"hotTopics" would be an appropriate value for an "id" attribute, but
"whiteOnRed" would not be an appropriate value.[^167]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405837 .anchor}**Identity Theft Information**
*see also Consumer Protection Information*

(1) Member offices (and offices that deal with identity theft issues)
    should consider including identity information on their Web site.
    The Federal Trade Commission's May 2006 *For the Consumer:
    Congressional Outreach Projects Using FTC Resources*, sites as
    examples the identity theft pages of the following Congressional
    offices: [Rep. Melissa
    Bean](http://www.house.gov/bean/en.us.identitytheft.shtml), [Rep.
    Mike Honda](http://honda.house.gov/faq_cs-identitytheft.shtml),
    [Rep. Darlene
    Hooley](http://hooley.house.gov/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={5490FE28-836C-4BBE-965A-FF9AB19F8089}),
    [Sen. Tom
    Harkin](http://harkin.senate.gov/ResourceCenter/center.cfm?t=2),
    [Sen. Herb Kohl](http://kohl.senate.gov/pri_cons_id.html), and [Sen.
    Joe
    Lieberman](http://lieberman.senate.gov/services/center/indentitytheft.cfm).

(2) When linking to identity theft Web pages from the Federal Trade
    Commission, consider using one of the icons available at
    [[http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer/partners_buttons.html]{.underline}](http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer/partners_buttons.html).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405838 .anchor}**Iframes** *see Frames and
Iframes*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405839 .anchor}**Image Maps** *see also Maps
#(2)*

(1) If a \<map\> tag has a "name" attribute, it should also have an "id"
    attribute with the same value [^168]

(2) Do not use server-side image maps if the same functionality can be
    provided using client-side image maps.[^169] (Client-side image maps
    have a "usemap" attribute in the \<img\> tag. Server-side image maps
    have an ismap=\"ismap\" attribute[^170] in the \<img\> tag.) If the
    same functionality cannot be provided using client-side image maps,
    provide an equivalent text link for each active region in the
    server-side image map.[^171]

(3) Every \<area\> tag should have an "alt" attribute.[^172]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405840 .anchor}**Images** *see Favicons;
Graphics; and Photo Albums*

# Immigration 

(1) []{#OLE_LINK4 .anchor}The Immigration and Naturalization Service was
    abolished March 2003 and its service and benefits functions were
    transferred to the newly created [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
    Services](http://www.uscis.gov/). The law enforcement functions on
    the INS were moved to the newly created [U.S. Immigration and
    Customs Enforcement](http://www.ice.gov/). Both USCIS and ICE are
    agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.[^173] House Web
    sites should, therefore, not contain references to INS, except in a
    historical context.[^174]

(2) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reorganized its Web site
    on November 1, 2006. USCIS non-homepage links added to House Web
    sites before November 1, 2006, should be checked to make sure they
    are still valid links. A list of frequently accessed pages is
    available at:

> <http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/WebFactSheet_110106.pdf>

**\<input\> tags** *see Forms*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405843 .anchor}**Internships**

Each office that sponsors internships should be encouraged to include
information (on their Web site) as to how to apply, as well as a
description of the duties and responsibilities (see, e.g., the Web site
of the late [Rep. Juanita
Millender-McDonald](http://web.archive.org/web/20060303181054/www.house.gov/millender-mcdonald/internships.htm)).[^175]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405844 .anchor}**Issues and Voting
Information** *see also Dates and Time #(2); Legislative Material;
Navigation #(4); and WIDA #(3)*

(1) Offices should be encouraged to have a section of their Web site
    devoted to the Member's stands on issues.[^176]

(2) Member offices are encouraged to have a portion of their Web site
    devoted to the Member's voting record.[^177]

> To implement this recommendation, Member offices are urged **not** to
> simply link to the "Legislation & Votes" page[^178] on the Web site of
> the Clerk of the House. The Clerk's Legislation & Votes page includes
> much more information than just roll call votes and does not include
> an explanation of how to understand the roll call vote information.
>
> As an alternative to simply linking to the Clerk's "Legislation &
> Votes" page, it is recommended that Member office Web sites have a
> page (or at least part of a page) devoted to roll call votes and that
> that page include at a minimum links that go directly to the roll call
> vote information of each of the sessions of the current Congress and
> Session[^179], as well as a link to the roll call vote information for
> any relevant previous Congresses and Sessions. For example,

-   roll call votes of the 110^th^ Congress, 1^st^ session -
    <http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/index.asp>

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   roll call votes of the 109^th^ Congress, 2^nd^ session -
    <http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/index.asp>

> Beyond these links, consider also providing an explanation of how to
> read the roll call vote information. [Rep. Steve Israel's web
> site](http://www.house.gov/israel/legislativecenter/votingrecord.htm)
> contains an explanation of the Clerk's layout that other offices may
> want to adopt (a similar explanation is also available on the Library
> of Congress' [Thomas web
> site](http://thomas.loc.gov/home/votes/votehelp.html)). [Rep. Maurice
> Hinchey](http://www.house.gov/hinchey/issues/vote.shtml) includes
> links to the appropriate pages of the Clerk's and Library of Congress'
> web sites, but also uses WIDAinc to provide material on roll call
> votes of particular interest.

(3) Where there are issues (or legislation) that the Member is
    particularly invested in, the office should be urged to make part of
    the Web site into a substantial source of information on the issues
    (or legislation).[^180]

(4) Where the Member has made floor statements (or issued press
    releases) on an issue that is included in the issues section of
    their Web site, include a link to the text of each statement (and
    press release).[^181]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405845 .anchor}**Italian language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405846 .anchor}**Italics**

Where italics would be appropriate on a visual display, use \<em\> tags,
not \<i\> tags. [^182]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405847 .anchor}**Japanese language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405848 .anchor}**JavaScript** *see Scripts*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405849 .anchor}**Kids' pages**

(1) COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998)[^183]
    provides extensive requirements for Web sites (or Web pages) aimed
    at pre-teenage children that request personal information[^184]. The
    requirements include getting parental consent before collecting,
    using, or disclosing personal information from children.[^185] The
    easiest way to comply with the Act is to not ask for personal
    information (including first or last names, postal addresses, e-mail
    addresses, or telephone numbers) on Web pages aimed at
    children.[^186]

(2) The primary audience of a kids' page is different than the primary
    audience of most other pages on a House Web site. Kids pages should
    be kid friendly (see, e.g., [Rep. Henry Hyde's kid's
    zone[^187]](http://web.archive.org/web/20060207113128/www.house.gov/hyde/KidsZone.htm)
    -- the basic content for this page is now available as a server-side
    include on the HIR Unix Web server that the CAO-Web Solutions Branch
    is now maintaining[^188]).[^189]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405850 .anchor}**Korean language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405851 .anchor}**\<label\> tags** *see Forms*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405852 .anchor}**Language of Text** *see also
Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); and Linking #(11)*

(1) The language codes used in HTML tags should conform to the [RFC
    4646](http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt) standard.
    Instructions for using the standard are set out in Appendix 5:
    *Language Identification Codes* of this document.

(2) The primary language of each page should be identified[^190] with
    the appropriate attributes of the \<html\>, \<meta
    name=\"DC.language\"\>, **and** \<meta
    http-equiv=\"Content-Language\"\> tags:

    a.  In the \<html\> tag, use the "lang" attribute and the "xml:lang"
        attribute to identify the primary language of the page. For
        instance, on a page where English (as used in the United States)
        is the primary language, the \<html\> tag should be:

> \<html xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\" xml:lang=\"en-US\"
> lang=\"en-US\"\>

b.  In both the \<meta name=\"DC.language\"\> tag and the \<meta
    http-equiv=\"Content-Language\"\> tag, use the "content" attribute
    to identify the primary language of the page. For instance, on a
    page where English (as used in the United States) is the primary
    language, the tags should be:

> \<meta name=\"DC.language\" scheme=\"DCTERMS.RFC4646\"
> content=\"en-US\" /\>
>
> \<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Language\" content=\"en-US\" /\>

(3) When the language on a page changes, the change should be
    identified[^191] by using the "lang" attribute and "xml:lang"
    attribute in the HTML tags surrounding the text. For instance, on a
    page that is primarily in English, but includes in Spanish (as used
    in Puerto Rico) the phrase

> Subcomité Congresional Aprueba Proyecto de Ley de Fortuño
>
> the phrase could be coded as
>
> \<span **lang**=\"es-PR\" **xml:lang**=\"es-PR\"\>Subcomit&#233;
> Congresional Aprueba Proyecto de Ley de Fortu&#241;o\</span\>

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405853 .anchor}**Lao language material** *see
Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405854 .anchor}**Law references** *see U.S.
Code*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405855 .anchor}**Layout** *see also Style
Sheets; and Tables #(3)*

(1) Where practical, font sizes, margins, widths, heights, and other
    similar measure values (for material that will be displayed on a
    screen)[^192] should be specified in ems or percentages, not in
    points, picas, centimeters, inches, or pixels.[^193]

(2) To eliminate any default margins that a browser may place around the
    edges of a Web page, rather than using

> \<body leftmargin=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" topmargin=\"0\"
> marginheight=\"0\"\>
>
> use the following style sheet properties with the \<body\> tag:
>
> margin:0;
>
> padding:0;
>
> The "marginwidth" and "marginheight" attributes are proprietary
> attributes for Netscape. The "leftmargin" and "topmargin" attributes
> are proprietary attributes for Internet Explorer. None of those four
> attributes are compliant with the W3C XHTML standard.[^194] The style
> sheet \"margin:0; padding:0;\" properties, on the other hand, are W3C
> CSS and WCAG[^195] compliant.

(3) Web pages should be sufficiently scalable that a horizontal scroll
    bar should not be necessary at 800 x 600 screen resolution.[^196]
    Completely liquid layout that is scalable to all screen resolutions
    is highly desirable.

(4) Offices should be encouraged to fill at least two-thirds of each Web
    page with substantive material.[^197]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405856 .anchor}**Legal citations** *see U.S.
Code*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405857 .anchor}**\<legend\> tags** *see
Alignment*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405858 .anchor}**Legislative Material** *see
also Committee assignments and Caucus memberships; Dates and Time #(2);
and Issues and Voting Information*

(1) Offices should be encouraged to include links to:

-   [Legislation sponsored by the
    Member](http://www.congress.gov/help/THOMAS_links/bss.html#bssmember)[^198]

-   [Current House Floor
    Proceedings[^199]](http://clerk.house.gov/floorsummary/floor.html)

-   [Weekly House
    Program[^200]](http://www.house.gov/house/floor/thisweek.htm)

-   [Annual House
    calendar](http://www.house.gov/house/House_Calendar.shtml)
    (available as a server-side include)[^201]

-   Majority and/or Minority Whip materials: [^202]

    -   [Majority Leader's Daily Leader
        report](http://www.majorityleader.gov/links_and_resources/whip_resources/daily.cfm)

    -   [Majority Leader's Weekly Leader
        report](http://www.majorityleader.gov/links_and_resources/whip_resources/weekly.cfm)
        -

    -   [Majority Whip's daily
        WhipLine](http://majoritywhip.house.gov/daily_whipline.html)

    -   [Majority](http://majoritywhip.house.gov/house_calendar.html)
        [Whip's House
        calendar](http://majoritywhip.house.gov/house_calendar.html)

    -   [Republican Whip's daily Whipping
        Post](http://republicanwhip.house.gov/whippost.asp)

    -   [Republican Whip's weekly Whip
        Notice](http://republicanwhip.house.gov/whipnotice.asp)

    -   [Republican Whip's
        calendar](http://republicanwhip.house.gov/calendar.asp)

-   [Legislation: bills and
    resolutions[^203]](http://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.html)

-   [Congressional
    Record[^204]](http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r110query.html)

-   [Committee reports](http://thomas.loc.gov/cp110/cp110query.html)

-   [Committee
    hearings](http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml#hearings)[^205]

-   [*How Our Laws Are
    Made*[^206]](http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html)

-   [House Rules and
    Precedents[^207]](http://www.rules.house.gov/house_rules_precedents.htm)

(2) Offices should be encouraged to have a description of how
    legislation becomes law.[^208] If the office does not have its own
    text for this, they should be encouraged to use the text from the
    [House's "Legislative Process"
    page](http://www.house.gov/house/Tying_it_all.shtml).[^209]

(3) Links to legislation, legislation sponsored by the Member, the
    Congressional Record, committee reports, and the [annual House
    schedule](http://www.house.gov/house/2006_House_Calendar.shtml),
    should include links from the current year.[^210]

(4) References to specific bills (either by name or by number) should be
    linked either to information on the Web site explaining the bill or
    to the appropriate page in the Library of Congress Thomas
    System.[^211] Links **should not** be to Web pages in the Library of
    Congress' Legislative Information System (LIS)[^212] because it is
    only accessible to congressional offices.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405859 .anchor}**Library of Congress products**
*see Congressional Research Service products; Legislative material #(4);
and Veterans #(2)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405860 .anchor}**Linking** *see also
Biographies #(1); Business with the Federal Government; Committee
Assignments and Caucus memberships; District Information #(2); Forms
#(c); Grants and Federal Domestic Assistance; Graphics #(2); Issues and
Voting Information #; Legislative Material; Lists #(3); Maps #(2);
\<meta\> tags and \<link\> tags; Multimedia files and Audio files;
Navigation; PDF files; Privacy Policy; Student Financial Aid; Tools for
Validating Web Sites #(5); U.S. Code; Visiting Washington; and WIDA*

(1) Any hypertext link to a Web page that is not part of either
    HOUSE.GOV or LOC.GOV needs to have an exit message indicating that
    you are leaving the House of Representatives and that neither the
    office nor the House is responsible for the content of the site
    being linked to.[^213] Instructions for adding such a message are
    available at
    <http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm>.

(2) Rather than linking to other sites, offices should be encouraged to
    provide material within their own Web site.[^214]

(3) Except where they point to an \<iframe\>, "target" attributes should
    not be used in \<a\> tags unless there is a substantial reason to
    have them.[^215]

(4) Avoid having pages that are primarily links or that have "links" as
    part of the name of the page. Rather than "links", make the emphasis
    "information" or "resources" or a similar description. Where
    possible, include a sentence or short paragraph explaining each link
    (or each group of links).[^216]

(5) Do not use "link to," "click here," or similar phrases in the text
    of links.[^217]

(6) The text of each link should provide enough information that a
    person who has only the text of the link can have a good idea what
    information the link will link to. If it is not practical to provide
    that information in the link, then the information should be
    contained in a "title" attribute of the link's \<a href\> tag.[^218]

(7) When linking to the next file in a series of files designed to be
    viewed in a particular order (e.g., in a photo gallery slide show),
    use "rel" and "rev" attributes in the \<a href\> tag. The "rel"
    attribute specifies the relationship between the current page and
    the page (or internal anchor) being linked to. The values most
    frequently used[^219] with the \<a href\> tag, are "next" and "prev"
    -- next is used with a link to the next document in the series, and
    "prev" is used to link to the previous document in the series.[^220]
    A special case is the first document in a series: this gets the
    value "start".[^221]^,^ [^222] The "rev" attribute functions the
    same way as the "rel" attribute, except it specifies the
    relationship from the file being linked to the file being linked
    from (rather than the other way around).[^223]

(8) The color of links should be set by style sheets[^224] and not by
    the "alink," "link," or "vlink" attributes of the \<body\>
    tag.[^225]

(9) The colors used for hypertext links should be consistent throughout
    the site.[^226]

(10) If an \<a\> tag has a "name" attribute, it should also have an "id"
     attribute with the same value.[^227]

(11) When linking to a Web page that has a primary language[^228] that
     is different from the primary language of the current page, include
     an "hreflang" attribute[^229] in the \<a href\> tag that created
     the link.[^230]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405861 .anchor}**\<listing\> tags** *see HTML*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405862 .anchor}**Lists**

(1) In unordered lists:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(a) Consider using a graphic or a typographic symbol other than the
    default.[^231]

(b) When using graphics as bullets, use \<ul\> and \<li\> tags with the
    Cascading Style Sheets "list-style-image" property.[^232]

(c) When specifying a typographic symbol to be used as a bullet (e.g.,
    circle (○) or square ()), use the style sheets "list-style-type"
    property; and do not use the "type" attribute of the \<li\> or
    \<ul\> tags. Likewise, when specifying the style of the numbering in
    an ordered list (e.g., Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, lower case
    letters, or upper case letters), use the style sheets
    "list-style-type" property; and do not use the "type" attribute of
    the \<li\> or \<ol\> tags.[^233]

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(2) The words that convey the most information should be at the
    beginning of each item in a list -- preferably in the first two
    words.[^234]

(3) Lists of links can be boring and convey the (potentially false)
    impression that your Web site is not rich in content. Instead of
    presenting lists of links, consider inserting a sentence (or short
    paragraph) with each that explains what it is about.[^235]

(4) Lists should be in alphabetical order, unless there is a reason to
    organize them in a different manner.

(5) The \<ul\> tag should be used instead of the \<dir\> tag or the
    \<menu\> tag.[^236]

(6) The "compact" attribute of the \<li\>, \<ol\>, and \<ul\> tags
    should not be used.[^237]

(7) Ideally, the "counter-reset" property of style sheets should be used
    (rather than the "start" attribute of the \<ol\> tag or the "value"
    attribute of the \<li\> tag) to change the numbering in an ordered
    list.[^238] Note, however, Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support
    the "counter-reset" property.[^239]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405863 .anchor}**Listserv and E-Newsletters**
*see also Contact Information and Techniques #(2)*

(1) Forms to subscribe to to an e-newsletter should ask for either (1)
    just the subscriber's e-mail address; or (2) just the name and
    e-mail address of the subscriber.[^240]

(2) Forms to subscribe to an e-newsletter should indicate (or link to a
    page) that indicates what potential subscribers can expect to get if
    they subscribe (e.g., expected frequency, size, and subjects).[^241]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405864 .anchor}**Load time** *see Download
Time*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405865 .anchor}**\<map\> tags** *see Image
Maps*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405866 .anchor}**Maps** *see also Image Maps;
Navigation #(6); and Site Maps*

(1) Consider including maps and directions to the Representative's
    district and Washington offices.[^242]

(2) Consider including a map of the Member's district.[^243] Where the
    map shows towns, counties, and other sites, it is recommended that
    the references to those localities on the district map be made into
    links[^244] to either those localities' Web sites[^245] or
    (preferably) into links to pages on the Member's Web site that
    provide information about the locality and include a link to the
    locality's Web site.[^246]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405867 .anchor}**Margins** *see also
Alignments; Centering; and Layout*

With all block elements (\<div\>, \<p\>, etc.) consider specifying the
style sheet "margin" and "padding" properties, since different browsers
provide different default values for these two properties.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405868 .anchor}**\<menu\> tags** *see Lists
#(5)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405869 .anchor}**\<meta\> tags and \<link\>
tags**

To the extent practical, each page of a House Web site should include
the meta data tags set out in Appendix 4: *\<meta\> and Related Tags* of
this document.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405870 .anchor}**Military Academy Nominations**
*see Service Academy Nominations*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405871 .anchor}**Missing and Exploited
Children**

Member offices should consider including a link to their state's page
from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.[^247]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405872 .anchor}**MP3 files** *see Multimedia
files and Audio files*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405873 .anchor}**Multimedia files and Audio
files** *see also Banners #(3); Graphics; and \<object\> tag #(3)*

(1) Links to audio files and multimedia files, when practical, should
    indicate the size of the files and their playing time.

(2) Any page that links to a multimedia file (or an audio file) should
    include a link to software that allows the file to be
    accessed.[^248] Note that if the link to the software points to a
    non-House of Representatives Web site, an appropriate exit message
    needs to be given.[^249] Multimedia players are available at:

    -   Quick Time = <http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html>

    -   Real Player = <http://www.real.com/>

    -   VLC Media Player = <http://www.videolan.org/vlc/>

    -   Windows Media Player =
        <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Browse.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=4>

(3) Files that include audio need to provide access to a written
    transcript.[^250]

(4) Whenever possible, multimedia files that include audio should have
    closed captioning that coordinates a transcript of the words with
    the action. Where closed captioning is not available, the transcript
    needs to use some other technique to coordinate the words with the
    action in order to comply with § 508 of the Rehabilitation
    Act.[^251]

(5) To provide accessibility to persons who are both blind and deaf,
    transcripts (accessible, for instance, through a refreshable Braille
    display) should be audio described, i.e., they should include a
    description of any actions depicted in the visuals.

(6) When embedding a multimedia file that calls up a viewer (e.g.,
    Windows Media Viewer for .wmv files), include instructions as to how
    to activate and control the viewer.[^252]

(7) In Member Web sites, consider including multimedia files of the
    Member's floor speeches.[^253]

(8) Avoid using auto-loading multimedia files where the user does not
    have advance notice that the file will load.[^254]

(9) Rather than using an \<a href\> tag to link directly to a .wmv (or
    similar) file directly (and thereby spawning a new window for the
    multimedia plug in),[^255] use an \<iframe\> (or similar technique)
    to have the viewer play on the current page. For examples, see the
    homepages of [Rep. Ron Klein](http://klein.house.gov/) and the
    [Immigration Reform Caucus](http://www.house.gov/bilbray/irc/).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405874 .anchor}**Name attribute**

(1) An "id" attributes should normally be used instead of an "name"
    attribute.[^256] If it is necessary to use a "name" attribute, then
    the tag should also have an "id" attribute with the same
    value.[^257]

(2) If it is necessary to use a "name" attribute, when assigning the
    value of the "name" attribute use the purpose of the data that the
    attribute's tag relates to, not how the data is to be portrayed --
    the "name" value should indicate function, not form. For instance,
    "hotTopics" would be an appropriate value for a "name" attribute,
    but "whiteOnRed" would not be an appropriate value.[^258]

**Navigation** *see also Biographies #(3); Linking; Printing; Privacy
Policy #(2); and RSS*

(1) The top banner should be a link to the homepage. The alternative of
    using the top banner as a skip-navigation link means that either

    -   the "alt" attribute of the image does not contain the text in
        the image (e.g., "Congressman Jones, representing the 39^th^
        district of Delaware"); or

    -   the "alt" attribute gives no indication where the link goes to.

> While it is possible that the "title" attribute in the \<a href\> tag
> could be used to indicate where the link is going, having conflicting
> "title" and "alt" attributes may be more complicated than assistive
> technology browsers can meaningfully process.
>
> Note: where background graphics constitute part of the banner, they
> should be part of the link to the home page.

(2) There needs to be a mechanism to allow users of assistive
    technologies to skip past the navigation links.[^259] One approach
    to this is placing a clear gif (with an "alt" attribute of "skip to
    main content") before the first navigation button and making the
    image a hypertext link to the first piece of text after the
    navigation links.[^260]

(3) At the bottom of the main content, consider having a link that goes
    back to the top of the main content.[^261]

(4) Labels on navigation links should be personal/friendly, e.g.,

-   "Where I Stand" (rather than "Issues")

-   "How I Voted"

-   "How I Can Help You" (rather than "Constituent Services" or
    "Casework")[^262]

-   "My Background" (rather than "Biography")

-   "Contact Me" (rather than "Contact" or "Send an electronic message")

-   "Our District" or "My District" (rather than "The Second District")

(5) In addition to having navigation buttons across the top or down the
    side, each page should have a text-only version across the bottom of
    the page.[^263]^,^ [^264]

(6) Each web site should include a site map.[^265]

(7) Consider making the first primary navigation button a link to the
    site's homepage[^266]. The remaining navigation should be in
    alphabetical order, unless there is a reason not to do so.

(8) Use caution when assigning values to the "accesskey" attribute.
    (Some House Web sites use the accesskey=\"x\" attribute in the \<a
    href\> skip-navigation tag; and the accesskey=\"h\" attribute in the
    \<a href\> tag for the "home" navigation button). The "accesskey"
    attribute allows the user to activate a command by pressing the ALT
    key with another key; for instance, if the \<a href\> tag in the
    "home" navigation button has an accesskey=\"h\" attribute, then when
    a user presses the ALT key and the "H" key, the browser will go to
    the site's homepage. **Note**, however, that there is substantial
    disagreement among accessibility standards experts over whether the
    use of "accesskey" attributes is a good practice or a bad practice
    because of potential conflicts with ALT key combinations defined by
    Web browsers and screen readers.[^267]

(9) When the main content of a page is divided into multiple sections,
    consider having a jump menu near the top of the page and links to go
    back to the jump menu at the end of each section.

(10) The formatting of navigation links should be consistent throughout
     the site.[^268]

(11) JavaScripts, VBScripts, and other scripts should not be used as the
     exclusive way to navigate to the pages on the Web site. Such use of
     scripts violates accessibility standards.[^269] Additionally, many
     indexing spiders (including the indexing spider used by the House
     search engine) are not able to follow scripted links.

(12) Where a portion of a Web site is made up of several pages (or
     subportions, e.g., the "Issues" portion of a Web site which might
     consist of an introductory page and then separate pages for each
     issue), consider providing links to each of the subportions from
     each of the subportions.[^270]

(13) The navigation of a site should be designed with the goal that
     every page in the site is accessible from every other page in the
     site with no more than three clicks.[^271]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405878 .anchor}**Newsletters** *see Listserv
and E-Newsletters*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405879 .anchor}**\<object\> tag**[^272] *see
also Alignment; \<applet\> tags; Banners #(3); Centering; and \<embed\>
tags*

(1) The width of borders around objects should be set by style
    sheets,[^273] not by the "border" attribute of the \<object\>
    tag.[^274]

(2) When setting a buffer between an object and surrounding text, do not
    use the hspace or vspace attributes of the \<img\> tag -- instead
    use style-sheets.[^275]

(3) When using an \<object\> tag to display a .wmv file, include a
    type=\"video/x-ms-wmv\" attribute.[^276]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405880 .anchor}**\<optgroup\> tags** *see
forms*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405881 .anchor}**Page Program**

Member offices should be encouraged to provide information about how to
apply to become a Congressional Page.[^277]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405882 .anchor}**PDF Files**

(1) Links to PDF files, when practical, should indicate the size of the
    files.

(2) Any page that links to a PDF file should include a link to software
    that allows the file to be displayed.[^278] Note that if the link to
    the software points to a non-House of Representatives Web site, an
    appropriate [exit
    message](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)
    needs to be given.[^279]

(3) All input fields (including radio buttons and checkboxes) on a PDF
    should have a tooltip[^280] explanation of what information should
    be provided in the field.[^281]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405883 .anchor}**Photo Album** *see also
Linking #(7)*

When setting up the layout for a photo album (or photo gallery) consider
making it interactive, e.g., these models:

-   [Ath Slide JavaScripted Photo
    Gallery[^282]](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/Ath_Slide.shtml)^,^
    [^283]

-   [Simple Slide Show Photo
    Gallery](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/simpleslideshow.shtml)

-   [Hoverbox Photo
    Gallery](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/hoverbox.shtml)

-   [Joshua Ink CSS Style Photo
    Gallery](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/joshuaink.shtml)

-   [Leftish Photo
    Gallery](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/leftish.shtml)

-   [Toppish Photo
    Gallery](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/toppish.shtml)

-   [Lightbox2](http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/)

-   [SmoothGallery](http://smoothgallery.jondesign.net/what/)

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405884 .anchor}**Picas** *see Fonts #(2); and
Layout*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405885 .anchor}**Pixels** *see Fonts #(2); and
Layout*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405886 .anchor}**\<plaintext\> tags** *see
HTML*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405887 .anchor}**Points** *see Fonts #(2); and
Layout*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405888 .anchor}**Polish language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405889 .anchor}**Political Language** *see also
Election Campaign material*

The [*Members' Congressional
Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#content),
issued by the House Administration Committee, provides that "The content
of a Member's Web site: 1. May not include personal, political, or
campaign information."[^284] Some offices have adopted the policy of not
using words such as "elected" on their Web site.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405890 .anchor}**Portuguese language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405891 .anchor}**Postal Abbreviations** *see
Abbreviations and Acronyms; and Forms #(5)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405892 .anchor}**\<pre\> tags**

Instead of using the "width" attribute in \<pre\> tags, use the style
sheets "width" property (with the value set in ems).[^285]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405893 .anchor}**Presidential Greetings** *see
Greetings*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405894 .anchor}**Press Releases** *see also
Biographies #(1); Issues and Voting Information #(4); and WIDA*

(1) Offices should be encouraged to use
    [WIDA](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/update/wida/index.htm)
    for putting press releases on their site.

(2) Offices should be encouraged to have their press releases available
    on their Web site and to make them available in chronological order
    and in subject order.[^286]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405895 .anchor}**Printing**

Consider including a print option that excludes the navigation links,
the banner, and the footer.[^287]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405896 .anchor}**Privacy Policy and Cookies**
*see also Babel Fish*

(1) Every Web site should have its own page setting out its privacy
    policy, i.e., how the office handles personal information that the
    office receives through its Web site.[^288] A model privacy notice
    is set out in Appendix 6 of this document.

(2) Ideally, there should be a link to the office's privacy policy on
    every page of the Web site. At a minimum, the link should be in a
    clear and prominent place on the homepage and next to each form that
    requests personal information.[^289]

(3) Offices should be encouraged not to use cookies unless there is a
    "compelling need".[^290] If an office does use cookies, the office
    should be strongly encouraged to provide notice of this in their
    privacy policy.

(4) Links to a Web site's privacy policy are **not** required to include
    a rel=\"privacy\" attribute in the \<a href\> tag.[^291]

#  {#section-1}

# Pseudo-classes ***see Style Sheets #(4)***

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405898 .anchor}**Punjabi language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405899 .anchor}**Quotations** *see also
Apostrophes and Quotation Marks*

Instead of using three periods to indicate an ellipsis (i.e., ". . ."),
use the Unicode-compliant representation for an ellipsis: &#x2026;

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405900 .anchor}**Reuse of Content**

When an HTML page uses identical content in several places, consider
using server-side includes, rather than Dreamweaver templates or
libraries, or FrontPage Themes. Use of Dreamweaver templates or
libraries (or use of FrontPage themes) requires that the entire site be
loaded on to a local device in order to update content that is to be
distributed throughout the site. With server-side includes, it is only
necessary to have the one file being altered loaded on a local device.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405901 .anchor}**RSS**

(1) Offices using WIDA should be encouraged to make use of [WIDA's RSS
    capability](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/update/wida/wida_rss.htm).

(2) If a Web site is using RSS, it is recommended that the site include
    a "What is RSS" page.[^292] CAO-Web Solutions Branch-maintained
    "What is RSS" text can automatically be inserted using a server-side
    include or by using an iframe.[^293] The "What is RSS" link should
    follow the links to the actual documents.

(3) The homepage of any Web site with RSS feeds (and any pages that lead
    to documents that are the subject of RSS feeds) should prominently
    include an icon (that links to the RSS.xml page) in one of the
    following formats:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(a) ![](media/image7.png){width="0.2916666666666667in"
    height="0.2916666666666667in"} [^294]

(b) ![](media/image8.png){width="0.375in"
    height="0.14583333333333334in"} [^295]

(c) ![](media/image9.png){width="0.5833333333333334in"
    height="0.14583333333333334in"} [^296]

(d) ![](media/image10.png){width="0.375in"
    height="0.14583333333333334in"} [^297]

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(4) Each page that is part of a Web site that has RSS feeds should
    include (between the \<head\> and \</head\> tags), for each RSS
    feed, a \<link rel=\"alternate\" type=\"application/rss+xml\"\> tag
    with a "title" attribute that describes the feed and an "href"
    attribute that has the URL for the RSS XML file, e.g., \<link
    rel=\"alternate\" type=\"application/rss+xml\" title=\"Headline news
    \[RSS\]\" href=\"http://www.house.gov/name/rss/news.xml\" /\>.[^298]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405902 .anchor}**Russian language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and
Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405903 .anchor}**Samoan language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405904 .anchor}**Schedule of Member** *see also
Contact Information and Techniques #(4)*

Offices should be encouraged to provide highlights of the Member's
upcoming schedule on their Web site.[^299]^,^ [^300]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405905 .anchor}**Screen resolution** *see
Layout #(3)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405906 .anchor}**Scripts** *see also Forms #(6)
and Navigation #(11)*

(1) Wherever there is a script that conveys information, the \<script\>
    tag should be between the \<body\> tag and the \</body\> tag, and
    the \</script\> tag needs[^301] to be followed by:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(a) \<noscript\>

(b) information that will appear to constituents who are using browsers
    that do not support scripts (this information should be the
    equivalent of what constituents using browsers supporting scripts
    would have received -- it should be the information (or a link to
    it) and not merely a description of the information)[^302].

(c) \</noscript\>

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(2) Every \<script\> tag should have a "type" attribute. Valid "type"
    attributes for \<script\> tags include, type=\"text/javascript\" and
    type=\"text/vbscript\". The "type" attribute performs the function
    that was previously performed by the "language" attribute -- the
    "language" attribute should not be used in \<script\> tags.[^303]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405907 .anchor}**Searching**

(1) Offices should be encouraged to include a [Web site search
    capability](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_search.htm)
    on all pages, in or near the top banner.[^304]

(2) Member Web sites that have a virtual URL should have the virtual URL
    on <http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml> - as that page
    provides the list of URL that are spidered for the HIR search
    engine.

(3) The \<isindex\> tag should not be used to create search boxes or for
    any other purpose.[^305] The \<form\> tag (along with \<input\>,
    \<textarea\>, and related tags) should be used to create search
    boxes.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405908 .anchor}**\<select\> tags** *see Forms*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405909 .anchor}**Service Academy Nominations**

Member offices should be encouraged to provide information about how to
apply to apply for a nomination to a service academy.[^306]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405910 .anchor}**Site maps** *see Navigation
#(6)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405911 .anchor}**Skip-navigation links** *see
Navigation #(1), (2), and (8)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405912 .anchor}**Social Security numbers**

Offices should be strongly urged not to request that users of their Web
site send Social Security numbers by Web form or e-mail.[^307] Where an
office needs to have a Social Security number (e.g., for a Privacy Act
release form), consider using a form that will generate a document to be
postal mailed (or faxed) to the office by the person filling out the
form -- see, e.g., [Rep. Neil Abercrombie's casework authorization
form](http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/casework.shtml).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405913 .anchor}**Spanish language material**
*see Babel Fish; Government Resources #(2); Grants and Federal Domestic
Assistance;* *Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405914 .anchor}**Strike-through text**

Either style sheets[^308] or \<del\> tags, should be used to label
struck-through text. The \<s\> tag or \<strike\> tag should not be used
for this or any other purpose. [^309]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405915 .anchor}**Student Financial Aid**

Member offices (and other House offices that deal regularly with
students, or with people who finance students)[^310], that are hosted on
an HIR Web server should be encouraged to include the [CRS-maintained
"Financial Aid for Students"
page](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_crs_students.htm)
in their Web site. Offices not hosted on an HIR Web server should be
encouraged to iframe the page.[^311]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405916 .anchor}**Style Sheets** *see also Aural
Style Sheets; Browser Compatibility; Centering; Fonts; Graphics #(4);
Headings; Layout; Lists #(1); Tables #(3); Tools for Validating Web
Sites #(2);and Underlining*

(1) Web sites need to be readable with style sheets turned off in order
    to comply with § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.[^312]

(2) When using style sheets to create one or more columns of text, be
    sure to have padding between the left and right edges of the text
    and whatever is adjacent to the text.

(3) Be cautious when using \@import to call up a style sheet, as Jaws
    (in default mode, prior to version 8) does not read style sheets
    delivered through \@import.[^313]

(4) When pseudo-classes are used in a style sheet, they should be in the
    order: link, visited, hover, active.[^314] There is currently not
    agreement when precisely where the focus pseudo-class should be
    placed with respect to link, visited, hover, and active.[^315]

(5) When assigning the name of a class, use the purpose of the data that
    will be in the class, not how the data is to be portrayed -- the
    class name should indicate function, not form. For instance,
    "hotTopics" would be an appropriate class name, but "whiteOnRed"
    would not be an appropriate class name.[^316]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405918 .anchor}**Subcommittees** *see Committee
Assignments and Caucus memberships*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405919 .anchor}**Support Office Web sites**
*see "About" page*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405920 .anchor}**Tables** *see also Alignment;
and Layout*

(1) Row and column headings in tables should use \<th\> tags instead of
    \<td\> tags. Additionally, the \<th\> tag for each row heading
    should have a scope=\"row\" attribute, and the \<th\> tag for each
    column heading should have scope=\"col\" attribute.[^317]

(2) In complex tables (i.e., tables with nested column or row headings
    and subheadings), each heading (i.e., each \<th\> tag) should have
    an "id" attribute and each cell of the table (i.e., each \<td\> tag)
    should have a "headers" attribute that associates the cell with the
    appropriate headers.[^318]

(3) Style sheets should be used for layout, rather than using \<table
    border=\"0\"\> tags.[^319]

(4) Heights and widths within a table should be set with the style sheet
    "height" and "width" properties, not with the "height" and "width"
    attributes of the tags.[^320]

(5) Rather than using the "nowrap" attribute to disable automatic
    wrapping of text in table cells, use the style sheets property
    "white-space:nowrap".[^321]

(6) When using tables, consider including a sort feature.[^322]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405921 .anchor}**Tagalog language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405922 .anchor}**\<textarea\> tags** *see
Forms*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405923 .anchor}**Thai language material** *see
Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405924 .anchor}**Titles** *see also Headings;
Graphics #(5); Tables #(1)*

(1) The content of \<title\> tags should be unique for each page on the
    site, if practical.

(2) The words that convey the most information should be at the
    beginning of each title -- preferably in the first two words.[^323]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405925 .anchor}**Tools for Validating Web
Sites**

In addition to [InFocus](http://www1.house.gov:8080/ssb/login.jsp),
consider using the following free tools:

(1) [W3C Markup Validation Service](http://validator.w3.org/) -- will
    check for compliance with the W3C HTML and XHTML standards.[^324]

(2) [W3C CSS Validator](http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/) -- will
    check for compliance with the W3C Cascading Style Sheets standards
    (will only work on files that are compliant with at least one of the
    W3C[^325] HTML or XHTML standards).[^326]

(3) [Vischeck](http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckImage.php) --
    will simulate how images look to people with different types of
    colorblindness (a version of Vischeck is available in InFocus).

(4) [Cynthia Says](http://www.contentquality.com/) -- checks for 508
    compliance and for compliance with the W3C WCAG 1.0 standard. This
    is a good supplement to InFocus, because Cynthia Says catches some
    accessibility problems that InFocus does not.[^327]

(5) [WebXACT](http://webxact.watchfire.com/scanform.aspx?sa=1) -- checks
    for compliance with the 508 regulations, W3C's WCAG 1.0 and P3P
    standards; broken links; download speeds, and cookies.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405926 .anchor}**Tours** *see Forms; and
Visiting Washington*

# Typeface ***see Fonts***

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405928 .anchor}**Ukrainian language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405929 .anchor}**Unclaimed Property**

On Member Web sites, consider including material concerning the Member's
state's unclaimed property office. The National Association of Unclaimed
Property Administrators maintains a page that links to the offices of
each state and territory at
[[http://www.unclaimed.org/RightFrame.asp?VisitorType=owner&SectionName=find_property]{.underline}](http://www.unclaimed.org/RightFrame.asp?VisitorType=owner&SectionName=find_property).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405930 .anchor}**Underlining**

(1) Style sheets[^328], not \<u\> tags, should be used to achieve
    underlining. [^329]

(2) Do not use underlining for emphasis in normal text.[^330] Text to be
    emphasized should be preceded by an \<em\> tag and followed by a
    \</em\> tag; and style sheets should be used to specify font weight,
    font size, and color.[^331]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405931 .anchor}**U.S. Code**[^332]

(1) Whenever a section of the U.S. Code is referred to on a Web page, it
    is recommended that the reference link to the full text of the
    section.

(2) URLs for individual sections of the U.S. Code should normally be in
    the format

> http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=**TT**&section=**SS**
>
> where **TT** is replaced with the title number[^333] and **SS** is
> replaced with the section number[^334]. For example, the URL for the
> Privacy Act (which is title 5, section 552a of the U.S. Code) would be
>
> [[http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=5&section=552a]{.underline}](http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=5&section=552a)

(3) When a U.S. Code citation is given in legal citation style (e.g., 5
    U.S.C. § 552a), a "title" attribute should be included in the \<a
    href\> tag that links to the full text of the section -- expanding
    the citation shorthand into text, e.g.,

> \<a
> href=\"http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=5&section=552a\"
> title=\"title 5, section 552a of the United States Code\"\>5 U.S.C.
> &#167; 552a\</a\>
>
> (Note, that "&#167;" will display as a section symbol, i.e,, "§".)

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405936 .anchor}**Urchin** *see Usage
Statistics*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405937 .anchor}**Usage Statistics**

Offices hosted on any of the HIR Web servers should be urged to examine
their site's usage statistics through
[Urchin](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/manage/mg_stats_urchin.htm).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405938 .anchor}**Validation Tools** *see Tools
for Validating Web Sites*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405939 .anchor}**VBScript** *see Scripts*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405940 .anchor}**Veterans**

(1) Member offices (and other House offices that deal regularly with
    veterans)[^335] should be encouraged to include a page(s) on their
    Web site devoted to veterans' benefits.[^336] The text of a CAO-Web
    Solutions Branch-maintained FAQ that links to appropriate pages on
    the Web sites of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National
    Archives and Records Administration can automatically be inserted
    using a server-side include or by using an iframe.[^337]

(2) The Library of Congress' Veterans History Project[^338] is
    attempting to collect and preserve stories of wartime service of
    veterans of

    -   World War I (1914-1920),

    -   World War II (1939-1946),

    -   Korean War (1950-1955),

    -   Vietnam War (1961-1975),

    -   Persian Gulf War (1990-1995), and

    -   Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (2001-present).

> Consider, on Member Web sites (and on the Web sites of other House
> offices that deal regularly with veterans)[^339], including either a
> link to the Project[^340] or providing a form on the Member's Web site
> that constituents can use to participate in the Project (see. e.g.,
> the "Fifth District War Heroes Project" portion of the ["Veterans"
> page on Rep. Steve King's Web
> site](http://www.house.gov/steveking/issue_veterans.shtm)).

(3) On Member Web sites (and on the Web sites of other House offices
    that deal regularly with veterans)[^341], consider including a link
    to the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Gravesite
    Locator.[^342]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405941 .anchor}**Vietnamese language material**
*see Government Resources #(2); Language of Text: and Linking #(11)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405942 .anchor}**Visiting Washington**

(1) Member offices should be encouraged to include a form[^343] on their
    Web site for constituents to request tours of the U.S. Capitol
    building and other Washington, DC landmarks and attractions.[^344]

(2) Rather than linking to the CAO-Web Solutions Branch-maintained
    "[Washington, DC -- Tourist
    Information](http://www.house.gov/house/tour_dc.shtml)" page and/or
    the CAO-Web Solutions Branch-maintained "[Visiting
    DC](http://www.house.gov/house/Visitor.shtml)" page, offices should
    be encouraged to place the text of either or both those pages into a
    page on their own Web site (by using a server-side include or an
    iframe).[^345]

(3) Links to external sites for this portion of a Web site should
    normally go to the external sites' tour (or visitor) page, rather
    than to their home page (e.g., go to
    <http://www.supremecourtus.gov/visiting/visiting.html>, rather than
    to <http://www.supremecourtus.gov/>).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405943 .anchor}**Voice** *see Multimedia files
and Audio files; and Word Choice*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405944 .anchor}**Voting Information** *see
Issues and Voting Information*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405945 .anchor}**Waste**

Offices may want to consider including a page on what they are doing to
combat waste. See, e.g., Rep. Tom Feeney's "[Washington Waste
Watchers](http://www.house.gov/feeney/washingtonwastewatchers.shtml)"
page.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405946 .anchor}**Web Designer** *see Commercial
References*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405947 .anchor}**Welcome Messages** *see
Homepage*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405948 .anchor}**WIDA** *see also Blogs; Events
Schedule; Floor Statements; Issues and Voting Information #(2); Press
Releases; and Schedule of Member*

(1) Because WIDA-generated pages (including index pages) reside in a
    different directory than the rest of the Web site, it is important
    to verify that any relative links (including relative graphic links)
    still work, once site is on the production Web server.

(2) Where you have a link with a date range, be sure the documents
    linked to really conform to the date range.

(3) Offices using WIDA should be encouraged to use the WIDA "issues"
    feature to

    a.  generate a WIDA list page that is in issue order;[^346] and

    b.  place a
        [WIDAinc](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/update/wida/wida_include.htm)
        on each of the pages in the "issues" section of their Web site
        that deal with the issues broken out by WIDA issue category.

(4) When using a WIDAinc with the "More" option, make use of the
    "Template" option and include in the template: \<a
    href=\"{HTMLFILE_LINK}\" title=\"{TITLE}\"\>.[^347]

(5) Use server-side includes to provide navigation within WIDA-generated
    documents. With that technique, future changes in the Web site's
    file names will not require republishing all of the WIDA documents
    in order to keep the navigation functioning properly.

(6) When displaying WIDA index information, consider setting the
    information up in table form, with sort functionality. See, e.g.,
    the ["News" page of the Immigration Reform
    Caucus](http://www.house.gov/bilbray/irc/news.shtml).

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405949 .anchor}**Word Choice**

Use a consistent voice throughout a Web site. For instance -- unless
there is an important reason to do otherwise -- do not refer the Member
as "I" in the biography, but as "Rep. Jones" in the rest of the Web
site.[^348]

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405950 .anchor}**Write Your Representative**
*see Contact Information and Techniques #(1)*

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc169405951 .anchor}**\<xmp\> tags** *see HTML*

# Appendix 1: Print Option

One way to provide the user of a web site with the option of printing
without navigation bars or banners is to implement the following:

(1) Between the \<head\> and \</head\> tags, insert:

> \<script type=\"text/javascript\" \>
>
> [var gAutoPrint = false]{.mark}; // Flag for whether or not to
> automatically call the print function
>
> function printSpecial()
>
> {
>
> if (document.getElementById != null)
>
> {
>
> var html = \'\<html\>\\n\<head\>\\n\';
>
> if (document.getElementsByTagName != null)
>
> {
>
> var headTags = document.getElementsByTagName(\"head\");
>
> if (headTags.length \> 0)
>
> html += headTags\[0\].innerHTML;
>
> }
>
> html += \'\\n\</he\' + \'ad\>\\n\<body\>\\n\';
>
> var printReadyElem = document.getElementById(\"printReady\");
>
> if (printReadyElem != null)
>
> {
>
> html += printReadyElem.innerHTML;
>
> }
>
> else
>
> {
>
> alert(\"Could not find the printReady section in the HTML\");
>
> return;
>
> }
>
> html += \'\\n\</BO\' + \'DY\>\\n\</HT\' + \'ML\>\';
>
> var printWin = window.open(\"\",\"printSpecial\");
>
> printWin.document.open();
>
> printWin.document.write(html);
>
> printWin.document.close();
>
> if (gAutoPrint)
>
> printWin.print();
>
> }
>
> else
>
> {
>
> alert(\"Sorry, the print ready feature is only available in modern
> browsers.\");
>
> }
>
> }
>
> \</script\>

(2) If you want the print dialog box to be automatically called, replace

> var gAutoPrint = false
>
> with
>
> var gAutoPrint = true

(3) Precede the material that you would like to be printed with:

> \<table id=\"printReady\" border=\"0\"\>

(4) Follow the material you would like to be printed with: \</table\>

(5) Precede the image or text that you would like to be the link to the
    feature with:

> \<a href=\"javascript:void(printSpecial())\"\>

(6) After the image or text that you would like to be the link to the
    feature with, add: \</a\>

# Appendix 2: Federal Judicial Branch

Most House Member Web sites include a page on contacting Federal
agencies. Many of these include some of the Federal courts. One way to
personalize those pages is to include links to the specific U.S. Court
of Appeal, U.S. District Court, and U.S. Bankruptcy Court that have
jurisdiction within the Member's congressional district.

**U.S. Courts of Appeals**

The United States is divided into 12 judicial circuits: The 1^st^
through 11^th^ circuits and the District of Columbia circuit. Each of
the 12 circuits has a U.S. Court of Appeals. These courts are generally
referred to as the:

> U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1^st^ Circuit
>
> U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2^nd^ Circuit
>
> .
>
> .
>
> .
>
> U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11^th^ Circuit
>
> U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Which circuit a particular congressional district is in depends on what
state (or territory) the congressional district is in. The map at

[[http://www.uscourts.gov/images/CircuitMap.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.uscourts.gov/images/CircuitMap.pdf)

shows which circuit each U.S. state and territory is in.

The U.S. Courts of Appeals have a uniform naming convention for their
URLs:

> [[http://www.ca**\[CIRCUIT\]**.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}]()

so that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1^st^ Circuit is at
[[http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/);
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2^nd^ Circuit is
[[http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/);
etc.

**U.S. District Courts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts**

The United States is divided into approximately 100 judicial districts.
Every state and territory contains at least one U.S. judicial district.
Some states contain several judicial districts. Each judicial district
has one U.S. District Court and one U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Some examples
of U.S. District Courts are:

> U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska
>
> U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
>
> U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Some examples of U.S. Bankruptcy Courts are:

> U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Alaska
>
> U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California
>
> U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Which judicial district a particular congressional district is in
depends on what county (and state) the congressional district is in.
Once you know all of the counties that are entirely or partially in a
Member's congressional district, go to

[[http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/lookup.html]{.underline}](http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/lookup.html)

and enter the state and county information. The system will supply you
with the name of the judicial district for that county (as well as
confirming the judicial circuit for the state). Some congressional
districts include parts of more than one judicial district, so it is
important to test all of the counties from the congressional district.

The U.S. District Courts have a uniform naming convention for their
URLs:

> \<[[http://www.**\[STATE POSTAL ABBREVIATION\]\[ONE LETTER CODE
> INDICATING PART OF THE STATE\]**d.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}]()\>

so the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska is
[[http://www.akd.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.akd.uscourts.gov/);
the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California is
[[http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/);
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is
[[http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/);
etc.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Courts have a similar naming convention for their
URLs:

> \<[[http://www.**\[STATE POSTAL ABBREVIATION\]\[ONE LETTER CODE
> INDICATING PART OF THE STATE\]**b.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}]()\>

so the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Alaska is
[[http://www.akb.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.akb.uscourts.gov/);
the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of California is
[[http://www.canb.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.canb.uscourts.gov/);
the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is
[[http://www.vaeb.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.vaeb.uscourts.gov/);
etc.

**Other Federal courts**

There are several courts of national jurisdiction (and judicial branch
offices) that you may also want to include in Member Web sites:

-   U.S. Tax Court,
    [[http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/)

-   U.S. Court of Federal Claims,
    [[http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/)

-   U.S. Court of International Trade, <http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/>

-   U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit,
    [[http://www.fedcir.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.fedcir.gov/)

-   U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims,
    [[http://www.vetapp.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.vetapp.gov/)

-   U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces,
    <http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/>

-   U.S. Supreme Court,
    [[http://www.supremecourtus.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.supremecourtus.gov/)

> Other Federal Judicial Agencies

-   Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts,
    [[http://www.uscourts.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.uscourts.gov/)

-   Federal Judicial Center,
    [[http://www.fjc.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.fjc.gov/)

-   U.S. Sentencing Commission,
    [[http://www.ussc.gov/]{.underline}](http://www.ussc.gov/)

Additionally, there is a very good tutorial on the Federal court system
(compiled by the Federal Judicial Center) at
[[http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf]{.underline}](http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf).

# Appendix 3: Caucus Web Sites

**Web sites of those caucuses listed at
http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=39
that have Web sites:**

-   21st Century Health Care Caucus -
    [http://www.patrickkennedy.house.gov/index.asp?Type=NONE&SEC=%7BE19E1409-D06A-4492-A5E7-6DC029BF8C11%7D](http://www.patrickkennedy.house.gov/index.asp?Type=NONE&SEC={E19E1409-D06A-4492-A5E7-6DC029BF8C11})

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   9/11 Commission Caucus -
    <http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_issues&task=view_issue&issue=2&Itemid=35>

-   Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/ramstad/caucus/Addiction/AddictionINTRO.htm>

-   Alzheimer's Disease Congressional Task Force -
    <http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=236&Itemid=66>

-   Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/ramstad/caucus/Disbility/disadv.htm>

-   Blue Dog Coalition -
    http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/bluedogs.shtml

-   California Democratic Congressional Delegation -
    <http://www.house.gov/lofgren/cdcd/index.shtml>

-   Coalition for Autism Research and Education -
    <http://www.house.gov/doyle/autism.shtml>

-   Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus -
    <http://honda.house.gov/capac/>

-   Congressional Automotive Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/kildee/auto_caucus.shtml>

-   Congressional Bike Caucus -
    <http://blumenauer.house.gov/Issues/CaucusSummary.aspx?NewsID=995>

-   Congressional Black Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/kilpatrick/cbc/index.htm>

-   Congressional Brain Injury Task Force -
    <http://www.pascrell.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=1270>

-   Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues -
    <http://www.house.gov/pallone/armeniancaucus.html>

-   Congressional Caucus on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders -
    <http://www.house.gov/ramstad/caucus/FetalAlc/FASD.htm>

-   Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues -
    <http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_issues&task=view_issue&issue=12&Itemid=35>

-   Congressional Caucus on Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Americans -
    <http://www.house.gov/pallone/srilankancaucus.html>

-   Congressional Caucus on the Judicial Branch -
    [<http://schiff.house.gov/judicialcaucus/>]{.underline}

-   Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine -
    <http://www.house.gov/larsen/meth/>

-   Congressional China Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/forbes/AboutRandy/chinacaucus.htm>

-   Congressional Climate Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/olver/climatechange/index.html>

-   Congressional Coastal Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/pallone/coastalcaucs.html>

-   Congressional Croatian Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/radanovich/CroatianCaucus/>

-   Congressional Diabetes Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/degette/diabetes/index.html>

-   Congressional E-911 Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/shimkus/911home.htm>

-   Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/watson/cec/>

-   Congressional Food Safety Caucus- [^349]

-   Congressional Gulf of Mexico Caucus -
    <http://harris.house.gov/Communities/GulfCaucus.htm>

-   Congressional Hispanic Caucus - http://www.house.gov/baca/chc/

-   Congressional Human Rights Caucus -
    <http://lantos.house.gov/HoR/CA12/Human+Rights+Caucus/Home.htm>

-   Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus -
    http://www.house.gov/bilbray/irc/

-   Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus -
    <http://schiff.house.gov/antipiracycaucus/>

-   Congressional Internet Caucus (Advisory Committee) -
    <http://www.netcaucus.org/>

-   Congressional Kidney Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/kidneycaucus/>

-   Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/lindasanchez/laborcaucus/index.shtml>

-   Congressional Native American Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/kildee/native_american_ca.shtml>

-   Congressional Prayer Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/forbes/prayercaucus.htm>

-   Congressional Progressive Caucus <http://cpc.lee.house.gov/>

-   Congressional Rural Caucus
    [http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/ruralcaucus/CRC%20index.html](http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/ruralcaucus/CRC index.html)

-   Congressional Rural Housing Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/hinojosa/crhc/>

-   Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/joanndavis/shipbuildingcaucus/>

-   Congressional Steel Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/english/steelcaucus.shtml>

-   Congressional Task Force on International HIV/AIDS -
    <http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/issues_hivaids.shtml>

-   Congressional Victims Rights Caucus http://poe.house.gov/vr/

-   Congressional Vision Caucus - <http://www.house.gov/green/cvc/>

-   Congressional Western Caucus -
    <http://chriscannon.house.gov/wc/index.htm>

-   Electronic Warfare Working Group -
    <http://www.house.gov/pitts/ew.htm>

-   Green Scissors Caucus -
    <http://blumenauer.house.gov/Issues/CaucusSummary.aspx?NewsID=910&IssueID=0>

-   House Baltic Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/shimkus/baltic/baltic.shtml>

-   House Rural Health Care Coalition -
    [http://www.pomeroy.house.gov/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B998F12BA-9704-463E-9F61-3EB414CBDA2C%7D](http://www.pomeroy.house.gov/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={998F12BA-9704-463E-9F61-3EB414CBDA2C})

-   International Conservation Caucus -
    <http://www.royce.house.gov/internationalconservation/contact.htm>

-   Kashmir Forum - <http://www.house.gov/pitts/kashmir.htm>

-   Law Enforcement Caucus -
    http://www.house.gov/stupak/lawenforcement.shtml

-   Medical Technology Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/ramstad/caucus/Medtech/medical03.htm>

-   Modeling and Simulation Training Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/forbes/mascaucus.htm>

-   National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus -
    <http://stevebuyer.house.gov/ReserveCaucus/ngrcdir.html>

-   Public Broadcasting Caucus -
    <http://blumenauer.house.gov/Issues/CaucusSummary.aspx?NewsID=986&IssueID=0>

-   Republican Study Committee -
    <http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/index.shtml>

-   Silk Road Caucus - <http://www.house.gov/pitts/silkroad.htm>

-   Victory in Iraq Caucus -
    <http://joewilson.house.gov/index.cfm?SectionID=69&ParentID=3&SectionTypeID=2&SectionTree=3,69>

**Web sites of those caucuses not listed at
http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=39that
have Web sites:**

-   30 Something Working Group -
    <http://www.speaker.gov/30something/index.html>

-   Congressional Andean Region Caucus -
    <http://crowley.house.gov/issues/andean.htm>

-   Congressional Bangladeshi Caucus -
    <http://crowley.house.gov/issues/bangladeshi.htm>

-   Congressional Caucus on Ethiopia and Ethiopian-Americans -
    <http://www.honda.house.gov/ethiopiacaucus.shtml>

-   Congressional Childcare Caucus -
    <http://bernie.house.gov/childcare/caucus.asp>

-   Congressional Generic Drug Equity Caucus -
    <http://calvert.house.gov/genericdrug.asp>

-   Congressional Manufactured Housing Caucus -
    <http://calvert.house.gov/manufhousing.asp>

-   Congressional Privacy Caucus -
    <http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=253&Itemid=81>

-   Congressional Wine Caucus - <http://www.house.gov/radanovich/wine/>

-   Congressional Wireless Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/pickering/WirelessCaucus.htm>

-   Democratic Women's Working Group,
    <http://www.speaker.gov/dwwg/index.html>

-   Former State Legislative Leaders Working Group -
    <http://www.house.gov/larson/sll.htm>

-   House Cancer Caucus - <http://www.house.gov/pryce/hccaucus.html>

-   House Digital Divide Caucus -
    <http://www.house.gov/larson/digitaldivide/>

-   Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Caucus -
    <http://blumenauer.house.gov/Issues/CaucusSummary.aspx?NewsID=983&IssueID=0>

-   Livable Communities Task Force -
    <http://blumenauer.house.gov/Issues/CaucusSummary.aspx?NewsID=1077&IssueID=0>

-   Results Caucus -
    <http://sessions.house.gov/Issues/Issue/?IssueID=1000>

# Appendix 4: \<meta\> and Related Tags

[Checkpoint 13.2 \[priority 2\] of the
W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-use-metadata) *Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an accessible Web
site should "Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and
sites." The following is a suggested list of tags for use by offices of
the U.S. House of Representatives. The list is designed to get the best
return for the time invested in inserting the tags into Web pages. The
tags are based on the following standards:

-   [Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, Version 1.1
    (revised)](http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/), Dublin Core
    Metadata Initiative; [^350]

-   [Global Information Locator Service (GILS) 2.0 metadata
    standard[^351]](http://www.gils.net/prof_v2.html) ([WAGILS
    implementation](http://find-it.wa.gov/metadesc.htm));

-   [Platform for Internet Content Selection](http://www.w3.org/PICS/)
    (PICS) standard as promulgated by the Word Wide Web Consortium and
    implemented by [SafeSurf](http://www.safesurf.com/classify/) and the
    [Internet Content Rating
    Associaton](http://www.icra.org/webmasters/);

-   Australian Government Locator Service
    ([AGLS](http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/gov_online/agls/summary.html))
    meta tag standard, National Archives of Australia;

-   [VW96 meta tag
    standard](http://vancouver-webpages.com/META/VW96-schema.html),
    Vancouver Webpages (Canada); and

-   [Robot meta-tag
    standard](http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/meta-notes.html), Spidering
    BOF Group (1996 Distributed Indexing/Searching Workshop of the World
    Wide Web Consortium).

The following list is divided into two parts. The first part consists of
tags that can be expected to remain consistent throughout a Web site.
The second part consists of tags that may change with each Web page.

*Note*: When using these examples, replace text in ***red bold
italics*** with text appropriate for your office\'s Web pages.

**Tags That Are Likely to Remain Constant Throughout a Web Site**[^352]

+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| **HTML Code**                                | **D                   |
|                                              | escription/Comments** |
+==============================================+=======================+
| \<link rel=\"schema.DC\"                     | Identifies the        |
| href=\"http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.1/\"    | location of the       |
| /\>\                                         | schemas for the       |
| \<link rel=\"schema.DCTERMS\"                | Dublin Core, AGLS,    |
| href=\"http://purl.org/DC/TERMS/\" /\>       | and VW96 meta tags.   |
|                                              |                       |
| \<link rel=\"schema.AGLS\"                   |                       |
| href=\"http://www.na                         |                       |
| a.gov.au/recordkeeping/gov_online/agls/1.2\" |                       |
| /\>                                          |                       |
|                                              |                       |
| \<link rel=\"schema.VW96\"                   |                       |
| href=\"http://van                            |                       |
| couver-webpages.com/VWbot/VW96-schema.html\" |                       |
| /\>                                          |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<link                                       | Replace               |
| h                                            | ***http://www.h       |
| ref=\"***http://www.house.gov/writerep/***\" | ouse.gov/writerep/*** |
| rel=\"EDITOR\" title=\"Feedback form\" /\>   | with the URL of the   |
|                                              | electronic form that  |
|                                              | constituents can use  |
|                                              | to contact the        |
|                                              | office.[^353]         |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta http-equiv=\"Reply-To\"               | Your public e-mail    |
| content=\"***john.doe@mail.house.gov***\"    | address. If you do    |
| /\>\                                         | not have one, delete  |
| \<link                                       | these tags.           |
| h                                            |                       |
| ref=\"mailto:***john.doe@mail.house.gov***\" |                       |
| rel=\"AUTHOR\" title=\"Feedback by e-mail\"  |                       |
| /\>\                                         |                       |
| \<meta name=\"contactNetworkAddress\"        |                       |
| content=\"***john.doe@mail.house.gov***\"    |                       |
| /\>                                          |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta http-equiv=\"PICS-Label\"             | Identifies your site  |
| content=\'(PICS-1.1\                         | as **not**            |
| \"http://www.classify.org/safesurf/\" l gen  | containing: a chat    |
| true for\                                    | room, profanity,      |
| \"***http://www.house.gov/doe/*** \" r       | heterosexual or       |
| (SS\~\~000 1)\                               | homosexual themes,    |
| \"http://www.icra.org/ratingsv02.html\" l    | nudity or sexual      |
| gen true for\                                | material, violence,   |
| \"***http://www.house.gov/doe/*** \" r (cz 1 | bigotry, promotion or |
| lz 1 nz 1 oz 1 vz 1) gen false for\          | glorification of drug |
| \"http://www.na                              | use, other adult      |
| a.gov.au/recordkeeping/gov_online/agls/1.2\" | themes, gambling,     |
| r (cz 1 lz 1 nz 1 oz 1 vz 1) gen false for\  | promotion of tobacco  |
| \"http://van                                 | use, promotion of     |
| couver-webpages.com/vwbot/vw96-schema.html\" | alcohol use,          |
| r (cz 1 lz 1 nz 1 oz 1 vz 1) gen true for\   | promotion of weapon   |
| \"http://purl.org/dc/\" r (cz 1 lz 1 nz 1 oz | use, promotion of     |
| 1 vz 1)\                                     | harm against people,  |
| \"http://www.rsac.org/ratingsv01.html\" l    | material that might   |
| gen true for\                                | be perceived as       |
| \"***http://www.house.gov/doe/***\" r (n 0 s | setting a bad example |
| 0 v 0 l 0)) gen false for\                   | for children, or      |
| \"http://www.na                              | material that might   |
| a.gov.au/recordkeeping/gov_online/agls/1.2\" | disturb young         |
| r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0)) gen false for\          | children.\" Replace   |
| \"http://van                                 | ***http://            |
| couver-webpages.com/vwbot/vw96-schema.html\" | www.house.gov/doe/*** |
| r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0)) gen true for\           | with the name of the  |
| \"http://purl.org/dc/\" r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l     | main URL of your Web  |
| 0))\' /\>                                    | site (on Member Web   |
|                                              | sites, this is        |
|                                              | normally either       |
|                                              | ***http://member's    |
|                                              | name.house.gov*** or  |
|                                              | ***http://w           |
|                                              | ww.house.gov/member's |
|                                              | name/***).            |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"DC.subject\"                   | Library of Congress   |
| scheme=\"DCTERMS.LCSH\" content=\"United     | subject heading for   |
| States. Congress\" /\>                       | the page. ***United   |
|                                              | States. Congress***   |
|                                              | can be used as the    |
|                                              | LOC subject heading   |
|                                              | for any congressional |
|                                              | Web page. For more    |
|                                              | specific Library of   |
|                                              | Congress subject      |
|                                              | headings (as well as  |
|                                              | more specific Library |
|                                              | of Congress           |
|                                              | classification        |
|                                              | numbers and Dewy      |
|                                              | Decimal System        |
|                                              | classification        |
|                                              | numbers), see the     |
|                                              | [Library of Congress  |
|                                              | Online                |
|                                              | Catalog](http         |
|                                              | ://catalog.loc.gov/). |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"DC.subject.classification\"    | Library of Congress   |
| scheme=\"DCTERMS.LCC\" content=\"JK1021\"    | classification number |
| /\>                                          | ***JK1021*** can be   |
|                                              | used as the LOC       |
|                                              | classification number |
|                                              | for any congressional |
|                                              | Web page. For more    |
|                                              | specific Library of   |
|                                              | Congress              |
|                                              | classification        |
|                                              | numbers, see the      |
|                                              | [Library of Congress  |
|                                              | Online                |
|                                              | Catalog](http         |
|                                              | ://catalog.loc.gov/). |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"DC.subject.classification\"    | Dewy Decimal System   |
| scheme=\"DCTERMS.DDC\" content=\"328\" /\>   | classification number |
|                                              | ***328*** can be used |
|                                              | as the Dewy Decimal   |
|                                              | classification number |
|                                              | for any congressional |
|                                              | Web page. For more    |
|                                              | specific Dewy Decimal |
|                                              | System classification |
|                                              | numbers, see the      |
|                                              | [Library of Congress  |
|                                              | Online                |
|                                              | Catalog](http         |
|                                              | ://catalog.loc.gov/). |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"subjects\" content=\"Federal   | GILS subject term for |
| Government; U.S. Representatives\" /\>       | the page. ***Federal  |
|                                              | Government; U.S.      |
|                                              | Representatives***    |
|                                              | can be used as the    |
|                                              | GILS subject term for |
|                                              | any House Web page.   |
|                                              | For more specific     |
|                                              | terms, see the [GILS  |
|                                              | Topic                 |
|                                              | Trees.](htt           |
|                                              | p://web.archive.org/w |
|                                              | eb/20050503192957/www |
|                                              | .gils.net/trees.html) |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"AGLS.Function\"                | AGLS function element |
| scheme=\"AGIFT\" content=\"Governance\" /\>  | for the page.         |
|                                              | ***Governance*** can  |
|                                              | be used as the AGLS   |
|                                              | function element for  |
|                                              | any congressional Web |
|                                              | page. For more        |
|                                              | specific AGLS         |
|                                              | function elements,    |
|                                              | see the [Australian   |
|                                              | Government's          |
|                                              | Interactive Functions |
|                                              | Thesa                 |
|                                              | urus](http://www.naa. |
|                                              | gov.au/recordkeeping/ |
|                                              | thesaurus/index.htm). |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"DC.format.medium\"             | Use on any page with  |
| scheme=\"DCTERMS.IMT\" content=\"text/html\" | an .htm, .html,       |
| /\>\                                         | .shtm, or .shtml      |
| \<meta name=\"medium\" content=\"website\"   | extension.            |
| /\>                                          |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"DC.coverage.spatial\"          | Identifies the        |
| scheme=\"DCTERMS.ISO3166\" content=\"US\"    | national geographic   |
| /\>\                                         | coverage of the page  |
| \<meta name=\"DC.coverage.spatial\"          | as the United States. |
| scheme=\"DCTERMS.TGN\" content=\"United      |                       |
| States (C,V)\" /\>                           |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<link                                       | Location of the       |
| href=\"http://www.house.gov/***doe***/\"     | homepage of your Web  |
| rel=\"top\" title=\"home page of ***John W.  | site.                 |
| Doe***\" /\>                                 |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"           | Identifies the        |
| content=\"text/html; charset=***UTF-8***\"   | character set using   |
| /\>                                          | the standards set by  |
|                                              | the Internet Assigned |
|                                              | Numbers Authority     |
|                                              | (IANA). Of the [IANA  |
|                                              | sanctioned character  |
|                                              | sets](http:/          |
|                                              | /www.iana.org/assignm |
|                                              | ents/character-sets), |
|                                              | the World Wide Web    |
|                                              | Consortium suggests   |
|                                              | using the Unicode     |
|                                              | UTF-8                 |
|                                              | standard.[^354]^,^    |
|                                              | [^355] Note:          |
|                                              | selection of a        |
|                                              | character set **does  |
|                                              | not** affect the      |
|                                              | typefaces you select  |
|                                              | -- it only determines |
|                                              | which characters are  |
|                                              | valid characters.     |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"DC.creator\" content=\"United  | Your office.          |
| States. Congress. House of Representatives.  |                       |
| Office of ***Representative John W. Doe***\" |                       |
| /\>\                                         |                       |
| \<meta http-equiv=\"Owner\"                  |                       |
| content=\"***Representative John W. Doe***,  |                       |
| United States House of Representatives\"     |                       |
| /\>\                                         |                       |
| \<meta name=\"govType\" content=\"national\" |                       |
| /\>\                                         |                       |
| \<meta name=\"originatorJurisdiction\"       |                       |
| content=\"United States\" /\>\               |                       |
| \<meta name=\"originatorDepartment\"         |                       |
| content=\"Congress\"\>\                      |                       |
| \<meta name=\"origniatorDivision\"           |                       |
| content=\"House of Representatives\" /\>\    |                       |
| \<meta name=\"originatorOffice\"             |                       |
| content=\"***Representative John W. Doe***\" |                       |
| /\>\                                         |                       |
| \<meta name=\"contactOrganization\"          |                       |
| content=\"***Representative John W. Doe***\" |                       |
| /\>                                          |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"contactStreetAddress1\"        | Your main office      |
| content=\"***987 Cannon House Office         | address, phone        |
| Building***\" /\>\                           | number, and fax       |
| \<meta name=\"contactCity\"                  | number.[^356]         |
| content=\"Washington\" /\>\                  |                       |
| \<meta name=\"contactState\" content=\"DC\"  |                       |
| /\>\                                         |                       |
| \<meta name=\"contactZipcode\"               |                       |
| content=\"20515\" /\>\                       |                       |
| \<meta name=\"contactPhoneNumber\"           |                       |
| content=\"***(202) 224-3121***\" /\>\        |                       |
| \<meta name=\"contactFaxNumber\"             |                       |
| content=\"***(202) 225-OOOO***\" /\>         |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\"DC.rights\" content=\"United   | Copyrights in         |
| States Government work under 17 USC secs.    | congressional         |
| 105, 403\" /\>                               | publications are      |
|                                              | controlled by         |
|                                              | sections              |
|                                              | [105](ht              |
|                                              | tp://uscode.house.gov |
|                                              | /quicksearch/get.plx? |
|                                              | title=17&section=105) |
|                                              | and                   |
|                                              | [403](ht              |
|                                              | tp://uscode.house.gov |
|                                              | /quicksearch/get.plx? |
|                                              | title=17&section=403) |
|                                              | of title 17 of the    |
|                                              | United States Code.   |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| \<meta name=\" DC.relation.conformsTo\"      | The web page that     |
| content=\"***Members\'*** Congressional      | lists what standards  |
| Handbook (Web Sites standards), Committee on | your site conforms.   |
| House Administration of the U.S. House of    | House committee Web   |
| Representatives; Technical Standards for     | sites should conform  |
| Web-based Intranet and Internet Information  | to the ***Committees' |
| and Applications issued pursuant to section  | Congressional         |
| 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,       | Handbook***, rather   |
| Architectural and Transportation Barriers    | than to the           |
| Compliance Board, 36 CFR 1194.22; Web        | ***Members'           |
| Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0, | Congressional         |
| World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); Platform    | Handbook***.          |
| for Internet Content Selection (PICS)        |                       |
| standard as promulgated by the Word Wide Web |                       |
| Consortium and implemented by SafeSurf and   |                       |
| the Internet Content Rating Association;     |                       |
| Dublin Core 1.1 (revised) meta tag standard, |                       |
| Dublin Core Metadata Initiative; Australian  |                       |
| Government Locator Service (AGLS) 1.2 meta   |                       |
| tag standard, National Archives of           |                       |
| Australia; VW96 meta tag standard, Vancouver |                       |
| Webpages (Canada); Robot meta-tag standard,  |                       |
| Spidering BOF Group (1996 Distributed        |                       |
| Indexing/Searching Workshop of the World     |                       |
| Wide Web Consortium); Global Information     |                       |
| Locator Service (GILS) metadata standard     |                       |
| (WAGILS implementation); XHTML 1.0           |                       |
| Specification (2nd edition), World Wide Web  |                       |
| Consortium; Children's Online Privacy        |                       |
| Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. chapter    |                       |
| 91); Children's Online Privacy Protection    |                       |
| Rule (16 C.F.R. part 312)\" /\>              |                       |
+----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+

**Tags That May Vary With Each Page Within a Web Site**

  ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **HTML Code**                                                **Description/Comments**

  \<meta name=\"DC.title\" content=\"***Welcome!***\" /\>\     Insert the title of the page.
  \<meta name=\"title\" content=\"***Welcome!***\" /\>         

  \<meta name=\"DC.description.abstract\"                      Brief description of the content (or purpose) of the page. Use the same description in both tags.
  content=\"***description of page of the Honorable John W.    
  Doe, Congressman from the \_\_th congressional district of   
  your state***\" /\>\                                         
  \<meta name=\"description\" content=\"***description of page 
  of the Honorable John W. Doe, Congressman from the \_\_th    
  congressional district of your state***\" /\>                

  \<meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"House of Representatives, List of words or phrases that may be useful to someone searching for your Web page. Use synonyms for important words that may not actually appear in the text of you Web
  Congress, Representative ***John Doe, other important        page.[^357]
  words***\" /\>                                               

  \<meta name=\"DC.identifier\" scheme=\"DCTERMS.URI\"         Insert the URL of the page.
  content=\"***http://www.house.gov/doe/pagename.htm***\" /\>  

  \<meta name=\"DC.date.modified\" scheme=\"DCTERMS.WTN8601\"  Date the page was last modified. Use the format yyyy-mm-dd.
  content=\"***2002-12-02***\" /\>\                            
  \<meta name=\"dateofLastModification\"                       
  content=\"***2002-12-02***\" /\>                             

  \<meta name=\"DC.relation.isFormatOf\"                       If a copy of this page in a different format (e.g., a large font version, or a graphics-free version) exists, then use this tag to identify where it is. In the \<link\> tag,
  scheme=\"DCTERMS.URI\"                                       use:\
  content=\"***http://www.house.gov/doe/OtherPageName.htm***       type=\"***text/html***\" for .htm, .html, .shtm, or .shtml files,\
  /\>\                                                             type=\"***image/jpeg***\" for .jpg files,\
  \<link rel=\"alternate\" type=\"***FileType***\"                 type=\"***image/gif***\" for .gif files, or\
  href=\"***http://www.house.gov/doe/OtherPageName.htm***\"        type=\"***application/pdf***\" for .pdf files
  /\>                                                          

  \<meta name=\"DC.language\" scheme=\"DCTERMS.RFC4646\"       Identifies the language primarily used on the page as English (United States style). If your page is in another language, replace ***es-US*** according to the instructions set
  content=\"***en-US***\" /\>\                                 out in Appendix 5: *Language Identification* of this document.
  \<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Language\"                       
  content=\"***en-US***\" /\>                                  

  \<meta name=\"VW96.ObjectType\" content=\"***Document***\"   Identifies the Web page as either being the homepage, a FAQ, or a document (all other pages). If this is your homepage, then replace ***Document*** with ***Homepage***. If the
  /\>                                                          primary function of this page is Frequently Asked Questions, then replace ***Document*** with ***FAQ***. For additional possible values, see the [VW96 Scheme
                                                               Description](http://vancouver-webpages.com/META/VW96-schema.html).

  \<meta name=\"DC.type\" scheme=\"DCTERMS.DCMIType\"          Identifies that the page is primarily a non-interactive, text page. If the page is primarily an interactive form, then replace ***Text*** with ***InteractiveResource***. If the
  content=\"***Text***\" /\>                                   page is primarily a graphic, replace ***Text*** with ***Image***. For additional possible values, see the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative's [DCMI Type
                                                               Vocabulary](http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-type-vocabulary/index.shtml)

  \<meta name=\"AGLS.Audience\" scheme=\"agls-audience\"       If the intended audience for this page is kids, then replace ***public*** with ***children***. If the intended audience for this page is students, then replace ***public*** with
  content=\"***public***\" /\>                                 ***students***. If the intended audience for this page is senior citizens, then replace ***public*** with ***seniors***. A list of all special audiences is available in the
                                                               [[AGLS]{.underline} Implementation
                                                               Manual](http://www.house.gov/htbin/leave_site?ln_url=http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/gov_online/agls/cim/cim_appenC.html%23audience&ln_desc=National+Archives+of+Australia).

  \<meta name=\"DC.rights.accessRights\"                       If the page is not to be available to the general public, replace ***public*** with a description of who may have access.
  content=\"***public***\" /\>                                 

  \<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"***INDEX, FOLLOW***\" /\>   Allows the HIR indexing software (and other indexing software, e.g., [Google](http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=61050)) to make your Web page
                                                               searchable and to follow any links on your page. If your page is primarily an interactive form, replace ***FOLLOW*** with ***NOFOLLOW***.
  ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#  Appendix 5: Language Identification Codes [^358]

If the material is in English (as used in the United States), then the
language code is:

> en-US

If the material is **not** in English (as used in the United States),
then to determine the language code:

(1) find out from the person who supplied you with the text:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(a) What language is the material in?

(b) Is the material in a version of the language that is associated with
    a particular country or region (e.g., Spanish as spoken in Mexico
    vs. Spanish as spoken throughout Latin America vs. Spanish as spoken
    in Spain)?

(c) If the material is text (as opposed to being audio), what alphabet
    (or script) is the material in?

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(2) Go to the IANA Language Subtag Registry at:

> <http://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry>

(3) In the Registry, the information for language subtags is identified
    as **Type: language**. For instance:

> **Type:** language
>
> **Subtag:** fr
>
> **Description:** French
>
> **Added:** 2005-10-16
>
> **Suppress-Script:** Latn
>
> Find the appropriate language subtag and use this as the first part of
> the language tag.

(4) In the Registry, the information for alphabet subtags is identified
    as **Type: script**. Find the appropriate script subtag.

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(a) If the script subtag [is the same]{.underline} as the
    **Suppress-Script** value from the language subtag, then do not use
    the script tag. E.g., fr = French written with the Latin alphabet.

(b) If the script subtag [is not the same]{.underline} as the
    **Suppress-Script** value from the language subtag, then add a dash
    and the script subtag. E.g., ja-Latn = Japanese written with the
    Latin alphabet.

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(5) In the Registry, the information for country or region subtags is
    identified as **Type: region**.

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
(a) If the language is normally associated with just one country (and
    the material is in that country's version of the language), then do
    not use the region subtag. E.g., ja = Japanese as used in Japan.

(b) Otherwise, add a dash and the region subtag. E.g.,

    -   es-PR = Spanish as used in Puerto Rico;

    -   es-419 = Spanish as used in Latin America;

    -   zh-Hant-TW = Chinese as used in Taiwan, written with traditional
        Han script.

> **Examples:**

  ------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
  en-US         English as used in the United States

  es-PR         Spanish[^359] as used in Puerto Rico

  es-MX         Spanish as used in Mexico

  es-419        Spanish as used in Latin America

  ar            Arabic[^360] (written in Arabic script)[^361]

  ar-Latn       Arabic, written in Latin script

  hy            Armenian[^362] (written in Armenian script)[^363]

  hy-Latn       Armenian written in Latin script

  ch            Chamorro (as used in Guam)

  zh-Hans-CN    Chinese[^364] as used in the Peoples Republic of China,
                written in simplified Han script[^365]

  zh-Hant-TW    Chinese as used in Taiwan, written in traditional Han
                script

  cho           Choctaw

  nl            Dutch[^366] (Flemish)

  fr-US         French as used in the United States[^367] (including
                Acadian)

  fr-CA         French as used in Canada

  de            German[^368]

  el            Greek (modern)[^369] (written in Greek script)[^370]

  haw           Hawaiian

  he            Hebrew[^371] (written in Hebrew script)[^372]

  he-Latn       Hebrew, written in Latin script

  hi            Hindi[^373] (written in Devanagari script)[^374]

  hi-Latn       Hindi, written in Latin script

  hmn-Hmng      Hmong,[^375] written in Pahawh Hmong script[^376]

  hmn-Latn      Hmong, written in Latin script

  it            Italian[^377]

  ja            Japanese[^378] (written in Han, Hiragana,[^379] and
                Katakana[^380] script)

  ja-Latn       Japanese, written in Latin script

  ko-Hang       Korean[^381], as written in Hangeul script[^382]^,^
                [^383]

  ko-Hani       Korean, as written in Hanja script

  ko-Latn       Korean, as written in Latin script

  lo            Lao[^384] (written in Lao script)[^385]

  lo-Latn       Lao, written in Latin script

  nv            Navajo

  fa            Persian (Farsi)[^386] (as written in Arabic script)[^387]

  fa-Latn       Persian (Farsi), as written in Latin script

  pl            Polish[^388]

  pt            Portuguese[^389]

  pt-BR         Portuguese as used in Brazil

  pa            Punjabi[^390] (written in Gurmukhi script)[^391]

  pa-Latn       Punjabi, written in Latin script

  ru            Russian[^392] (written in Cyrillic script)[^393]

  ru-Latn       Russian, written in Latin script

  sm            Samoan[^394]

  tl            Tagalog[^395] (as used in the Philippines, written in
                Latin script)

  tl-Tglg       Tagalog (as used in the Philippines), written in Tagalog
                script[^396]

  th            Thai[^397] (written in Thai script)[^398]

  th-Latn       Thai, written in Latin script

  uk            Ukrainian[^399] (written in Cyrillic script)

  uk-Latn       Ukrainian, written in Latin script

  vi            Vietnamese[^400]
  ------------- ---------------------------------------------------------

# Appendix 6: Model Privacy Policy [^401]

# \<h1\>Privacy Policy\</h1\>

**\<p\>**We respect the privacy of our visitors and all those who come
in contact with our office **&#8212;** be it in-person, through our Web
site, or by mail, phone, or email. We therefore try to collect only such
personal information as is needed to provide the information, service,
or assistance that you request.**\</p\>**

##################### \<h2\>Information We Collect Automatically\</h2\> {#h2information-we-collect-automaticallyh2 .unnumbered}

**\<p\>**If you visit our Web sites to browse, read, or download
information:**\<ul\>**

> **\<li\>**Your Web browser automatically sends us (and we may retain)
> information such as the:**\<ul\>**
>
> **\<li\>**Internet domain through which you access the Internet
> (**\<abbr title=\"for instance\"\>**e.g.**\</abbr\>**,
> yourServiceProvider.com if you use a commercial Internet service
> provider, or yourSchool.edu if you use an Internet account from your
> school);**\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**Internet Protocol address of the computer you are
> using;**\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**type of browser software and operating system you are
> using;**\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**date and time you access our site; and**\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**the Internet address of the site from which you linked
> directly to our site.**\</li\>\</ul\>\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**We will use this information as aggregate data to help us
> maintain this site, **\<abbr title=\"for
> instance\"\>**e.g.**\</abbr\>**, to determine the number of visitors
> to different sections of our site, to ensure the site is working
> properly, and to help us make our site more accessible and
> useful.**\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**We will not use this information to identify individuals,
> except for site security or law enforcement purposes.**\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**The office that maintains the Web server that our Web site
> resides on also has access to this information and is governed by its
> own **\<a href=\"\[URL of the Web host vendor's privacy policy\]**\"
> **title=\"privacy policy of \[insert name of Web host
> vendor\]\"\>**privacy policy**\</a\>**. **\</li\>\</ul\>\</p\>**

**\<h2\>Other Information We Collect\</h2\>**

**\<p\>**If you choose to identify yourself (or otherwise provide us
with personal information) when you call us, write to us, send us
e-mail, or use our online forms:**\<ul\>**

-   

> **\<li\>**We will collect (and may retain) any personally identifying
> information, such as your name, street address, email address, and
> phone number, and any other information you provide to us. We will use
> this information to try to fulfill your request and may use it provide
> you with additional information at a later time. We will not disclose
> such information to third parties, except as specified in this privacy
> policy.**\</li\>**
>
> **\<li\>**If you request information, services, or assistance, we may
> disclose your personal information to those third parties that (in our
> judgment) are appropriate in order to fulfill your request. If, when
> you provide us with such information, you specify that you do not want
> us to disclose the information to third parties, we will honor your
> request. Note, however, that If you do not provide such information,
> it may be impossible for us to refer, respond to or fulfill your
> request.**\</li\>**

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Offices that store E-Newsletter distribution lists on servers outside |
| of HOUSE.GOV should add:                                              |
|                                                                       |
| \<li\>**If you sign up for \[name of the office's e-newsletter\],     |
| your subscription data (including your name and e-mail address) will  |
| be stored on a server outside of our office. The company that         |
| maintains that server may also have access to that information and is |
| governed by its own** \<a href=\"\[URL of the distribution service's  |
| privacy policy\]\" title=\"privacy policy of \[insert name of the     |
| distribution service\]\"\>**privacy policy**\</a\>.\</li\>            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

> **\<li\>**If your communication relates to a law enforcement matter,
> we may disclose the information to law enforcement agencies that we
> deem appropriate.**\</li\>\</ul\>\</p\>**

**\<h2\>How Long We Keep Information\</h2\>**

**\<p\>**We may keep information that will collect for an unlimited
period of time.**\</p\>**

**\<h2\>Security\</h2\>**

**\<p\>**Please note that electronic communication, particularly e-mail,
is not necessarily secure against interception. Please **\<strong\>do
not\</strong\>** send sensitive data (**\<abbr title=\"for
instance\"\>**e.g.**\</abbr\>**, Social Security, bank account, or
credit card numbers) by e-mail or Web form.**\</p\>**

###############################  {#section-2 .unnumbered}

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Offices that want to rigorously comply with OMB Guidance for        |
| Implementing the Privacy Provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002   |
| (OMB Memorandum M-03-22) should insert the following:**               |
|                                                                       |
| #####################  {#section-3 .unnumbered}                       |
|                                                                       |
| **\<h2\>Privacy Act\</h2\>**                                          |
|                                                                       |
| **\<p\>**Although our office is not covered by the Privacy Act, we    |
| will attempt to treat your information as if the Privacy Act applied  |
| to it.**\</p\>**                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

##################### \<h2\>Cookies\</h2\> {#h2cookiesh2 .unnumbered}

**\<p\>**We do not use persistent **&#8220;**cookies**&#8221;** on this
Web site. **\[if session cookies are used, (1) indicate that here; (2)
indicate what information is collected; (3) indicate what the
information is used for; (4) provide an explanation what session cookies
are, e.g., "Session cookies are temporary files that are erased when you
close all browsers."; and (5) indicate if accepting cookies is voluntary
or mandatory for using the site (or for using a specific portion of the
Web site), e.g., "Accepting session cookies on our site is voluntary;
you may still use the site if you decline cookies."\]\</p\>**

###############################  {#section-4 .unnumbered}

**\<h2\>Contacting Us\</h2\>**

**\<p\>**If you would like to contact us concerning our privacy policy
or our use of information collected through this Web site, please
contact us at:**\</p\>**

> **\<p class=\"contactInfo\"\>\[Name of office\]\<br /\>**
>
> **\[Street Address\]\<br /\>**
>
> **\[City, State, and Zip Code\]\</p\>**
>
> **\<p class=\"contactInfo\"\>**By telephone: **\[telephone
> number\]\</p\>**
>
> **\<p class=\"contactInfo\"\>**By e-mail: **\[public e-mail address or
> URL for contact form\]\</p\>**

[^1]: Acronyms are words formed from the initial letter(s) of the phrase
    they originally represented -- for instance NASA (**N**ational
    **A**eronautics and **S**pace **A**dministration), COPPA
    (**C**hildren's **O**nline **P**rivacy **P**rotection **A**ct), and
    radar (**ra**dio **d**etecting **a**nd **r**anging). Acronyms are
    normally pronounced as they are spelled, while abbreviations
    normally are pronounced as the word that they are abbreviating
    (e.g., "Dr." is normally pronounced "Doctor" (or "Drive", depending
    on the context) and not "dir").

[^2]: [Checkpoint 4.2 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#tech-expand-abbr) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web sites
    need to "\[s\]pecify the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym
    in a document where it first occurs."

    For more information on the \<abbr\> and \<acronym\> tags, see
    "[Accessible Web Pages: Abbreviations and
    Acronyms](http://intranet.house.gov/xd03_training/ecybercongress/summer2005/accessible_web_pages.shtml),"
    *e-CyberCongress Connection*, summer 2005. A more rigorous approach
    based on current standards as well as the draft W3C [*Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 2.0*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/) and the
    draft W3C [*XHTML 2.0
    Specifications*](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml2/), is set out in Colin
    Lieberman's "[The Accessibility Hat Trick: Getting Abbreviations
    Right,](http://www.alistapart.com/articles/hattrick)" A List Apart
    (January 16, 2006).

[^3]: Jakob Nielsen, in "[Guidelines for Visualizing
    Links](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html)" (October 27,
    2003), notes:

    > Representing a\[n\] . . . organization on the Internet is one of a
    > website\'s most important jobs. Explaining the . . .
    > \[organization's\] purpose and what it stands for provides
    > essential support for any of the site\'s other goals.
    > Unfortunately, most websites do a poor job on this explanation.
    >
    > It is fairly common for sites to have an *About Us* section, and
    > in fact I recommend having a **homepage link** that\'s explicitly
    > called either *About \<name-of-company\>* or *About Us*. This link
    > need not be the most prominent on the homepage, but it should be
    > present and easily visible. In our study \[of Web sites of
    > government agencies, non-profits, and various size for-profits,\]
    > users had trouble locating . . . \[organization\] information when
    > the link had a nonstandard name, like *Info Center*, or when it
    > was placed near graphical elements that looked like advertisements
    > and thus were ignored.

    Nielsen recommends that the *About* page also include:

    The organization\'s top executive or official

    Correct contact information

    The organization\'s philosophy

    Historical timeline and milestones

    Finally, Nielsen points out that:

    > Saying who you are and what you do is basic politeness in any
    > conversation. In business, it\'s also good to establish
    > credibility and respect by explaining your company\'s origins, how
    > you view your business, and how you relate to the community.

[^4]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." (Sections
    [11.2.1](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/tables.html#h-11.2.1),
    [11.2.2](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/tables.html#h-11.2.2),
    [13.7.4](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#h-13.7.4),
    [15.1.2](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#h-15.1.2),
    [15.3](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#h-15.3), and
    [17.10](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#adef-align-LEGEND)
    of the W3C *HTML 4.01 Specification* designate the "align" attribute
    of the following tags as deprecated attributes: \<caption\>,
    \<div\>, \<h1\> to \< h6\>, \<hr\>, \<iframe\>, \<img\>, \<legend\>,
    \<object\>, \<p\>, and \<table\>).

[^5]: To align left, use: margin-left: 0; margin-right: auto

    To align right, use: margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0

    Note: In Internet Explorer 6 and 7, the "auto" value of the "margin"
    property is only supported when the browser is in Standards Mode
    (Internet Explorer's Standards Mode is the equivalent of Mozilla's
    Almost Standards Mode). To ensure that IE7 is in Standards Mode, use
    one of the XHTML 1.0 \<!DOCTYPE\> declarations from the W3C
    [*Recommended List of
    DTDs*](http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html). To ensure
    that IE6 is in Standards Mode, use one of the XHTML 1.0 \<!DOCTYPE\>
    declarations from the W3C *[Recommended List of
    DTDs](http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html)* and make
    sure that the \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration is the first thing in the
    file. For additional \<!DOCTYPE\> declarations that are compatible
    with Internet Explorer being in Standards Mode, see Henri Sivonen's
    [*Activating the Right Layout Mode Using the Doctype
    Declaration*](http://hsivonen.iki.fi/doctype/).

[^6]: A CAO-WSB analysis of www.house.gov usage for April 12 to 16,
    2007, indicates that the following browsers each accounted for at
    least 0.1% of the identifiable, non-robot access to the site:

    Internet Explorer 6.x 50.90%

    Internet Explorer 7.x 25.34%

    Internet Explorer 5.x 6.85%

    Firefox 2.x 6.78%

    Firefox 1.x 4.85%

    Safari 2.83%

    Firefox 3 (Minefield) 0.45%

    Netscape 7.x 0.33%

    Opera 0.19%

    Netscape 8.x 0.17%

[^7]: See [§
    17.10](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#h-17.10) of
    the W3C *HTML 4.01 Specification*.

[^8]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 13.4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#edef-APPLET)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the \<applet\> tag as a
    deprecated element).

[^9]: For additional information, see David Wheeler's "[Curling Quotes
    in HTML, SGML, and
    XML](http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/quotes-in-html.html)."

[^10]: Examples of Web sites that include material on the Artistic
    Discovery Contest include [Rep. Neil
    Abercrombie](http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/art_competition.shtml),
    [Rep. Robert
    Aderholt](http://aderholt.house.gov/congressional_art_competition.shtml),
    [Rep. Eric Cantor](http://cantor.house.gov/services/artcontest.htm),
    [Rep. Steve Chabot](http://www.house.gov/chabot/art.html), [Rep. Tom
    Cole](http://www.house.gov/cole/art_comp.htm), [Rep. Jim
    Cooper](http://cooper.house.gov/services/art_comp_2005/artcontest.htm),
    [Rep. Bill
    Delahunt](http://www.house.gov/delahunt/artcomppictures.shtml),
    [Rep. Rodney
    Frelinghuysen](http://frelinghuysen.house.gov/nj11_contents/services/art.shtml),
    [Rep. Mike
    Honda](http://honda.house.gov/ArtisticDiscoveryWinners.shtml), [Rep.
    Dennis Moore](http://moore.house.gov/service.asp?service_ID=7),
    [Rep. Devin
    Nunes](http://nunes.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ConstituentServices.CongressionalArtCompetition),
    [Rep. Paul Ryan](http://www.house.gov/ryan/art/art.htm), and [Rep.
    David
    Scott](http://davidscott.house.gov/ConstituentServices/artcontest.htm).
    Generic text is also available at
    <http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/ArtisticDiscovery_content.htm>.

[^11]: See, e.g., "[Dozens of U.S. Senators are Quietly Tracking Visits
    to their Web Sites even Though they have Publicly Pledged Not to Do
    So](http://news.com.com/Congress+hands+caught+in+the+cookie+jar/2163-1028_3-6020711.html?tag=nl)"
    by Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache, CNET News.com, January 6,
    2006.

[^12]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for
    > the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    Instructions for implementing the exit message can be found at

    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^13]: [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5).

[^14]: The [*Committees' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=37#websitegeneral)
    (Web Site Regulations, General, § 5), issued by the House
    Administration Committee, provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives, prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither the committee nor the House is responsible
    > for the content of linked sites. Committees maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    Instructions for implementing the exit message can be found at

    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^15]: See <http://www.altavista.com/help/babelfish/babel_help>.

[^16]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 15.1.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#h-15.1.1)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the "bgcolor" attribute as a
    deprecated attribute).

[^17]: Use the "background-image" style sheets property.

[^18]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 7.5.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.5.1) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "background" attribute as a
    deprecated attribute).

[^19]: [Guideline 1.4.3 \[level AA\] of the World Wide Web Consortium's
    Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (May 17, 2007 working
    draft)](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#visual-audio-contrast-contrast)
    provides that
    "[Text](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#textdef%23textdef) (and images
    of text) \[should\] have a [contrast
    ratio](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#contrast-ratiodef%23contrast-ratiodef)
    of at least 5:1, except if the text is [pure
    decoration](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#puredecdef%23puredecdef).
    [Larger-scale](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#larger-scaledef%23larger-scaledef)
    text or images of text can have a contrast ratio of 3:1."

    Colour Contrast Analyser 1.1, available at
    <http://www.wat-c.org/tools/CCA/1.1/index.html>, is able to test for
    color contrast ratios.

[^20]: [Checkpoint 2.2 \[priority 2 for images, priority 3 for text\]\]
    of the W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[e\]nsure that foreground and background color
    combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone
    having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen."

[^21]: *Prioritizing Web Usability*, by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger,
    2006 (p. 27) recommends that the name (or logo) of the office
    sponsoring a Web site appear in the upper left corner of each Web
    page. The recommendation is designed to accommodate users who
    initially arrive at an interior page of a Web site (e.g., through a
    search engine). The recommendation notes:

    > Don't assume that users have followed a drill-down path to arrive
    > at the current page. They may have taken a different path than
    > what you intended and not have seen information that was contained
    > on higher-level pages.

[^22]: As with any moving image on a Web site, the regulations under §
    508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(j))
    provide that accessible Web pages "shall be designed to avoid
    causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and
    lower than 55 Hz." [Checkpoint 7.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-flicker) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should:

    > [*[Until user
    > agents]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#until-user-agents)
    > allow users to control flickering, avoid causing the screen to
    > flicker. . . .
    >
    > **Note.** People with photosensitive epilepsy can have seizures
    > triggered by flickering or flashing in the 4 to 59 flashes per
    > second (Hertz) range with a peak sensitivity at 20 flashes per
    > second as well as quick changes from dark to light (like strobe
    > lights).

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=74)
    (p. 64) also notes that:

    > Movement on a Web page can be very distracting, and it can greatly
    > increase the amount of time it takes to download a site. If you do
    > include features such as scrolling text or moving graphics, test
    > your site with people unfamiliar with the Hill and see how they
    > react to them.

[^23]: Notes on how to implement this feature using iframes can be found
    in the "[IFRAME fading
    photo's](http://intranet.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,xd01_wsbblog,blog,999,All,Item not found,ID=060801_0194,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml#COMMENTS)"
    section of the WSB Blog.

[^24]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(*l*))
    provide that

    > When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to
    > create interface elements, the information provided by the script
    > shall be identified with functional text that can be read by
    > assistive technology.

    Similarly, [Checkpoint 6.3 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-scripts) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an accessible Web site
    should:

    > Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other
    > programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is
    > not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative
    > accessible page.

[^25]: See, e.g., <http://www1.house.gov:801/oh14_latourette/>.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's 1999 report *Building Web
    Sites Constituents Will Use* (page 17) notes that:

    > It's extremely important that you identify every page of your site
    > as yours. However, using a banner that takes up 1/3 or more of the
    > screen serves no purpose and makes it difficult and frustrating
    > from users to read the information there're after because they
    > have to keep scrolling past the irrelevant banner in order to get
    > it.

    The Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the
    Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=62)
    (page 54) report goes on to say:

    > . . . using a banner or graphics that take up most of the screen
    > serves no purpose. It also makes it difficult and frustrating for
    > users to read the information they're after because they have to
    > keep scrolling to get the information they are seeking. At least
    > two thirds of every page on your site should contain useful
    > information.

[^26]: See "Backgrounds", above.

[^27]: An alternative technology that can be used, if appropriate, is
    Scalable Vector Graphics. For information on SVG, see the W3C Web
    site at <http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/>.

[^28]: [Section 12.4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/links.html#h-12.4) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* provides that "When present, the
    [[BASE]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/links.html#edef-BASE)
    element must appear in the
    [[HEAD]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/global.html#edef-HEAD)
    section of an HTML document, before any element that refers to an
    external source. The path information specified by the
    [[BASE]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/links.html#edef-BASE)
    element only affects URIs in the document where the element
    appears."

    Notwithstanding the W3C specification, some versions of Internat
    Explorer (prior to version 7.0) supported multiple \<base\> tags
    between the \<body\> and \</body\> tags. This support stopped with
    IE 7.0.

[^29]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=68)
    (p. 58) notes that:

    > While it shouldn't be the primary focus of the site, every
    > congressional Web site should include a section that contains
    > information about the Member's (or Leader's or committee's)
    > priorities, interests, accomplishments, experience, and expertise.

[^30]: The Congressional Management Foundation's January 2002 report
    [*Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web
    Sites*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2002.pdf#page=22)
    (p. 16), recommends that "Every congressional Web site should
    include a biography and photo of the Member or Chairman as
    background information. Promotional materials are also appropriate
    in the Member information section of a congressional Web site,
    because it is what visitors are looking for when they click to it.
    Audiences are seeking to learn about the Member\'s priorities,
    interests, accomplishments, experience, and expertise."

[^31]: Rep. Rush Holt's biography, for example, mentions that he was
    awarded a patent for a solar energy device -- and links to the text
    of the patent at the U.S. Patent and trademark Office's Web site.

[^32]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=56)
    (page 48) recommends that Congressional Web sites include
    information on what a "Member, Chair, or Leader does on a given
    day." The [October 10, 2006 issue of the Congressional Management
    Foundation's *Congress Online*
    newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/CongressOnline101006.asp) praises
    Rep. José Serrano's "[The Job of a
    Congressman](http://www.house.gov/serrano/pdf/RepJob-booklet-web.pdf)"
    and Rep. Adam Smith's "[A Day in the
    Life](http://www.house.gov/adamsmith/students/day.shtml)." The CMF's
    [*2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=40)
    (p. 30) praises Rep. Brian Baird's Web site for having "A Day on
    Capitol Hill" slideshow and notes ([p.
    17](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=27))
    that only 5.7% of House Web sites include information "about what a
    Member does". Other examples of similar material include Rep. Bud
    Cramer's "[A Typical
    Week](http://cramer.house.gov/HoR/AL05/About+Bud/A+Typical+Week/A+typical+week.htm)"
    and former-Rep. Lee Hamilton's "[The Job of a
    Congressman](http://congress.indiana.edu/radio_commentaries/job_of_congressman.php)".

[^33]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=70)
    (pages 60 and 67) notes that

    > Congressional Web sites can demonstrate accountability by
    > providing voting records, rationales for key votes, and schedules
    > -- and they can do so without overburdening their staffs. Your
    > constituents are not interested in knowing about every meeting
    > that takes place or every vote taken. Stick to the most relevant
    > and current information: meetings with constituents, public Member
    > appearances in the district or state, committee hearings, the
    > House and Senate floor schedule.
    >
    > Most citizens do not understand, or are not familiar with, the
    > intricacies of the congressional schedule. In our research with
    > constituents, they assumed that their elected officials were
    > golfing or on vacation when Congress is in recess. While there
    > isn't much legislative activity to report during recesses, you can
    > correct this misperception by posting a schedule of town hall
    > meetings, reorganizing your home page content, or providing a
    > preview of what the Member, committee, Leader, or Congress will be
    > doing after the break. Every August we see scores of congressional
    > Web sites that haven't been updated since mid-July. Don't let
    > yours be one of them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=31)
    (page 23) also praises the Web site for Rep. Earl Blumenauer for
    including the Congressman's weekly schedule.

[^34]: [Rep. Cynthia McKinney's Web
    site](http://web.archive.org/web/20060421022800/http:/www.house.gov/mckinney/monthly_calendar.shtml)
    used WIDA to provide her schedule.

[^35]: Before deciding whether to have a blog, the Congressional
    Management Foundation, in its [*2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing
    the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=81)
    (page 71) recommends that offices consider the following:

    > **Can we dedicate the resources that would be necessary to
    > launch---and sustain---a blog?** The most precious resource in
    > most congressional offices is time--especially the Member's time.
    > A blog requires constant attention and staff resources--in most
    > cases taking the staffer away from other projects or duties. To be
    > a truly effective blogger requires a time commitment to
    > regularly--even daily--update and post new content to the blog. It
    > will also take staff time to read through and publish reader
    > comments and to respond when necessary. Be sure you are ready to
    > make the commitment; too many Members have launched blogs that
    > fall by the wayside because of insufficient resources.
    >
    > **Are we willing to allow constituents and other members of the
    > public to post comments to the blog?** A vast majority of the
    > mainstream blogs allow the moderator or other user to start a
    > "thread" to which viewers can comment. Will the office allow
    > comments--the good and the bad, the complimentary and the not so
    > complimentary? Good management policies will need to put in place
    > and enforced by the Member's staff to make sure the medium is not
    > abused or
    >
    > too one-sided.
    >
    > **Does the Member have something to say that isn't being said
    > somewhere else?** While blogs are becoming more and more prevalent
    > every day, not every Member should have a blog. People read blogs
    > because they provide information that they do not get from
    > traditional media sources. If the Member is worried about
    > alienating people and not willing to speak "off script," the blog
    > is
    >
    > probably not a good idea. Blogs are expected to provide unfiltered
    > and informal communication and personal perspective. In a world of
    > scripted speeches and carefully thought-out talking points, this
    > is a valid concern for Members and staff. Also, it is critical
    > that a blog be more than a different way to list press releases,
    > otherwise blog enthusiasts--your intended audience--will be the
    > first to
    >
    > notice and the last to return.
    >
    > **If we aren't ready for our own blog, what about guest blogging,
    > or special event blogging?** Many Members have been successful
    > players in the world of blogs by chiming in, or guest blogging, on
    > other mainstream blogs. Another alternative is for the Member to
    > publish a blog or trip diary during a significant event, like a
    > CODEL to Iraq, that chronicles the Member's impressions of what
    > they encounter. These blogs are a good way for Members to enter
    > into the blogosphere without overwhelming staff and running out of
    > interesting and relevant things to say.

[^36]: The availability of the House Web Log Utility was announced on
    [December 11, 2006, through a Dear Colleague letter from the
    Chairman of the House Administration
    Committee](http://www.house.gov/webassistance/po_dc_12-11-06.pdf).

    For more information on the House Web Log Utility, see

    <http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/update/blog/index.htm>.

[^37]: [Section 3.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#text-emphasis) *HTML
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides
    that "The proper HTML elements should be used to mark up emphasis:
    [EM](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-EM%23edef-EM) and
    [STRONG](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-STRONG%23edef-STRONG).
    The [B](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-B%23edef-B) and
    [I](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-I%23edef-I)
    elements should not be used; they are used to create a visual
    presentation effect. The EM and STRONG elements were designed to
    indicate structural emphasis that may be rendered in a variety of
    ways (font style changes, speech inflection changes, etc.) ."

    Perhaps the one legitimate exception to this standard (and even
    then, one to be used with care) is when you are reproducing text
    that originally existed as non-World Wide Web printed text. As Paul
    Ford notes in "[Processing
    Processing](http://www.ftrain.com/ProcessingProcessing.html#3-anchor)"
    (September 2, 2003) (cited in Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web
    Standards* (2^nd^ edition, \[2006\], p. 175):

    > When I\'m publishing content from 1901 and it\'s in italics, it\'s
    > in *italics,* not emphasized. Typography has a semantics that is
    > subtle, changing, and deeply informed by history.

[^38]: Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger, in *Prioritizing Web Usability*,
    2006 (p. 275) note that:

    > Highlighting carefully chosen keywords can attract readers'
    > attention to specific areas of the page. Using design treatments
    > such as boldface or colored text adds emphasis and draws the eye
    > to important elements . . . . Highlighting entire sentences or
    > long phrases slows readers down, so single out just those words
    > and phrases that communicate key points. Emphasizing too many
    > items with color highlight or bold test causes diminishing
    > returns; nothing stands out; and the page just looks busy.

[^39]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 15.1.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#h-15.1.3.2)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the "clear" attribute of the
    \<br\> tag as a deprecated attribute).

[^40]: Web sites that are hosted on the HIR UNIX server are encouraged
    to use the server-side include:

    > \<!\--#include
    > virtual=\"/house/subpage_content/browsealoud_content.html\" \--\>

    All other sites can use code along the lines of:

    > \<iframe
    > src=\"http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/browsealoud_content.html\"
    >
    > scrolling=\"auto\" width=\"660\" height=\"3025\" frameborder=\"0\"
    > title=\"About the Browsealoud plug-in\"\>\<ul\>\<li\>\<a
    >
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/house/browsealoud.shtml\"\>About The
    > Browsealoud Plug-In\</a\>\</li\>\</ul\>\</iframe\>

    **Note:** when using the \<include\> on a page that can be accessed
    with a virtual URL, be sure to test the page with the virtual URL.

    Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just linking to
    the House's "About The Browsealoud Plug-In" page. Using \<include\>
    or \<iframe\> retains the consistent look and feel of the rest of
    the office's Web site. A consistent look and feel assists with
    compliance with [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "Use navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^41]: <http://www.house.gov/images/browsaloud.gif>

[^42]: <http://www.house.gov/include_content/images/audio1.gif>

[^43]: <http://www.house.gov/include_content/images/leftnav_readtome.gif>

[^44]: <http://www.house.gov/include_content/images/baloud1.gif>

[^45]: <http://www.house.gov/include_content/images/logo_browsealoud.gif>

[^46]: For additional material on this subject, see the [letter from the
    World Wide Web Consortium to the U.S. Copyright Office concerning
    "37 CFR Part 202 \[Docket No. RM 2005-9\]," (August 22,
    2005)](http://www.w3.org/2005/08/22-w3c-prereg-standards-comments.html).

    Jeffrey Zeldman, in the second edition \[2006\] of *Designing With
    Web Standards* (pp. 33 & 37), notes that:

    > In a misguided effort to reduce expenses, an increasing number of
    > sites are designed to work only in Internet Explorer, and
    > soemtimes only on the Windows platform, thus locking out 15-25% of
    > their potential visitors and customers. . . .
    >
    > I won't pretend to understand the business model of a company that
    > would say no to up to a quarter of its potential customers. And
    > the sheer number of customers lost by this myopic approach should
    > boggle the mind of any rational busniess owner or noncorporate
    > agency with a mandate to serve the public.
    >
    > Say you don't mind losing up to 25% of the people who choose to
    > visit your site. The "IE-only" approach still makes no sense
    > because there's no guarantee that IE (or even desktop browsers as
    > a category) will continue to dominate web space. For one thing, as
    > I write these words, Firefox continues to take market share away
    > from IE. For anotehr, more people are getting their internet fix
    > via mobile devices, In the U.S., desktop browsing still far
    > outweighs mobile use; in Japan the reverse is true. While the
    > numbers are continually changing, the trend favors mobile
    > ([www.gotomobile.com](http://www.gotomobile.com/)). As ubiquitous
    > computing gains acceptance and creates new markets, the notion of
    > designing to the quirks of *any* individual desktop browser seems
    > more and more 20^th^ century and les and less intelligent.

    Zeldman also notes in "[99% of Websites Are
    Obsolete](http://www.digital-web.com/articles/999_of_websites_are_obsolete/)"
    (September 4, 2002):

    > Some years\[ago\] . . ., Netscape\'s Navigator browser enjoyed a
    > market share greater than Microsoft\'s Internet Explorer does
    > today. At the time, conventional wisdom held that Netscape\'s was
    > the only browser that mattered, and developers coded accordingly.
    > Untold millions of dollars later, the market changed.
    > Netscape-only sites were dumped in the landfill beside the
    > Information Superhighway.

[^47]: [Appendix A (items 4 to 7) of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#validation) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* recommends that Web sites be validated
    as accessible by use of various tools, including:

    Use a text-only browser or emulator.

    Use multiple graphic browsers, with:

    sounds and graphics loaded,

    graphics not loaded,

    sounds not loaded,

    no mouse,

    frames, scripts, style sheets, and applets not loaded

    Use several browsers, old and new.

    Use a self-voicing browser, a screen reader, magnification software,
    a small display, etc.

[^48]: Though the April 12 to 16,2007 study did not differentiate
    between the Windows and Macintosh versions of the software, it is
    safe to assume that virtually all of the 6.85% represents IE 5.x for
    Windows. In a similar study conducted by CAO-WSB for January 30 to
    February 5, 2006 (that did differentiate between operating systems),
    IE 5.x for Macintsoh use constituted less than 0.1% of total
    www.house.gov usage.

[^49]: Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger in their *Prioritizing Web
    Usability*, 2006 (page 94) look at the question of where the cutoff
    should be in testing browser compatibility:

    > Is it worth testing your Web site . . . in order to cater to . . .
    > two percent of the market . . .? We would probably . . . say
    > "yes," at least for bigger Web sites for which a two percent
    > increase in business is worth more than a few tests and easy
    > fixes. Smaller sites, on the other hand, might decide that the . .
    > . return is insufficient to bother testing on \[small-share
    > browsers\]. . . . As always, with a limited budget, you must
    > choose your battles.

[^50]: For a different approach to identifying browsers that should be
    tested against, see "[Graded Browser
    Support](http://developer.yahoo.net/yui/articles/gbs/gbs.html)" by
    Nate Koechley.

[^51]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*
    (p. 46) notes that "Committees and leadership offices with natural
    constituencies can also provide service information online. The
    *House Committee on Veterans' Affairs* Web site provides information
    on veterans' benefits for its key audience."

[^52]: Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just linking
    to the generic "Doing Business with the Federal Government" page.
    Using \<include\> or \<iframe\> retains the consistent look and feel
    of the rest of the office's Web site. A consistent look and feel
    assists with compliance with [Checkpoint 13.4 \[ priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^53]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 61) notes that "Congressional jargon and the legislative
    process can be difficult for most people off the Hill to understand.
    Focus on making the information on your site understandable, rather
    than impressive and official-sounding."

    [Rep. Ben Chadler's Web site](http://chandler.house.gov/) uses
    "Assistance with Federal Agencies". [Rep. Spencer Bachus' Web
    site](http://bachus.house.gov/hor/al06/) uses "Help with Federal
    Agencies".

[^54]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 15.1.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#edef-CENTER)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the \<center\> tag as a
    deprecated element).

[^55]: In Internet Explorer 6 and 7, the "auto" value of the "margin"
    property is only supported when the browser is in Standards Mode
    (Internet Explorer's Standards Mode is the equivalent of Mozilla's
    Almost Standards Mode). To ensure that IE7 is in Standards Mode, use
    one of the XHTML 1.0 \<!DOCTYPE\> declarations from the W3C
    [*Recommended List of
    DTDs*](http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html). To ensure
    that IE6 is in Standards Mode, use one of the XHTML 1.0 \<!DOCTYPE\>
    declarations from the W3C *[Recommended List of
    DTDs](http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html)* and make
    sure that the \<!DOCTYPE\> declaration is the first thing in the
    file. For additional \<!DOCTYPE\> declarations that are compatible
    with Internet Explorer being in Standards Mode, see Henri Sivonen's
    [*Activating the Right Layout Mode Using the Doctype
    Declaration*](http://hsivonen.iki.fi/doctype/).

[^56]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(a))
    provide that "A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be
    provided (e.g., via \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content)."

    [Checkpoint 1.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-text-equivalent) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should:

    > Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via
    > \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content). *This includes*:
    > images, graphical representations of text (including symbols),
    > image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and
    > programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as
    > list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or
    > without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks
    > of video, and video. . . .
    >
    > For example, in HTML:

    Use \"alt\" for the IMG, INPUT, and APPLET elements, or provide a
    text equivalent in the content of the OBJECT and APPLET elements.

    For complex content (e.g., a chart) where the \"alt\" text does not
    provide a complete text equivalent, provide an additional
    description using, for example, \"longdesc\" with IMG or FRAME, a
    link inside an OBJECT element, or a [description
    link](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#d-link%23d-link).

    For image maps, either use the \"alt\" attribute with AREA, or use
    the MAP element with A elements (and other text) as content.

[^57]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(c))
    provide that "Web pages shall be designed so that all information
    conveyed with color is also available without color, for example
    from context or markup." An identical standard is set out in
    [Checkpoint 2.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-color-convey) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*.

[^58]: Lynda Weinman in [*The Browser-Safe Web
    Palette*](http://www.lynda.com/hex.html), however, states that "A
    lot of people credit me with the browser-safe palette, but it\'s a
    misplaced honor (if you can call it that!). I do have the
    distinction of being the first author to identify and publish the
    colors - but I can\'t take credit for creating them. . . . Though
    this might seem blasphemous to older readers of my books, or loyal
    website visitors, I believe it\'s safe to design without the
    palette. I believe this because so few computer users view the web
    in 256 colors anymore."

[^59]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 7.5.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.5.1) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "text" attribute as a deprecated
    attribute).

[^60]: [Section 3.2.4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/intro/sgmltut.html#h-3.2.4) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* provides that:

    > HTML comments have the following syntax:
    >
    > \<!\-- this is a comment \--\>
    >
    > \<!\-- and so is this one,
    >
    > which occupies more than one line \--\>
    >
    > White space is not permitted between the markup declaration open
    > delimiter(\"\<!\") and the comment open delimiter (\"\--\"), but
    > is permitted between the comment close delimiter (\"\--\") and the
    > markup declaration close delimiter (\"\>\"). A common error is to
    > include a string of hyphens (\"\-\--\") within a comment. Authors
    > should avoid putting two or more adjacent hyphens inside comments.

[^61]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#content)
    (Web Sites, Content, § 5), issued by the House Administration
    Committee, provides that:

    > The content of a Member's Web site: . . .
    >
    > 5\. May not include any advertisement for any private individual,
    > firm, or corporation, or imply in any manner that the government
    > endorses or favors any specific commercial product, commodity, or
    > service.

    An identical requirement is contained in the [*Committee's
    Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=37#content)
    (Web Site Regulations, Content, § e).

[^62]: The [Congressional Caucuses page of Rep. Illeana
    Ros-Lehtinen](http://www.house.gov/ros-lehtinen/cong-caucuses.shtml),
    lists each caucus that she is a member of, what position she holds
    within each caucus, and a description of the purpose of each of the
    caucuses.

    [Rep. Earl Blumenauer has a Caucuses
    page](http://blumenauer.house.gov/issues/Caucuses.aspx) that links
    off the Issues section of his Web site. Rep. Blumenauer's Caucuses
    page lists all of the caucuses that he serves on. Each caucus
    reference links to an individual page on his Web site that lists the
    officers of that caucus, a link to that caucus' Web site (if any),
    and/or a description of the purpose and accomplishments of that
    caucus. The page for each issue area ("[Livable
    Communities](http://blumenauer.house.gov/issues/Caucuses.aspx?IssueID=11),"
    "[Transportation and
    Bicycling](http://blumenauer.house.gov/issues/Caucuses.aspx?IssueID=15),"
    etc.) also contains links to the pages that describe the relevant
    caucuses within Rep. Blumenauer's Web site.

    A reasonably comprehensive list of caucus Web sites is set out in
    Appendix 3: *Caucus Web Sites* of this document.

[^63]: Most subcommittees have at least one Web page within their full
    committee's Web site.

[^64]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*,
    (p. 46) praises [Rep. Mike Honda's Web
    site](http://honda.house.gov/mikeincongress.shtml) for indicating
    the Congressman's committee assignments. Rep. Honda has links to the
    committees and subcommittees that he serves on (indicating which
    subcommittee he serves as ranking member) and also links to the
    caucuses that he chairs.

[^65]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=33)
    (page 25) praises Rep. John Larson's Web site because "Rather than
    just linking to the committees on which he serves, Rep. Larson's
    site explains the role and responsibilities of each committee".

[^66]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=29)
    (pages 21 and 25) praises the "Highlighting Delawareans" page on
    Senator Tom Carper's Web site for "posting constituent photo
    galleries and congratulating constituents on their accomplishments";
    and the Web site of Representative Richard Pombo for having "An
    extensive gallery of constituent photos". See also the ["Photo
    Album" on Rep. Marsha Blackburn's Web
    site](http://www.house.gov/blackburn/photoalbum.shtml).

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=93)
    (page 83) identifies including "photos of constituents on the home
    page" as an element of a well-formed Congressional Web site.

[^67]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=40)
    (pages 30 to 36) praises Rep. Brian Baird's Web site for having "an
    informative FAQ section, which contains casework questions, \[and\]
    an example of an actual case"; Rep. John Linder's Web site for
    providing a "casework section takes his constituents step-by-step
    through the process of determining eligibility and opening up a
    case"; and Rep. Xavier Becerra's Web site for providing a:

    > constituent services section \[that\] guides users through every
    > step in the casework process. The site allows users determine
    > whether the office can help, takes them through FAQs that give
    > them the tools to resolve an issue on their own, and gives clear
    > guidance on what information the office needs in order to open a
    > case.

    The report also notes that "Congressman \[Mike\] Honda's casework
    section accommodates those who may be unaccustomed to governmental
    operations"; and praises the Web site of Rep. John Larson for having
    a "casework assistance \[section\] that is geared toward informing
    uninitiated users."

    The Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the
    Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=65),
    (p. 57) praises [Rep. Steve Rothman's Web
    site](http://www.house.gov/rothman/help_with_federal_agencies.htm)
    for providing a "step-by-step casework guide. . . to help citizens
    who need assistance from federal agencies."

[^68]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 61) notes that "Congressional jargon and the legislative
    process can be difficult for most people off the Hill to understand.
    Focus on making the information on your site understandable, rather
    than impressive and official-sounding."

    [Rep. Ben Chadler's Web site](http://chandler.house.gov/) uses "How
    Can We Help You?". [Rep. Spencer Bachus' Web
    site](http://bachus.house.gov/hor/al06/) uses "Helping You".

[^69]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=67)
    (page 57) notes that:

    > Many offices use their Web sites to direct constituents to contact
    > them offline for the information and services they are seeking.
    > Yet, people who choose the Web as their method of contacting a
    > congressional office are doing so precisely because they prefer to
    > have their needs met online. Respond to their needs accordingly,
    > and you will find you have more satisfied "customers," at less
    > effort and expense to the office than you ever thought possible.

    When the Foundation's 2003 report was compiled ([*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=55),
    (p. 47)), 97% of House Member, committee, and leadership Web sites
    provided this capability.

[^70]: Instructions for using CAO-Web Solutions Branch's form_proc
    software to do this are available on HouseNet at:

    <http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_formproc.htm>

    Form_proc is the software suggested in Congressional Management
    Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the
    Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=65),
    (p. 57): "House offices can also simplify their e-mail management by
    utilizing the customized Web-based forms available from House
    Information Resources (i.e. for tour requests, scheduling requests,
    casework, feedback, etc.)."

[^71]: Using a form on the Member's site is preferable to just linking
    to the House [Write Your Representative
    page](http://www.house.gov/writerep/), because keeping within the
    Member's site retains the consistent look and feel. A consistent
    look and feel assists with compliance with [Checkpoint 13.4
    \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^72]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=39),
    (p. 31) praises Sen. Mary Landrieu's Web site for offering on-line
    subscriptions to several different newsletters.

[^73]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=48)
    (page 38) praises the Web site of Rep. Jeff Miller for providing "a
    list of staff members and their positions, backgrounds, and phone
    numbers," The report ([page
    17](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=27))
    indicates that 20.8% of House Member, committee, and leadership
    office Web sites provide this type of information.

[^74]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=37)
    (page 29) praises Sen. Sam Brownback's Web site for offering the
    ability to request meetings with the Senator online.

[^75]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=76)
    (page 66) recommends that:

    > Every congressional Web site should prominently display basic
    > contact information, including telephone and fax numbers, the
    > office's physical addresses, office hours, and their e-mail
    > address or a link to their contact form. The emerging standard is
    > to have this information on the bottom of every Web page. The more
    > detailed and helpful the contact information, the better.
    > Surprisingly, only 5.0% of Senate Member sites and 11.4% of House
    > Member sites list their office hours.

[^76]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=76)
    (page 66) recommends that:

    > Every congressional Web site should prominently display basic
    > contact information, including telephone and fax numbers, the
    > office's physical addresses, office hours, and their e-mail
    > address or a link to their contact form. The emerging standard is
    > to have this information on the bottom of every Web page. The more
    > detailed and helpful the contact information, the better.

[^77]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=58)
    (page 50) recommends that Congressional Web sites "**Post clear
    e-mail and correspondence policies.** Clear policies regarding email
    correspondence reassure citizens that the office will process their
    communications efficiently. [*Sen. Jeff Bingaman's (D-NM)* e-mail
    policy](http://bingaman.senate.gov/contact/topics.cfm) tells
    constituents how their correspondence is handled internally within
    the office and sets expectations for when they can expect a response
    from the Senator."

[^78]: [Item 22
    of](http://onlinecao.house.gov/hir-security/publications/Checklists/HISPUB 007.1.56 - Website Developement Checklist.pdf#page=5)
    *The United States House of Representatives Information Security
    Publication -- Web Site Developers Security Checklist* (HISPUB
    007.1.56, April 2007) provides that "Web forms to email a link to a
    friend need to be secured so that they can't be used to relay or
    spoof email."

    Note, that prior to the issuance of the HISPUB, the Congressional
    Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing the
    Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=49)
    (page 39) praised Rep. Dennis Moore's Web site for including an
    "'inform a friend' feature \[that\] allows users to share the site
    with others via e-mail"

[^79]: [Title 17, § 102(a) of the U.S.
    Code](http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=17&section=102)
    provides that copyrightable material includes (but is not limited
    to) the following categories:

    \(1\) literary works;

    \(2\) musical works, including any accompanying words;

    \(3\) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;

    \(4\) pantomimes and choreographic works;

    \(5\) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;

    \(6\) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;

    \(7\) sound recordings; and

    \(8\) architectural works.

[^80]: [Title 17, § 105 of the U.S.
    Code](http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=17&section=105)
    provides that:

    > Copyright protection under this title is not available for any
    > work of the United States Government, but the United States
    > Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights
    > transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.

    House Report 94-1476 (the House Judiciary Committee report for the
    legislation that enacted title 17) goes on to note that:

    > The general prohibition against copyright in section 105 applies
    > to \"any work of the United States Government,\" which is defined
    > in section 101 as \"a work prepared by an officer or employee of
    > the United States Government as part of that person\'s official
    > duties.\" Under this definition a Government official or employee
    > would not be prevented from securing copyright in a work written
    > at that person\'s own volition and outside his or her duties, even
    > though the subject matter involves the Government work or
    > professional field of the official or employee. Although the
    > wording of the definition of \"work of the United States
    > Government\" differs somewhat from that of the definition of
    > \"work made for hire,\" the concepts are intended to be construed
    > in the same way. . . . \[I\]t can be assumed that, where a
    > Government agency commissions a work for its own use merely as an
    > alternative to having one of its own employees prepare the work,
    > the right to secure a private copyright would be withheld.

[^81]: Sample code for doing this can be found at the Indiana University
    Webmaster's [Server-Side Includes
    Tutorial](http://www.indiana.edu/~wmhome/tool_guide_info/ssitutorial.shtml#time).

[^82]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=71)
    (page 61) notes that "Congressional jargon and the legislative
    process can be difficult for most people off the Hill to understand.
    Focus on making the information on your site understandable, rather
    than impressive and official-sounding."

[^83]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=23)
    (page 13) notes that:

    > The Internet is a fast-paced medium, and users expect up-to-date
    > information. No matter how well designed a site is or how much
    > content it has, it's not going to be useful for visitors if the
    > most current information they can find is six months, or even a
    > year old..

    The [January 30, 2006 edition of the Congressional Management
    Foundation's *Congress Online*
    newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/congressonline013006.asp) further
    notes:

    **Outdated links.** A lot of House sites have outdated or incorrect
    links. The most frustrating ones were those linking to bills,
    sponsorships, and co-sponsorships from the 108^th^ Congress (and,
    occasionally, earlier Congresses); dead links to the Clerk's Web
    site; THOMAS search engines that search the wrong Congress; and
    those linking to INS (it changed to USCIS in 2003!). Web sites
    continually change, so it's important to periodically review any
    link that goes off your site, especially at the beginning of each
    Congress so you don't have visitors looking at old information.

    **Outdated content.** We also saw an overwhelming amount of outdated
    content on Member Web sites, such as issue information referring to
    bills from previous Congresses as though they were current
    legislation. This is troublesome because few constituents will know
    that it's the 109^th^ Congress (not the 108^th^, 107^th^, or
    106^th^) or bother to search THOMAS to double-check. Instead, they
    will take the information on their Representative's Web site at face
    value and trust it. Congress is confusing enough to most people
    without outdated Member sites making it worse!

[^84]: The [October 10, 2006, issue of the Congressional Management
    Foundation's *Congress Online*
    Newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/CongressOnline101006.asp) praises
    Rep. Mary Bono's Web site for including information on earthquake
    preparedness information on [earthquake
    preparedness](http://bono.house.gov/HomePage/earthquake.htm). Rep.
    Dan Boren's Web site includes information on [ice storm
    preparedness](http://www.boren.house.gov/ice.shtml).

[^85]: The [March 25, 2003 Dear
    Colleague](http://www.house.gov/webassistance/po_dc_03-25-03.htm)
    from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Administration
    Committee, concerning "Supporting Our Troops Web Sites," provides
    that:

    > In publishing web site links consistent with House rules, official
    > sites should direct constituents to informational materials, and
    > not locations containing only solicitations. By doing so, Members
    > can avoid engaging in solicitations which is prohibited under
    > House rules, including solicitations for money, volunteerism, or
    > other things of value.

[^86]: The ["Wine Links" page of the Congressional Wine
    Caucus](http://www.radanovich.house.gov/wine/links.htm) states that

    > \*\*Please note that the links on the following pages will take
    > you outside of The Congressional Wine Caucus\' official website. 
    > The Congressional Wine Caucus does not control the content of
    > these websites, nor do these links constitute an endorsement by
    > the Congressional Wine Caucus.  They are presented here for
    > informational purposes only.\*\*

    [Rep. Christopher Shays' "Resources"
    page](http://www.house.gov/shays/resources/) provides that:

    > *These links are being provided as a convenience and for
    > informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement
    > or an approval by Congressman Christopher Shays of any of the
    > products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization
    > or individual. Congressman Christopher Shays bears no
    > responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the
    > external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the
    > external site for answers to questions regarding its content.*

[^87]: Sources for this information include:

    Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:
    <http://www.cms.hhs.gov/RegionalOffices/>

    Department of Agriculture:
    <http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app>

    Department of Housing and Urban Development:
    <http://www.hud.gov/localoffices.cfm>

    Department of Veterans Affairs:
    <http://www1.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp?isFlash=1>

    Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
    <http://www.eeoc.gov/offices.html>

    Federal Bureau of Investigation:
    <http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm>

    Internal Revenue Service:
    <http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html>

    Minority Business Development Agency:
    <http://www.mbda.gov/?section_id=1&parent_bucket_id=151&content_id=2264>

    National Archives and Records Administration:
    <http://www.archives.gov/locations/states.html>

    Natural Resources Conservation Service:
    <http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/about/organization/regions.html#state>

    Small Business Administration:
    http://www.sba.gov/localresources/index.html

    Social Security Administration: <http://www.ssa.gov/regions/>

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services:
    https://egov.immigration.gov/crisgwi/go?action=offices

    U.S. Geological Survey -- Water Resources Offices:
    <http://water.usgs.gov/local_offices.html>

[^88]: Web pages devoted to individual congressional districts can be
    found at the Census Bureau's Fast Facts for Congress site at
    <http://fastfacts.census.gov/home/cws/main.html>.

[^89]: [Checkpoint 11.1 \[priority 2\] of
    the](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#tech-latest-w3c-specs) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines* provides that accessible Web sites
    should "\[u\]se W3C technologies when they are available and
    appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported."

    XHTML 1.0 is the successor to HTML 4.01. Section 3.1.1(4) of the W3C
    *XHTML 1.0 Specification* provides that:

    > There must be a DOCTYPE declaration in the document prior to the
    > root element \[i.e., prior to the \<html\> tag\]. The public
    > identifier included in the DOCTYPE declaration must reference one
    > of the three DTDs found in
    > [DTDs](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#dtds%23dtds) using the
    > respective Formal Public Identifier. The system identifier may be
    > changed to reflect local system conventions.
    >
    > \<!DOCTYPE html
    >
    > PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN\"
    >
    > \"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd\"\>
    >
    > \<!DOCTYPE html
    >
    > PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN\"
    >
    > \"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd\"\>
    >
    > \<!DOCTYPE html
    >
    > PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN\"
    >
    > \"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd\"\>

[^90]: [Section 3.1.1 of the W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#strict)
    *XHTML 1.0 Specification* provides that:

    > An XML declaration \[e.g., \<?xml version=\"1.0\"
    > encoding=\"utf-8\"?\>,\] is not required in all XML documents;
    > however XHTML document authors are strongly encouraged to use XML
    > declarations in all their documents. Such a declaration is
    > required when the character encoding of the document is other than
    > the default UTF-8 or UTF-16 and no encoding was determined by a
    > higher-level protocol.

    [Section C.1 of the W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#C_1) *XHTML
    1.0 Specification*, however cautions that:

    > some user agents interpret the XML declaration to mean that the
    > document is unrecognized XML rather than HTML, and therefore may
    > not render the document as expected. For compatibility with these
    > types of legacy browsers, you may want to avoid using processing
    > instructions and XML declarations. Remember, however, that when
    > the XML declaration is not included in a document, the document
    > can only use the default character encodings UTF-8 or UTF-16.

    An XML declaration, therefore, should not be used on House Web pages
    as long as Internet Explorer 6 holds a significant market-share of
    browsers accessing those sites. Preceding the \<!DOCTYPE\>
    declaration with an \<?xml\> declaration (or anything else -- even a
    blank line) in Windows 6 or Opera 7 results in those browsers going
    into quirks mode, even when there is a valid \<!DOCTYPE\>
    declaration. A WSB analysis of www.house.gov usage for April 12 to
    16, 2007, indicates that Internet Explorer 6 accounted for 50.90% of
    the identifiable, non-robot access to the site (Opera usage added
    another 0.19% for a total of almost 52% of
    [www.house.gov](http://www.house.gov/) visitors).

[^91]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=63)
    (page 55) recommends that:

    > Your site should load in 15 seconds or less using a standard
    > Internet connection. Bear in mind that**,** despite the growing
    > availability of broadband connections, the majority of wired
    > households in America still use a 56kbps or slower modem to
    > connect to the Internet.

    [J.D. Power and Associates reported on September 20,
    2006](http://www.jdpower.com/jdpcc/global/content/include/index.asp),
    that 44% of residential ISP customers subscribe to a dial-up
    service.

[^92]: The July 26, 2006 Advisory Memorandum of the House Committee on
    Standards of Official Conduct ([Use of Campaign Funds and
    Campaign-Founded Resources for Official House
    Purposes](http://www.house.gov/ethics/m_campaign_funds_use_7_06.htm))
    provides that Congressional office Web sites are not to be paid for
    with campaign funds. Offices with questions about the extent of that
    prohibition should be urged to contact the Committee for either
    informal advice or for a formal written opinion.

[^93]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#content)
    (Web Sites, Content, §§ 1-2), issued by the House Administration
    Committee, provides that:

    > The content of a Member's Web site:
    >
    > 1\. May not include personal, political, or campaign information.
    >
    > 2\. May not be directly linked or refer to Web sites created or
    > operated by a campaign or any campaign related entity including
    > political parties and campaign committees.

    The [*Committee's Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/services/committeehandbook.htm#content)
    (Web Site Regulations, Content, §§ a-b). issued by the House
    Administration Committee, provides that:

    > The content of a committee Web site may not:
    >
    > a\. Include personal, political, or campaign information.
    >
    > b\. Be directly linked or refer to Web sites created or operated
    > by campaign or any campaign related entity, including political
    > parties and campaign committees.

[^94]: Use of proprietary tags that are not W3C XHTML compliant also
    makes a Web page non-compliant with [Checkpoint 11.1 \[priority 2\]
    of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-latest-w3c-specs)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[u\]se W3C technologies when they are
    available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions
    when supported."

    For an attempt at using the \<object\> tag so that works well across
    browsers, see Elizabeth Castro's "[Bye Bye
    Embed](http://alistapart.com/articles/byebyeembed), " A List Apart
    (July 11, 2006).

[^95]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=31)
    (page 23) praises Rep. John Boozman's Web site for including "Notice
    of *upcoming events* in Washington, DC, and the district", and the
    Web site of Rep. Earl Blumenauer for including "*upcoming events*".

[^96]: WIDA can be used for this in the way that Rep. Cynthia McKinney's
    Web site used WIDA to provide [highlights of her monthly
    schedule](http://web.archive.org/web/20060421022800/http:/www.house.gov/mckinney/monthly_calendar.shtml).

[^97]: The favicon is the image that will appear on some Web browsers in
    the URL status box (next to the URL) and in some browsers with the
    favorites (or bookmark) list, next to the name of each saved Web
    file link.

[^98]: The URL for the default House favicon (the Great Seal of the
    United States) is:

    <http://www.house.gov/favicon.ico>

[^99]: Traditionally, favicons are named "favicon.ico" and are located
    in the root directory. This is not a requirement, however, as long
    as the favicon has a .ico extension and each page of the Web site
    has a \<link rel=\"SHORTCUT ICON\" /\> tag with an "href"
    attribute".

[^100]: Jakob Nielsen's *Designing Web Usability*, 2000 (page 249),
    recommends:

    > make sure all URLs live forever and continue to point to relevant
    > pages. Do not move pages around; instead keep them at the same
    > URL. It is very annoying for authors of other sites when their
    > links either stop working or turn into pointers to something
    > different because the original pages has been moved and replaced
    > with something new.

[^101]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    (page 46) recommends that "\[v\]isitors to Member sites should also
    be able to initiate basic service requests -- for flags, tours,
    photos, and documents, for example . . . "

[^102]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for
    > the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    Instructions for implementing the exit message can be found at

    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^103]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=27)
    (page 17) indicates that providing Floor statements or speeches is
    one of the elements of a well-formed congressional Web site. At the
    time the report was compiled, 43.2% of all House Member, committee,
    and leadership Web sites included this information.

[^104]: Instructions for linking to specific documents in the
    Congressional Record are available at
    <http://www.congress.gov/help/THOMAS_links/cr.html>.

[^105]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 15.2.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#h-15.2.2)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the \<font\> tag as a
    deprecated element).

[^106]: In particular, this best practice is not intended to apply to
    style sheets where the value of the "media" property is "print". Use
    of points, picas, centimeters, or inches in that type of style sheet
    is appropriate.

[^107]: [Checkpoint 3.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-relative-units) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se relative rather than absolute units in markup
    language attribute values and style sheet property values.
    \[Priority 2\]

    > For example, in CSS, use \'em\' or percentage lengths rather than
    > \'pt\' or \'cm\', which are absolute units. If absolute units are
    > used, validate that the rendered content is usable (refer to the
    > [section on
    > validation](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#validation))."

[^108]: These may be set by the font-size, color, and font-family
    properties of style sheets.

[^109]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 15.2.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#edef-BASEFONT)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the \<basefont\> tag as a
    deprecated element).

[^110]: For information on the history of the Georgia and Verdana type
    faces, see Daniel Will-Harris' [*Georgia & Verdana Typefaces
    designed for the screen
    (finally)*](http://www.will-harris.com/verdana-georgia.htm).

[^111]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(n))
    provide that "When electronic forms are designed to be completed
    on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to
    access the information, field elements, and functionality required
    for completion and submission of the form, including all directions
    and cues."

[^112]: Consider #FFFFCC.

[^113]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(c))
    provide that "Web pages shall be designed so that all information
    conveyed with color is also available without color, for example
    from context or markup." An identical standard is set out in
    [Checkpoint 2.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-color-convey) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*.

[^114]: Jakob Nielsen, in "[Guidelines for Visualizing
    Links](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html)" (May 10, 2004)
    recommends:

    > Don\'t underline any text that\'s not a link, even if your links
    > aren\'t underlined. **Reserve underlining for links**. Because
    > underlines provide a strong perceived affordance of clickability,
    > users will be confused and disappointed if underlined text
    > doesn\'t have an actual affordance to match this perception.

[^115]: The National Information Library Service of Australia's
    "[Accessible Forms &
    Tables](http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/docs/services/Tables_and_Forms.ppt#8)"
    provides that accessible forms should:

    > Provide explanatory information *before* it is used:\
    > "♦ indicates required fields".

[^116]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(n))
    provide that "When electronic forms are designed to be completed
    on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to
    access the information, field elements, and functionality required
    for completion and submission of the form, including all directions
    and cues."

[^117]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(n))
    provide that "When electronic forms are designed to be completed
    on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to
    access the information, field elements, and functionality required
    for completion and submission of the form, including all directions
    and cues."

    [Checkpoint 12.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-associate-labels)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should:

    > Associate labels explicitly with their controls. \[Priority 2\]
    >
    > For example, in HTML use LABEL and its \"for\" attribute.

    Note that it is **not** necessary to have the \<label\> tag
    immediately before the \<input\>, \<select\>, or \<textarea\> tag.
    [Checkpoint 10.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-unassociated-labels)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that:

    > [*[Until user
    > agents]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#until-user-agents)
    > support explicit associations between labels and form controls,
    > for all form controls with implicitly associated labels, ensure
    > that the label is properly positioned. \[Priority 2\]
    >
    > The label must immediately precede its control on the same line
    > (allowing more than one control/label per line) or be in the line
    > preceding the control (with only one label and one control per
    > line).

    The Ohio State University Web Accessibility Center's "[Test of
    Methods for Hidden Label Information in
    Forms](http://www.wac.ohio-state.edu/tutorials/forms/hiding-labels.htm)"
    indicates that Jaws 5.0, Window-Eyes 5.0, and Home Page Reader 3.021
    are all able to make explicit associations between labels and form
    controls. Nevertheless, Paul Bohman, Director of Products and
    Services of WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) at Utah State
    University
    [recommends](http://www.webaim.org/discussion/mail_message.php?id=6682)
    that \<label\> tags immediately preceed the \<input\>, \<select\>,
    or \<textarea\> tags because even though

    > the explicit association of the label with the form control works
    > very well when the user \*tabs through\* the form, even when the
    > label and form element are in completely different parts of the
    > page; but such a separation is still a problem if the user just
    > \*listens to the page straight through\* without interacting with
    > the form (i.e. tabbing between form elements).

[^118]: In "[Wrapping Form
    Labels](http://www.wac.ohio-state.edu/tutorials/forms/examples/wrap-labels.htm),"
    the Web Accessibility Center of Ohio State University suggests this
    technique in order to optimize accessibility by Jaws users.

[^119]: For a further discussion of these (and other) techniques, see
    Gez Lemon's "[Invisible Form
    Prompts](http://juicystudio.com/article/invisible-form-prompts.php),"
    Juicy Studio, September 18, 2004.

[^120]: [Checkpoint 12.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-group-information)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should:

    > Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups
    > where natural and appropriate. \[Priority 2\]
    >
    > For example, in HTML, use OPTGROUP to group OPTION elements inside
    > a SELECT . . .

    The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36
    C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(n))
    provide that "When electronic forms are designed to be completed
    on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to
    access the information, field elements, and functionality required
    for completion and submission of the form, including all directions
    and cues."

[^121]: [Checkpoint 4.2](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#tech-expand-abbr)
    \[priority 3\] of the W3C *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*
    provides that accessible Web sites need to "\[s\]pecify the
    expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a document where it
    first occurs."

[^122]: Jakob Nielsen's "[Does User Annoyance
    Matter?](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/annoyances.html)" (March 26,
    2007) notes that:

    > Making users suffer a drop-down menu to enter state abbreviations
    > is one of many small annoyances that add up to a less efficient,
    > less pleasant user experience. It's worth fixing as many of these
    > usability irritants as you can. . . . .
    >
    > Sites offer drop-downs for state abbreviations under the theory
    > that doing so prevents input errors. But that\'s not true: menus
    > are more error prone than typing because the **mouse scroll
    > wheel** often makes users inadvertently change the state field\'s
    > content after they\'ve moved their gaze elsewhere on the screen.
    > In contrast, everybody knows how to type their own state\'s two
    > letters, and it\'s always faster to enter this information through
    > the keyboard than the mouse.

[^123]: [Checkpoint 6.3 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-scripts) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an accessible Web site
    should:

    > Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other
    > programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is
    > not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative
    > accessible page. . . .
    >
    > For example, ensure that links that trigger scripts work when
    > scripts are turned off or not supported (e.g., do not use
    > \"javascript:\" as the link target). If it is not possible to make
    > the page usable without scripts, provide a text equivalent with
    > the NOSCRIPT element, or use a server-side script instead of a
    > client-side script, or provide an alternative accessible page as
    > per [checkpoint
    > 11.4](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#tech-alt-pages%23tech-alt-pages).
    > [Refer also to guideline
    > 1](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#gl-provide-equivalents%23gl-provide-equivalents).

    The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36
    C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(*l*))
    also provide that "When pages utilize scripting languages to display
    content, or to create interface elements, the information provided
    by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be
    read by assistive technology."

[^124]: [Checkpoint 10.4 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-place-holders) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should, "[*[\[u\]ntil user
    agents]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#until-user-agents)
    handle empty controls correctly, include default, place-holding
    characters in edit boxes and text areas." Donna Smillie (Web
    Accessibility Consultant for the Royal National Institute for the
    Blind (UK)), however,
    [indicates](http://www.integriert-studieren.jku.at/eac-tf3/archiv/msg00073.html)
    that she is "Not aware of any user agents currently in use which
    have difficulty in handling empty form controls correctly. If
    anything, problems now tend to be presented for some users when
    default values are provided in edit boxes and text areas" (November
    29, 2003). Jim Hatcher, in *Constructing Accessible Web Sites*
    (2002, p. 141) also notes that:

    > It used to be, when screen readers literally "read the screen",
    > that they had difficulty detecting an input field that was blank.
    > Now that screen readers use **Microsoft Active Accessibility
    > (MSAA)** or the **Document Object Model (DOM)** of the browser,
    > they do not have that problem anymore. The usefulness of
    > Checkpoint 10.4 has passed.

    For a contrasting opinion of whether Checkpoint 10.4 is no longer
    applicable, see "[Place Holding Text in Form
    Inputs](http://blackwidows.co.uk/blog/?p=34)" Spider Trax, July 20,
    2005.

[^125]: [Section 12.2.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#anchors-with-id)
    *HTML 4.01 Specifications* provides that "The
    [[id]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#adef-id)
    and
    [[name]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-name-A)
    attributes share the same name space. . . . When both attributes are
    used on a single element, their values must be identical."

    [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*, however, provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 4.10 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.10) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    designates the "name" attribute of the \<form\> tag as a deprecated
    attribute).

[^126]: [Section 17.2.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#h-17.2.1) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* provides that for every group of radio buttons,
    there should be at least one \<input type=\"radio\"\> tag with a
    "checked" attribute. [Section 4.5 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.5) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    provides that all attributes must be given values (e.g.,
    checked=\"checked\" not just: checked).

[^127]: [Section 17.6.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#h-17.6.1) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* provides that for every \<select\> tag, there
    should be at least one \<option\> tag with a "selected" attribute.
    [Section 4.5 of the W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.5) *XHTML
    1.0 Specification* provides that all attributes must be given values
    (e.g., selected=\"selected\" not just: selected).

[^128]: For further material on use of iframes, see the [WSB Iframes
    Blog](http://intranet.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,xd01_wsbblog,blog/IFRAME,999,All,No Category found,TEMPLATE=blog_bycat.shtml).

[^129]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for
    > the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    Instructions for implementing the exit message can be found at

    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^130]: [Section 12.2.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#anchors-with-id)
    *HTML 4.01 Specifications* provides that "The
    [[id]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#adef-id)
    and
    [[name]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-name-A)
    attributes share the same name space. . . . When both attributes are
    used on a single element, their values must be identical."

    [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*, however, provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 4.10 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.10) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    designates the "name" attribute of the \<frame\> and \<iframe\> tags
    as a deprecated attribute).

[^131]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(i))
    provide that "Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates
    frame identification and navigation."

    [Checkpoint 12.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-frame-titles) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[t\]itle each frame to facilitate frame
    identification and navigation." [Section 10 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#frames) *HTML
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides
    that \<frame\>, \<frameset\>, and \<iframe\> tags are all
    implementations of frames.

[^132]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=93)
    (page 83) recommends that Congressional Web sites include FAQs about
    Congress and FAQs regarding constituent casework. The report ([pages
    30 to 38 and
    56](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=40))
    praises the casework FAQs of Reps. Brian Baird, Xavier Becerra,
    Marion Berry, John Larson, John Linder, and Ed Royce; and the
    Congressional FAQ of Rep. Mike Honda. The report ([page
    60](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=70))
    also praises the Budget Committee (Democratic Office) [budget
    FAQ](http://www.house.gov/budget_democrats/budget_facts/Faq_june07.pdf).

[^133]: See also, [Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney's Web
    site](http://maloney.house.gov/).

[^134]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=32)
    (page 24) notes that "Too many congressional Web sites are generic
    --- they fail to reflect the personality of the Member and the
    distinctiveness of the district or state."

[^135]: <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm>.

[^136]: Concerning coding of foreign language material (and links to
    foreign language material), see "Language of Text", below.

[^137]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*
    (p. 46) notes that "Committees and leadership offices with natural
    constituencies can also provide service information online. The
    *House Committee on Veterans' Affairs* Web site provides information
    on veterans' benefits for its key audience."

[^138]: Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just
    linking to the generic Federal Grants page. Using \<include\> or
    \<iframe\> retains the consistent look and feel of the rest of the
    office's Web site. A consistent look and feel assists with
    compliance with [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^139]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(a))
    provide that "A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be
    provided (e.g., via \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content)."

    [Checkpoint 1.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-text-equivalent) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should:

    > Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via
    > \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content). *This includes*:
    > images, graphical representations of text (including symbols),
    > image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and
    > programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as
    > list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or
    > without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks
    > of video, and video. . . .
    >
    > For example, in HTML:

    Use \"alt\" for the IMG, INPUT, and APPLET elements, or provide a
    text equivalent in the content of the OBJECT and APPLET elements.

    For complex content (e.g., a chart) where the \"alt\" text does not
    provide a complete text equivalent, provide an additional
    description using, for example, \"longdesc\" with IMG or FRAME, a
    link inside an OBJECT element, or a [description
    link](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#d-link%23d-link).

    For image maps, either use the \"alt\" attribute with AREA, or use
    the MAP element with A elements (and other text) as content.

    [Section 13.8 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/objects.html#adef-alt)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* provides that \<img\> tags and \<area\>
    tags must have "alt" attributes.

[^140]: Various standards have been suggested for how long an "alt"
    attribute should be before a "longdesc" attribute should also be
    used. The 100 to 125 character standard was recommended by Jon
    Brundage of
    [TecAccess](http://www.tecaccess.net/content/aboutus.shtml#company).

    Joe Clark's *[[Building Accessible
    Websites]{.underline}](http://joeclark.org/book/)* (2003), page 68,
    suggests using the "longdesc" attrbiute when the value of the "alt"
    attrbiute exceeds 1,024 characaters.

    [Standard 1.8 of the New York State Government's Mandatory
    Technology Standard
    S04-001](http://www.oft.state.ny.us/policy/s04-001/files/Web_Access_Standards_Final.pdf#page=4)
    ("Accessibility of State Agency Web-based Intranet and Internet
    Information and Applications," October 25, 2006) provides that the
    "longdesc" attribute should be used when the value of the "alt"
    attribute exceeds 150 characters.

    [Statewide Policy P130 Rev. 1.0 (Attachment A) from the Arizona
    Information Technology
    Agency](http://gita.state.az.us/policies_standards/html/p130_web_site_accessibility_policy.htm)
    (September 15, 2006) suggests using the "longdesc" attribute when
    the value of the "alt" attribute exceeds 12 words.

    The default on [[HiSoft's Cynthia
    Says]{.underline}](http://www.contentquality.com/About Reports/Alt Quality.htm)
    accessibility validating software to recommend use of the "longdesc"
    attribute is when the value of the "alt" attribute exceeds 81
    characters.

[^141]: Roger Hudson's "[Text Alternatives for
    Images](http://www.usability.com.au/resources/image-text.cfm)"
    (September 2003) recommends that Web designers **"**Avoid
    unnecessary terms. Don\'t use words like \'link\' or \'click here\'
    for images that are links. Screen readers will indicate if something
    is a link or not."

[^142]: Roger Hudson's "[Text Alternatives for
    Images](http://www.usability.com.au/resources/image-text.cfm)"
    (September 2003) recommends that Web designers not **"**use the
    image file name as the alt. Alternative text like \"02_cc_68.gif\",
    or even \"building.jpg\" are neither descriptive nor helpful."

[^143]:
    ###########  [**Section 7 of the W3C**](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CSS-TECHS/#text-not-images) ***CSS Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*** provides that: {#section-7-of-the-w3c-css-techniques-for-web-content-accessibility-guidelines-1.0-provides-that .unnumbered}

    > Content developers should use style sheets to style text rather
    > than representing text in images. Using text instead of images
    > means that the information will be available to a greater number
    > of users (with speech synthesizers, braille displays, graphical
    > displays, etc.). Using style sheets will also allow users to
    > override author styles and change colors or fonts sizes more
    > easily.
    >
    > If it is necessary to use a bitmap \[e.g., a .gif file\] to create
    > a text effect (special font, transformation, shadows, etc.) the
    > bitmap must be accessible (see the sections on [text
    > equivalents](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#def-text-equivalent)
    > and [alternative
    > pages](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#alt-page-note)).

[^144]: [Checkpoint 14.2 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-icons) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web sites
    should "\[s\]upplement text with graphic or auditory presentations
    where they will facilitate comprehension of the page."

[^145]: [Section 13.7.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#adef-width-IMG)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* provides that:

    > The height and width attributes give user agents an idea of the
    > size of an image or object so that they may reserve space for it
    > and continue rendering the document while waiting for the image
    > data.

[^146]: Use the "border-width" style sheets property together with the
    "border-style" property.

[^147]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 13.7.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#h-13.7.3) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "border" attribute of the \<img\>
    tag as a deprecated attribute).

[^148]: The "padding-left," "padding-right," "padding-bottom," and
    "padding-top" style sheets properties provide the functionality
    previously provided by the "hspace" and "vspace" attributes.

    [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 13.7.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#h-13.7.2) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "hspace" and "vspace" attributes
    as deprecated attributes).

[^149]: [Section 12.2.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#anchors-with-id)
    *HTML 4.01 Specifications* provides that "The
    [[id]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#adef-id)
    and
    [[name]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-name-A)
    attributes share the same name space. . . . When both attributes are
    used on a single element, their values must be identical."

    [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*, however, provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 4.10 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.10) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    designates the "name" attribute of the \<img\> tag as a deprecated
    attribute).

[^150]: The July 26, 2006 Advisory Memorandum of the House Committee on
    Standards of Official Conduct ([Use of Campaign Funds and
    Campaign-Founded Resources for Official House
    Purposes](http://www.house.gov/ethics/m_campaign_funds_use_7_06.htm))
    provides that Congressional office Web sites are not to be paid for
    with campaign funds. Offices with questions about the extent of that
    prohibition should be urged to contact the Committee for either
    informal advice or for a formal written opinion.

[^151]: The House Ethics Committee's [*Laws, Rules and Standards of
    Conduct
    on*](http://www.house.gov/ethics/Campaign_booklet.htm#page42)
    *Campaign Activity* (pp. 47-48) provides that:

    > **Letters, Mailings and Other Communications that Are Not
    > Frankable in Content.** At times Members wish to send letters or
    > mailings, or make other communications, that are not frankable in
    > content under the House Franking Regulations, and hence may not be
    > created or sent using official House resources (see
    > [[above]{.underline}](http://www.house.gov/ethics/Campaign_booklet.htm)).
    > Examples of such communications include messages to constituents
    > that are not official in nature, such as birthday greetings,
    > holiday greetings, and letters of condolence. In addition, while
    > letters of congratulations for a public distinction are frankable,
    > other letters of congratulation, such as for years of service at a
    > business, or retirement, are not frankable. Under House Rules, a
    > Member **may** use campaign funds and resources to create and send
    > cards, letters and certificates of these types to his or her
    > constituents.
    >
    > However, such materials may **not** be produced in or sent from
    > any House office, and may **not** be produced or sent using any
    > other House resource, including the office equipment or staff
    > while on official time.
    >
    > ***Example 3.*** Congressman A wishes to create a \"Congressman A
    > Award of Merit\" certificate that he will present to constituents
    > who perform meritorious acts or services. The certificates may be
    > printed with campaign funds, but their content must comply with
    > the same restrictions that apply to campaign letterhead (see
    > [[below]{.underline}](http://www.house.gov/ethics/Campaign_booklet.htm)).
    > In addition, official House resources may not be used to promote
    > the certificates, or in connection with their presentation.

    The House Franking Commission's [*Franking
    Manual*](http://cha.house.gov/docs/franking.pdf#page=21), (pp.
    12-13), further defines an event of "public distinction":

    > **8. Congratulations**
    >
    > Section 3210(a)(3)(f) \[of title 39 of the U.S. Code\] authorizes
    > the franking of "mail matter expressing congratulations to a
    > person who has achieved some public distinction."
    >
    > The Commission emphasizes that these messages of congratulations
    > are limited to matters of public distinction as opposed to matters
    > of personal achievement. The following examples are illustrative,
    > and not all-inclusive:
    >
    > *Examples of public*
    >
    > *distinction:*
    >
    > Election or appointment Publicly notable awards and honors
    >
    > to public office Eagle Scout/Gold Star
    >
    > U.S. Citizenship Heroism
    >
    > High School Graduation Appointment to a U.S. military academy
    >
    > In the above examples, there is a public purpose to be served in
    > establishing communication with newly elected or appointed public
    > officials on a Federal, state or local level; with new citizens
    > and graduates; and with honorees for outstanding public service to
    > promote the public good.
    >
    > Letters consisting solely of birthday, wedding, anniversary,
    > retirement or condolence messages are not frankable.
    >
    > However, legislative correspondence, which otherwise is frankable,
    > may contain an incidental statement of condolence or of
    > congratulations for personal achievement. For example, a response
    > to a constituent's request for assistance in obtaining survivor
    > annuity benefits may contain an incidental statement of
    > condolence. Similarly, a letter enclosing Federal publications may
    > contain a brief congratulatory message for personal achievement,
    > provided the substance of the letter focuses on the content of the
    > publication or other officially related subject matter rather than
    > on the congratulatory remark.

    Note that neither *Campaign Activity* nor the *Franking Manual*
    specifically address whether House Web sites can invite constituents
    to request Member recognitions of birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
    What the *Campaign Booklet* and the *Franking Manual* do is prohibit
    (or at least restrict) the use of official funds, staff time, or
    other House resources to prepare and mail such recognitions.

[^152]: The Congressional Management Foundation's January 2002 report
    [*Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web
    Sites*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2002.pdf#page=42)
    (p. 36) praises [Rep. Mike Pence's Web
    site](http://mikepence.house.gov/ConstituentServices/presidentialgreetings.htm)
    for including information on Presidential greetings. See also,
    ["Presidential Greetings" page of the late Rep. Juanita
    Millender-McDonald](http://web.archive.org/web/20060303180652/www.house.gov/millender-mcdonald/greetings.htm).

[^153]: [Checkpoint 3.5 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-logical-headings)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se header elements to convey
    document structure and use them according to specification."

    [Section 1.2.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#document-headers) *HTML
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides
    that "Since some users skim through a document by navigating its
    headings, it is important to use them appropriately to convey
    document structure. Users should order heading elements properly.
    For example, in HTML, H2 elements should follow H1 elements, H3
    elements should follow H2 elements, etc. Content developers should
    not \"skip\" levels (e.g., H1 directly to H3). Do not use headings
    to create font effects; use [style sheets to change font
    styles](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CSS-TECHS/#style-fonts) for
    example."

    In the Jaws screen reader, Insert+F6 generates a list of headers.

[^154]: [Checkpoint 13.8 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-front-loading) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[p\]lace distinguishing information at the beginning
    of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc."

    Jakob Nielsen's article "[F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web
    Content](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html)" (April
    17, 2006), based on a study of the eye movements of 232 Web site
    users, recommends that Web designers:

    > **Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with
    > information-carrying words** that users will notice when scanning
    > down the left side of your content . . . . They\'ll read the third
    > word on a line much less often than the first two words.

    Though Nielsen's study was based on sighted users, the technique he
    suggests is useful not only for sighted individuals, but also for
    blind individuals -- since an often-used technique in Jaws and
    Window-Eyes is to have the browser skip from heading to heading or
    from list to list.

[^155]: Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger in their *Prioritizing Web
    Usability*, 2006 (page 277) recommend that headings "be short (60
    characters maximum) and meaningful."

[^156]: Usability testing conducted by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger
    and reported in their *Prioritizing Web Usability*, 2006 (page 32),
    indicates that only 23% of first-time visitors of homepages bother
    to scroll down. Second-time (and subsequent) visitors only scroll
    down 16% to 14% of the time.

[^157]: The [October 10, 2006, issue of the Congressional Management
    Foundation's *Congress Online*
    Newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/CongressOnline101006.asp) suggests
    that homepages:

    **Promote a Constituent Service.** The best real estate on [**Sen.
    Jeff Bingaman's (D-NM)**](http://bingaman.senate.gov/) home page is
    devoted to the constituent services provided by the office, such as
    casework and help for small businesses. You could also rotate the
    various services to coincide with important dates (flags for
    Veterans Day, student loan assistance before colleges and
    universities begin a new year) or focus on one specific area, like
    [**Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA)**](http://www.house.gov/capuano/) is
    with his immigration casework. Though not "traditional" constituent
    services, [**Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA)**](http://bono.house.gov/) has
    information on earthquake preparedness and links to pandemic flu
    resources on her home page, while [**Rep. Jim Moran
    (D-VA)**](http://moran.house.gov/) links to CRS reports on hot
    topics, all of which are of interest to constituents.

    **Highlight a Legislative Priority.** One of [**Rep. John Peterson's
    (R-PA)**](http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/) top priorities in
    Congress is [revitalizing rural
    communities](http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/economy.html), such
    as those in his district, through economic development and job
    creation. This topic is front and center on his home page, giving
    constituents faster access (one less click) to his ideas for
    strengthening their communities and links to several dozen resources
    on the topic. On the other side of the Hill, [**Sen. Tom Harkin's
    (D-IA)**](http://harkin.senate.gov/) home page is currently
    highlighting his efforts to improve the mental health and wellbeing
    of veterans.

    **Focus on a Local Issue or Current Event.** October may be slow for
    legislative work, but there are always current events and local
    activities of interest to your constituents. In his special features
    section on his home page, [**Rep. Richard Baker
    (R-LA)**](http://baker.house.gov/) spotlights Louisiana's 529
    College Savings Program and LSU's ROTC program. He also highlights
    the CBS Early Show's stop in Baton Rouge as well as ongoing
    Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. [**Rep. Carolyn Maloney
    (D-NY)**](http://maloney.house.gov/) and [**Sen. John Ensign
    (R-NV)**](http://ensign.senate.gov/) also showcase local issues on
    their home pages.

[^158]: The Congressional Management Foundation's 1999 report *Building
    Web Sites Constituents Will Use* (page 16) recommends against
    welcome messages or cover pages. The CMF report notes that:

    > Both of these practices are frustrating because they prevent
    > visitors from getting to useful information as quickly as
    > possible. They require visitors to click or scroll in order to
    > access the information they came to get, and neither of them
    > serves much purpose except to take up valuable space. "Welcome to
    > my Web site. I hope you find what you are looking for," is a waste
    > of visitors' time.

    Rep. Mike Honda has addressed this issue by not including his
    welcome message on his homepage, but instead providing a link to the
    [message](http://www.honda.house.gov/welcomemessage.shtml) -- which
    is available in text (in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese) and in
    video (at three different resolutions).

    Based on extensive usability testing, Jakob Nielsen and Hoa
    Loranger, in *Prioritizing Web Usability*, 2006 (p. 30) recommend
    that homepage welcome messages not exceed 10 to 20 words.

[^159]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 2), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > Member\'s Web sites must be located in the HOUSE.GOV host-domain
    > and may be maintained by either House Information Resources (HIR),
    > the Member\'s congressional office, or a private vendor.

    The [*Committees' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=37#websitegeneral)
    (Web Site Regulations, General, § 3), issued by the House
    Administration Committee, provides that:

    > Web sites must be located in the HOUSE.GOV host-domain and may be
    > maintained either by House Information Resources (HIR), the
    > committee office, or a private vendor.

[^160]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 15.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#h-15.3) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "noshade" attribute of the \<hr\>
    tag as a deprecated attribute).

    Using the "border:0" style sheet property along with the
    "background-color" style sheets property provides the same result in
    Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.1, and FireFox 1.0.7 as using the
    "noshade" attribute.

[^161]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 15.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#h-15.3) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "size" attribute of the \<hr\>
    tag as a deprecated attribute).

[^162]: [Section 9.2.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/text.html#edef-CODE) *HTML
    4.01 Specification*, provides that the \<code\> tag "Designates a
    fragment of computer code."

[^163]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." (The W3C [*HTML 3.2
    Specification*](http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32#body) designates the
    \<listing\>, \<plaintext\>, and \<xmp\> tags as deprecated
    elements).

    Unlike the \<listing\>, \<plaintext\>, and \<xmp\> tags, the
    \<code\> tag and the \<pre\> tag will not display paired angle
    brackets (i.e., "\<" and "\>") in their raw state. To display either
    of those characters within a \<pre\> requires that they first be
    translated into their entity representations (e.g., &lt; or &gt;).

    The default versions of the \<code\> and \<pre\> tags differ in most
    browser implementations in that \<code\> automatically word wraps,
    while \<pre\> does not.

[^164]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 7.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.3) *HTML 4.01
    Specification* designates the "version" attribute of the \<html\>
    tag as a deprecated attribute)..

[^165]: [Section 3.1.1(3) of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#strict) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    (2^nd^ edition) provides that:

    > The root element of the document must contain an xmlns declaration
    > for the XHTML namespace
    > \[[XMLNS](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#ref-xmlns%23ref-xmlns)\].
    > The namespace for XHTML is defined to be
    > http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml. An example root element might look
    > like:
    >
    > \<html xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\" xml:lang=\"en\"
    > lang=\"en\"\>

[^166]: [Checkpoint 3.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-grammar)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "validate to published formal grammars."

[^167]: Section 1 of the W3C [*Core Techniques for Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines
    1.0*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#structure) provides
    that:

    > When designing a document or series of documents, content
    > developers should strive first to identify the desired structure
    > for their documents before thinking about how the documents will
    > be presented to the user. Distinguishing the structure of a
    > document from how the content is presented offers a number of
    > advantages, including improved accessibility, manageability, and
    > portability.

    Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web Standards* (2^nd^ edition,
    \[2006\]), p.180, recommends that

    > Semantic or meta-structural names (names that explain the function
    > performed by elements contained within) are best. You would feel
    > pretty silly having labeled a part of your site "orangebox" when
    > the client decides to go with blue. You would feel sillier still
    > revising your style sheets under a deadline six months from now
    > and trying desperately to remember whether "Gladys" was a
    > navigational area, a sidebar, a search form, or what.

[^168]: [Section 12.2.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#anchors-with-id)
    *HTML 4.01 Specifications* provides that "The
    [[id]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#adef-id)
    and
    [[name]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-name-A)
    attributes share the same name space. . . . When both attributes are
    used on a single element, their values must be identical."

    [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*, however, provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 4.10 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.10) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    designates the "name" attribute of the \<map\> tag as a deprecated
    attribute).

[^169]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(f))
    provide that "Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of
    server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined
    with an available geometric shape." Likewise, [Checkpoint 9.1
    \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-client-side-maps)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "Provide client-side image maps instead of
    server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined
    with an available geometric shape."

    Jim Thatcher in *Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory
    Compliance* (2006, pp.

    204 to 205) indicates that there are no longer any geometric shapes
    can be defined in a server-side image map that cannot also be
    defined in a client-side image map and therefore "there is no case
    where a server-side map is permitted under the Section 508 provision
    §1194.22(f) or WCAG Checkpoint 9.1."

[^170]: [Section 4.5 of the W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.5)
    *XHTML 1.0 Specification* provides that all attributes must be given
    values (e.g., ismap=\"ismap\" not just: ismap).

[^171]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(e))
    provide that "Redundant text links shall be provided for each active
    region of a server-side image map." Likewise, [checkpoint 1.2
    \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-redundant-server-links)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[p\]rovide redundant text links for each active
    region of a server-side image map."

[^172]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(a))
    provide that "A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be
    provided (e.g., via \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content)."

    [Checkpoint 1.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-text-equivalent) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should:

    > Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via
    > \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content). *This includes*:
    > images, graphical representations of text (including symbols),
    > image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and
    > programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as
    > list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or
    > without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks
    > of video, and video. . . .
    >
    > For example, in HTML: . . .

    For image maps, either use the \"alt\" attribute with AREA, or use
    the MAP element with A elements (and other text) as content.

[^173]: For the disposition of other functions formerly performed by
    INS, see <http://149.101.23.2/graphics/othergov/roadmap.htm>.

[^174]: The [January 30, 2006 edition of the Congressional Management
    Foundation's *Congress Online*
    newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/congressonline013006.asp) notes
    that "A lot of House sites have outdated or incorrect links. The
    most frustrating ones \[included\] . . . those linking to INS (it
    changed to USCIS in 2003!). Web sites continually change, so it's
    important to periodically review any link that goes off your site,
    especially at the beginning of each Congress so you don't have
    visitors looking at old information."

    A May 10 to June 9, 2006 review of House Web sites by the Web
    Systems Branch of House Information Resources (now CAO-Web Solutions
    Branch) indicated that 21% of House Member Web sites contained at
    least one reference to the INS as if the agency was still
    operational.

[^175]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    (page 46) provides that "Visitors to Member sites should also be
    able . . . to solicit assistance with . . . internship processes.
    Committees and leadership offices with natural constituencies can
    also provide service information online."

[^176]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=53)
    (page 4*5*) notes that, "Most citizens think of legislation in terms
    of broad issues, rather than specific bills. They especially want to
    understand the issues in Congress that affect them directly."

[^177]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=12)
    (page 4) notes that, "A recurring theme of our focus groups can be
    summed up in one word: accountability. Participants stated that
    Member Web sites that conveyed a sense of accountability and
    transparency deserved greater trust than those who seemed to be
    'hiding something.' Features that were deemed to inspire trust
    included: voting records, voting rationales, schedules, and unbiased
    issue information."

    The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=56)
    [*2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=70)
    (page 60) notes that:

    > Congressional Web sites can demonstrate accountability by
    > providing voting records, rationales for key votes, and schedules
    > -- and they can do so without overburdening their staffs.
    > Constituents are probably not interested in knowing about every
    > meeting that takes place or every vote taken. Stick to the most
    > relevant and current information: meetings with constituents,
    > public Member appearances in the district or state, committee
    > hearings, the House and Senate floor schedule.

[^178]: <http://clerk.house.gov/legislative/legvotes.html>

[^179]: The [January 30, 2006 edition of the Congressional Management
    Foundation's *Congress Online*
    newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/congressonline013006.asp) cautions
    that "Web sites continually change, so it's important to
    periodically review any link that goes off your site, especially at
    the beginning of each Congress so you don't have visitors looking at
    old information."

[^180]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=39),
    (p. 31) praises Sen. Debbie Stabenow's Web site for "providing a
    thorough, one-stop shop for information about \[prescription drug
    legislation\]". The CMF report notes that Sen. Stabenow's Web site
    "encourages visitors to share their experiences with her. She then
    relates these stories to her colleagues on the Senate floor. Senator
    Stabenow is harnessing the power of the Web".

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=69)
    (pages 59 to 60) recommends that Congressional Web sites:

    **Include information on a variety of issues:** Constituents have a
    wide range of interests and priorities. Citizens' concerns about
    issues important to them should be addressed on Congressional Web
    sites. The best sites provide information on district or state
    issues, national issues, issues on which the Member is active, and
    some even include current "hot topic" issues that appear in the
    headlines at a given time.

    **Provide access to neutral sources of information:** You increase
    the value of your site and improve your credibility if you provide
    access to resources that will help visitors find answers to
    questions that your site does not address. Supporting information
    allows visitors to explore issues in greater depth, which will make
    them more likely to view you positively, even if they do not share
    your opinions and conclusions.

[^181]: See, e.g., the ["Holt on the Issues" section of Rep. Rush Holt's
    Web site](http://holt.house.gov/issues.shtml).

    For offices that use WIDA, use [WIDA's "issue" feature and
    WIDAinc](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/update/wida/wida_include.htm)
    to automatically place links to the relevant press releases on the
    appropriate issue page.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites

    > **Organize by issue type in addition to content type: *Rep. Jim
    > Langevin***'s Web site allows users seeking information about an
    > issue to view press releases, speeches, and CRS reports on the
    > subject. When users are interested in a topic, they want
    > everything related to it, without having to start a new search in
    > every section of the site. Even simply linking to related sections
    > of your Web site and cross-referencing your content can go a long
    > way toward making your site usable.

[^182]: [Section 3.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#text-emphasis) *HTML
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides
    that "The proper HTML elements should be used to mark up emphasis:
    [EM](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-EM%23edef-EM) and
    [STRONG](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-STRONG%23edef-STRONG).
    The [B](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-B%23edef-B) and
    [I](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#edef-I%23edef-I)
    elements should not be used; they are used to create a visual
    presentation effect. The EM and STRONG elements were designed to
    indicate structural emphasis that may be rendered in a variety of
    ways (font style changes, speech inflection changes, etc.)."

    Perhaps the one legitimate exception to this standard (and even
    then, one to be used with care) is when you are reproducing text
    that originally existed as non-World Wide Web printed text. As Paul
    Ford notes in "[Processing
    Processing](http://www.ftrain.com/ProcessingProcessing.html#3-anchor)"
    (September 2, 2003) (cited in Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web
    Standards* (2^nd^ edition, \[2006\], p. 175):

    > When I\'m publishing content from 1901 and it\'s in italics, it\'s
    > in *italics,* not emphasized. Typography has a semantics that is
    > subtle, changing, and deeply informed by history.

[^183]: The full text of the Act can be found at [title 15, chapter 91
    of the U.S.
    Code](http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=15&chapter=91).
    The full text of the regulations issued by authority of the Act can
    be found at [title 16, part 312 of the Code of Federal
    Regulations](http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_05/16cfr312_05.html).
    While the Act does not, on its own terms, apply to Congressional Web
    sites, House offices should be encouraged to comply to avoid being
    put in the position of someone pointing to the site and asking why
    is a Congressional Web site not complying with the minimum standards
    that Congress has mandated for commercial Web sites.

[^184]: "Personal information" is defined in [§ 312.2 of the COPPA
    regulations](http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/11feb20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/16cfr312.2.pdf)
    as:

    > individually identifiable information about an individual
    > collected online, including:
    >
    > \(a\) A first and last name;
    >
    > \(b\) A home or other physical address including street name and
    > name of a city or town;
    >
    > \(c\) An e-mail address or other online contact information,
    > including but not limited to an instant messaging user identifier,
    > or a screen name that reveals an individual's e-mail address;
    >
    > \(d\) A telephone number;
    >
    > \(e\) A Social Security number;
    >
    > \(f\) A persistent identifier, such as a customer number held in a
    > cookie or a processor serial number, where such identifier is
    > associated with individually identifiable information; or a
    > combination of a last name or photograph of the individual with
    > other information such that the combination permits physical or
    > online contacting; or
    >
    > \(g\) Information concerning the child or parents of that child
    > that the operator collects online from the child and combines with
    > an identifier described in this definition.

[^185]: The narrow exceptions to the parental consent requirement, are
    set out in [§ 312.5(c) of the COPPA
    regulations](http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/11feb20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/16cfr312.5.pdf).

[^186]: If an office insists on asking for personal information from
    children, the office should be referred to the parental consent
    requirements set out in [§ 312.5 of the COPPA
    regulations](http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/11feb20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/16cfr312.5.pdf).

[^187]: Similar layouts are used on the Web sites of [Rep. Jason
    Altmire](http://altmire.house.gov/kids.shtml), [Rep. Dan
    Boren](http://boren.house.gov/kids.shtml), [Rep. Phil
    English](http://www.house.gov/english/kids.shtml), [Rep. Jeff
    Fortenberry](http://fortenberry.house.gov/kids.shtml), [Rep. Gwen
    Moore](http://www.house.gov/gwenmoore/kids.shtml), and [Rep. Randy
    Neugebauer](http://randy.house.gov/services/kids.shtml).

[^188]: \<!\--#include
    virtual=\"/house/subpage_content/Kids_content.htm\" \--\>

[^189]: *Prioritizing Web Usability*, by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger,
    2006 (p. xxiii), notes, however, that "our usability studies with
    teenage users show that teens don't want business sites or
    government sites that are made to look as if they were created by
    teenagers when they were not."

[^190]: [Checkpoint 4.3 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-lang) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "Identify the primary natural language of a document."

[^191]: [Checkpoint
    4.1](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-changes)
    \[priority 1\] of the W3C *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*
    provides that accessible Web sites should "Clearly identify changes
    in the natural language of a document\'s text and any text
    equivalents (e.g., captions)."

[^192]: In particular, this best practice is not intended to apply to
    style sheets where the value of the "media" property is "print". Use
    of points, picas, centimeters, or inches in that type of style sheet
    is appropriate.

[^193]: [Checkpoint 3.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-relative-units) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se relative rather than absolute units in markup
    language attribute values and style sheet property values.
    \[Priority 2\]

    > For example, in CSS, use \'em\' or percentage lengths rather than
    > \'pt\' or \'cm\', which are absolute units. If absolute units are
    > used, validate that the rendered content is usable (refer to the
    > [section on
    > validation](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#validation))."

    ########### [**Section 3 of the W3C**](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CSS-TECHS/#units) ***CSS Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*,** recomends these techniques: {#section-3-of-the-w3c-css-techniques-for-web-content-accessibility-guidelines-1.0-recomends-these-techniques .unnumbered}

    Use the \"em\" unit to set font sizes.

    Use relative length units and percentages. CSS allows you to use
    relative units even in absolute positioning. Thus, you may position
    an image to be offset by \"3em\" from the top of its containing
    element. This is a fixed distance, but is relative to the current
    font size, so it scales nicely.

    Only use absolute length units when the physical characteristics of
    the output medium are known, such as bitmap images.

[^194]: Use of proprietary attributes that are not W3C XHTML compliant
    also makes a Web page non-compliant with [Checkpoint 11.1 \[priority
    2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-latest-w3c-specs)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[u\]se W3C technologies when they are
    available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions
    when supported."

[^195]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation."

[^196]: Jakob Nielsen's "[Screen Resolution and Page
    Layout](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/screen_resolution.html)" (July
    31, 2006) recommends that Web designers:

    > Optimize Web pages for 1024x768, but use a liquid layout that
    > stretches well for any resolution, from 800x600 to 1280x1024.
    >
    > . . .

    **Optimize for 1024x768**, which is currently the most widely used
    screen size. Of course, the general guideline is to optimize for
    your target audience\'s most common resolution, so the size will
    change in the future. It might even be a different size now, if,
    say, you\'re designing an intranet for a company that gives all
    employees big monitors.

    **Do *not* design solely for a specific monitor size** because
    screen sizes vary among users. Window size variability is even
    greater, since users don\'t always maximize their browsers
    (especially if they have large screens).

    **Use a liquid layout** that stretches to the current user\'s window
    size (that is, avoid frozen layouts that are always the same size).

    > Currently, about **60%** of all monitors are set at **1024x768**
    > pixels. . . . In comparison, only about **17%** use **800x600** so
    > it\'s obviously less important to aim at perfection for these
    > small-display users. What\'s equally obvious, however, is that you
    > can\'t simply ignore 17% of your customer segment by providing a
    > frozen layout that requires more screen space than they have
    > available.

    ##  {#section}

    > When I say \"optimize\" I mean that your page should **look and
    > work the *best* at the most common size**. It should still look
    > *good* and work *well* at other sizes, which is why I recommend a
    > liquid layout. But it should be its best at 1024x768.
    >
    > The three main criteria in optimizing a page layout for a certain
    > screen size are:

    **Initial visibility**: Is all key information visible above the
    fold so users can see it without scrolling? This is a tradeoff
    between how many items are shown vs. how much detail is displayed
    for each item.

    **Readability**: How easy is it to read the text in various columns,
    given their allocated width?

    **Aesthetics**: How good does your page look when the elements are
    at the proper size and location for this screen size? Do all the
    elements line up correctly \-- that is, are captions immediately
    next to the photos, etc.?

[^197]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=74)
    (page 64) recommends that "At least two-thirds of every page on your
    site should contain useful information.".

[^198]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=69)
    (page 59) indicates that providing information on legislation
    sponsored and co-sponsored by the Member is one of the elements of a
    well-formed House Member's Web site. At the time the report was
    compiled, 68.3% of House Web sites contained sponsorship and
    co-sponsorship information.

[^199]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=27)
    (page 17) indicates that providing the current Floor proceedings is
    one of the elements of a well-formed congressional Web site. At the
    time the report was compiled, only 21% of all House Member,
    committee, and leadership Web sites included this information.

    Since the Current House Floor Proceedings Web site is maintained by
    the Clerk of the House, be mindful of the [January 30, 2006 edition
    of the Congressional Management Foundation's *Congress Online*
    newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/congressonline013006.asp) which
    notes that "A lot of House sites have outdated or incorrect links.
    The most frustrating ones \[include\] . . . dead links to the
    Clerk's Web site. . . . Web sites continually change, so it's
    important to periodically review any link that goes off your site,
    especially at the beginning of each Congress so you don't have
    visitors looking at old information."

[^200]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=27)
    (page 17) indicates that providing the chamber schedule is one of
    the elements of a well-formed congressional Web site. At the time
    the report was compiled, 42.7% of all House Member, committee, and
    leadership Web sites included this information.

[^201]: Web sites that are hosted on the HIR UNIX server are encouraged
    put the annual House calendar on their site by using the server-side
    include:

    > \<!\--#include
    > virtual=\"/house/subpage_content/Calendar_content.htm\"\--\>

    All other sites can use code along the lines of:

    > \<iframe
    > src=\"http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/Calendar_content.htm\"
    >
    > scrolling=\"auto\" width=\"660\" height=\"3025\" frameborder=\"0\"
    > title=\"Annual House Calendar\"\>\<ul\>\<li\>\<a
    >
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/house/House_Calendar.shtml\"\>Annual
    > House calendar\</a\>\</li\>\</ul\>\</iframe\>

    **Note:** when using the \<include\> on a page that can be accessed
    with a virtual URL, be sure to test the page with the virtual URL.

    Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just linking to
    the House's annual calendar page. Using \<include\> or \<iframe\>
    retains the consistent look and feel of the rest of the office's Web
    site. A consistent look and feel assists with compliance with
    [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "Use navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^202]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=53)
    (pages 45 to 46) praises Rep. Mike Honda's Web site for having links
    to legislative schedules. [Rep. Honda's "Legislation: On the Issues"
    page](http://honda.house.gov/issues/) links to the Majority Whip's
    calendar, the current House floor proceedings, and the Democratic
    Whip's daily notice..

[^203]: Referring to "Legislation: bills and resolutions" instead of
    just referring to "Thomas" is consistent with the recommendation of
    the Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=71)
    (page 61) which notes that "Congressional jargon and the legislative
    process can be difficult for most people off the Hill to understand.
    Focus on making the information on your site understandable, rather
    than impressive and official-sounding."

[^204]: Consider also providing a link to the House Rules Committee's
    "[Using the Congressional
    Record](http://www.rules.house.gov/archives/pop022299_ho3.htm)."

[^205]: Consider also including the list of [today's
    hearings](http://radiotv.house.gov/hearings.shtml) compiled by the
    House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery.

[^206]: Consider also including the [kids' version of "How Our Laws Are
    Made"](http://clerkkids.house.gov/laws/index.html) (compiled by the
    Clerk of the House).

[^207]: Additional links related to the Rules and Precedents of the
    House that you might want to consider including are:

    [General Parliamentary
    Procedure](http://www.rules.house.gov/leg_process.htm) (compiled by
    the House Rules Committee),

    [House Committee
    Procedures](http://www.rules.house.gov/comm_procs.htm) (compiled by
    the House Rules Committee),

    [House Floor
    Procedures](http://www.rules.house.gov/house_protocol.htm) (compiled
    by the House Rules Committee),

    [House and Senate parliamentary
    procedure](http://www.rules.house.gov/archives/crs_reports.htm)
    (prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of
    Congress),

[^208]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=68)
    (page 58) notes that:

    > Most citizens outside the Beltway have forgotten their high school
    > civics classes. Offices can do constituents a great service by
    > finding ways of making educational information easily accessible
    > throughout the site so visitors can refer to it whenever they have
    > questions.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=56)
    (page 48) further notes that:

    > Some offices provide educational information on their kids' or
    > students' pages, but kids are not the only ones who need it. *Rep.
    > Chaka Fattah (D-PA)* has a prominent section on his home page that
    > explains how government works. His site includes an actual [case
    > study](http://www.house.gov/fattah/features/how.htm) of how his
    > "GEAR UP" initiative became public law. Your site should also
    > include information about how the committee process works;
    > explanations of legislative and congressional terms; and general
    > descriptions of what a Member, Chair, or Leader does on a given
    > day.

    An example can also be found on Rep. Bud Cramer's "[How a Bill
    Becomes
    Law](http://cramer.house.gov/HoR/AL05/Issues/How+A+Bill+Becomes+A+Law/About+Congress.htm)"
    page..

[^209]: Web sites that are hosted on the HIR UNIX server are encouraged
    to use the server-side include:

    > \<!\--#include
    > virtual=\"/house/subpage_content/Tying_it_all_content.htm\" \--\>

    All other sites can use code along the lines of:

    > \<iframe
    > src=\"http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/Tying_it_all_content.htm\"
    >
    > scrolling=\"auto\" width=\"660\" height=\"3025\"
    > frameborder=\"0\"\>\<ul\>\<li\>\<a
    >
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/house/Tying_it_all.shtml\"\>Tying it
    > all
    >
    > Together\</a\>\</li\>\</ul\>\</iframe\>

    **Note:** when using the \<include\> on a page that can be accessed
    with a virtual URL, be sure to test the page with the virtual URL.

    Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just linking to
    the House's "Legislative Process page". Using \<include\> or
    \<iframe\> retains the consistent look and feel of the rest of the
    office's Web site. A consistent look and feel assists with
    compliance with [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "Use navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^210]: The [January 30, 2006 edition of the Congressional Management
    Foundation's *Congress Online*
    newsletter](http://www.cmfweb.org/congressonline013006.asp) notes
    that "A lot of House sites have outdated or incorrect links. The
    most frustrating ones were those linking \[during the 109^th^
    Congress\] to bills, sponsorships, and co-sponsorships from the
    108^th^ Congress (and, occasionally, earlier Congresses); dead links
    to the Clerk's Web site; THOMAS search engines that search the wrong
    Congress; and those linking to INS (it changed to USCIS in 2003!).
    Web sites continually change, so it's important to periodically
    review any link that goes off your site, especially at the beginning
    of each Congress so you don't have visitors looking at old
    information."

[^211]: Instructions for linking to specific legislation within Thomas
    can be found at
    <http://www.congress.gov/help/THOMAS_links/links.html> and
    <http://thomas.loc.gov/home/example.html>.

[^212]: Domain CONGRESS.GOV.

[^213]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for
    > the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    An almost identical regulation appears in the [*Committees'
    Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=37#websitegeneral)
    (Web Site Regulations, General, § 5). Instructions for implementing
    the exit message can be found at
    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^214]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=32)
    (page 24) praises the Web site of Rep. Kay Granger because of the
    site's "efforts to address constituent concerns and problems online
    rather than pushing them off to another Web site or directing them
    off line."

[^215]: [Checkpoint 10.1 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-pop-ups) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that "[*[\[u\]ntil
    user
    agents]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#until-user-agents)
    allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or
    other windows to appear and do not change the current window without
    informing the user." The [homepage of the Immigration Reform
    Caucus](http://www.house.gov/bilbray/irc/) is an example of proper
    use of the "target" attribute to control the contents of an
    \<iframe\>.

[^216]: The Congressional Management Foundation's 1999 report *Building
    Web Sites Constituents Will Use* (page 9) recommends that
    Congressional Web sites "**Place external and internal links
    throughout your site, rather than on a single "Links" page.** This
    ensures that visitors can instantly access the information they
    want, rather than searching for it among a long list of links."

[^217]: [Guideline 9 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#gl-device-independence)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides accessible Web
    sites should:

    > Design for device-independence.

    #### Use features that enable activation of page elements via a variety of input devices.

    > [Device-independent](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#device-independent)
    > access means that the user may interact with the user agent or
    > document with a preferred input (or output) device \-- mouse,
    > keyboard, voice, head wand, or other. If, for example, a form
    > control can only be activated with a mouse or other pointing
    > device, someone who is using the page without sight, with voice
    > input, or with a keyboard or who is using some other non-pointing
    > input device will not be able to use the form.

    Roger Hudson's "[Text Alternatives for
    Images](http://www.usability.com.au/resources/image-text.cfm)"
    (September 2003) recommends that Web designers **"**Avoid
    unnecessary terms. Don\'t use words like \'link\' or \'click here\'
    for images that are links. Screen readers will indicate if something
    is a link or not."

[^218]: [Checkpoint 13.1 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-meaningful-links)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should:

    > Clearly identify the target of each link. \[Priority 2\]
    >
    > [*[Link
    > text]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#link-text%23link-text)
    > should be meaningful enough to make sense when read out of context
    > \-- either on its own or as part of a sequence of links. Link text
    > should also be terse.
    >
    > For example, in HTML, write \"Information about version 4.3\"
    > instead of \"click here\". In addition to clear link text, content
    > developers may further clarify the target of a link with an
    > informative link title (e.g., in HTML, the \"title\" attribute).

    Note that the Jaws screen reader can be configured so that it will
    read which ever is larger -- the text of the link or the value of
    the "title" attribute.

    An alternative technique to using the "title" attribute, that has
    been suggested is to put the additional information within \<span\>
    tags and give the tag a class (e.g. class=\"hidden\"), where the
    class places the text off screen and minimizes the size (e.g.,
    position:absolute;left:-999em; font-size:1%).

    A technique to avoid at the current time is adding the additional
    text to the link in a \<span\> with a class value that has a
    media=\"screen\" style sheet with a display:none property and a
    media=\"aural\" style sheet without the display:none property. The
    Jaws screen reader (which currently has about 75% of the screen
    reader market) uses the screen style sheet (and not the aral style
    sheet) to build its audio output.

[^219]: For a complete list of the standard values for the "rel" and
    "rev" attributes, see [§ 6.12 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/types.html#h-6.12) *HTML 4.01
    Specification*.

[^220]: For example:

    > \<a href=\"another_filename.htm\" rel=\"next\"\>Next\</a\> ¦
    >
    > \<a href=\"filename.htm\" rel=\"prev\"\>Previous\</a\>

[^221]: For instance

    > \<a href=\"filename.htm\" rel=\"start\"\>Previous\</a\>

[^222]: Even though [§ 6.12 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/types.html#h-6.12) *HTML 4.01
    Specification* includes a "start" value, it does not include an
    "end" value. An early draft document within W3C's Internet
    Engineering Task Force recommended that "end" (or "last") be valid
    values for "rel" and "rev". That proposal, however, was not adopted.
    (For the complete text of the proposal, including other suggested
    values for "rel" and "rev," see
    [[http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/draft-ietf-html-relrev-00.txt]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/draft-ietf-html-relrev-00.txt).)

[^223]: Examples:

    > **Linking from the first document in the series:**
    >
    > \<a href=\"filename.htm\" rel=\"next\" rev=\"start\"\>Next\</a\>
    >
    > **Linking from the second document in the series:**
    >
    > \<a href=\"filename.htm\" rel=\"start\" rev=\"next\"
    > \>Previous\</a\> ¦
    >
    > \<a href=\"another_filename.htm\" rel=\"next\"
    > rev=\"prev\"\>Next\</a\>
    >
    > **Linking from any other document in the series:**
    >
    > \<a href=\"filename.htm\" rel=\"prev\" rev=\"next\"
    > \>Previous\</a\> ¦
    >
    > \<a href=\"another_filename.htm\" rel=\"next\"
    > rev=\"prev\"\>Next\</a\>

[^224]: Use the "a:active {color: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_}" style sheets
    property.

[^225]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 7.5.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.5.1) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "alink," "link," and "vlink"
    attributes of the \<body\> tag as a deprecated attribute).

    To set the color of an active link, use the "a:active {color:}"
    style sheet property. To set the color of unvisited links, use the
    "a:link {color:}" style sheet property. To set the color of visited
    links, use the "a:visited {color:}" style sheet property. There are
    important usability issues that come into play when setting the
    colors of links -- see e.g., Jakob Nielsen's "[Guidelines for
    Visualizing Links](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html)"
    (May 10, 2004) for recommendations on specifying colors for visited
    and unvisited links. Also consider [checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\]
    of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*, which provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

[^226]: [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 61) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^227]: [Section 12.2.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#anchors-with-id)
    *HTML 4.01 Specifications* provides that "The
    [[id]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#adef-id)
    and
    [[name]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-name-A)
    attributes share the same name space. . . . When both attributes are
    used on a single element, their values must be identical."

    [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*, however, provides that
    accessible Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 4.10 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.10) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    designates the "name" attribute of the \<a\> tag as a deprecated
    attribute).

[^228]: The primary language of a page is the language specified by the
    "lang" and "xml:lang" attributes of the \<html\> tag.

[^229]: The value of the "hreflang" attribute should conform to the [RFC
    4646](http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt) standard.
    Instructions for using that standard are set out in Appendix 5:
    *Language Identification Codes* of this document.

[^230]: [Checkpoint
    4.1](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-changes)
    \[priority 1\] of the W3C *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*
    provides that accessible Web sites should "Clearly identify changes
    in the natural language of a document\'s text and any text
    equivalents (e.g., captions)."

[^231]: Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web Standards* (2^nd^
    edition, \[2006\]), p.232, notes when the style sheets list-style
    property is used to designate a substitute for the default bullet in
    an unordered list and both the list-style-type and the
    list-style-image values are provided in the list-style property:

    > IE/Windows and Opera/Windows users get an extra (unintended)
    > treat. The site displays the \[list-style-type designated
    > characters\] . . . first and then fills in the . . . images. The
    > effect looks like Flash or JavaScript animation, but is purely
    > accidental and a result of the order in which IE and Opera for
    > Windows load and display web page components. In other browsers,
    > user simply see the . . . \[graphic\].

[^232]: [Checkpoint 3.1 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-use-markup) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that "\[w\]hen an
    appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to
    convey information." [Checkpoint 3.6 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-list-structure) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[m\]ark up lists and list items
    properly."

[^233]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 10.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/lists.html#h-10.2) *HTML 4.01
    Specification* designates the "type" attribute of the \<li\>,
    \<ol\>, and \<ul\> tags as deprecated attributes).

[^234]: Jakob Nielsen's article "[F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web
    Content](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html)" (April
    17, 2006), based on a study of the eye movements of 232 Web site
    users, recommends that Web designers

    > **Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with
    > information-carrying words** that users will notice when scanning
    > down the left side of your content . . . . They\'ll read the third
    > word on a line much less often than the first two words.

    Though Nielsen's study was based on sighted users, the technique he
    suggests is useful not only for sighted individuals, but also for
    blind individuals -- since an often-used technique in Jaws and
    Window-Eyes is to have the browser skip from heading to heading or
    from list to list.

[^235]: The Congressional Management Foundation's 1999 report *Building
    Web Sites Constituents Will Use* (page 9) recommends that
    Congressional Web sites "**Place external and internal links
    throughout your site, rather than on a single "Links" page.** This
    ensures that visitors can instantly access the information they
    want, rather than searching for it among a long list of links."

[^236]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 10.4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/lists.html#edef-DIR) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the \<dir\> tag and the \<menu\> tag
    as deprecated elements).

[^237]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 10.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/lists.html#adef-compact)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the "compact" attribute as a
    deprecated attribute).

    The W3C [*CSS 2
    Specification*](http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/visuren.html#compact), §
    9.2.3, provided a style sheet display:compact element. The [*CSS 2.1
    Specification*](http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/changes.html#q12), §
    C.2.5, however, notes that display:compact has been dropped from the
    CSS specification.

[^238]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 10.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/lists.html#h-10.2) *HTML 4.01
    Specification* designates the "start" and "value" attributes as
    deprecated attributes).

[^239]: A WSB analysis of www.house.gov usage for April 12 to 16, 2007,
    indicates that Internet Explorer 6 accounted for 50.90% of the
    identifiable, non-robot access to the site.

[^240]: The standard set out in [§ 1303(b)(1)(C) of the Children's
    Online Privacy Protection Act of
    1998](http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=15&section=6502)
    (COPPA) prohibits conditioning participation in an activity though a
    Web site on "disclosing more personal information than is reasonably
    necessary to participate in such activity".

    Just as in the case of § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act,
    Congressional offices are not statutorily required to abide by the
    requirements of COPPA. Just as with § 508, however, Congressional
    offices that do not abide by COPPA's standards risk being
    embarrassed if their non-compliance is publicized.

[^241]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=77)
    (page 67) recommends that Congressional offices

    > Establish a policy concerning your e-mail updates *before*
    > visitors sign-up, and stick to it. Create clear expectations
    > regarding what information citizens will receive and when they
    > will receive it. A weekly legislative update or a monthly e-mail
    > update on health care should be exactly that. An agreed-upon
    > policy will also establish clear guidelines for office staff
    > responsible for the newsletter's content and distribution.

[^242]: [Yahoo](http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/maps/directions/maps-08.html),
    [MapQuest](http://www.mapquest.com/features/main.adp?page=lf_main),
    [Rand McNally](http://www.randmcnally.com/), and
    [Google](http://www.google.com/apis/maps/faq.html#faq12) provide the
    ability to automatically generate such a set of directions from any
    user-specified address in the United States.

[^243]: Congressional district maps are available from the U.S.
    Geological Survey at
    http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.html . Two additional
    sets of congressional district maps are available from the U.S.
    Bureau of the Census at
    <http://fastfacts.census.gov/home/cws/main.html> and at
    <http://www.census.gov/geo/www/maps/cd109/cd109_individualMaps.htm>.
    .

[^244]: Client-side image maps should be used for this function where
    possible, instead of server-side image maps. (The regulations under
    § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(f))
    provide that "Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of
    server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined
    with an available geometric shape." Likewise, [Checkpoint 9.1
    \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-client-side-maps)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "Provide client-side image maps instead of
    server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined
    with an available geometric shape.")

    Just as with external links created by \<a href\> tags, external
    links created by using image maps require exit messages to be in
    compliance with the [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for
    > the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    Instructions for implementing the exit message can be found at

    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^245]: See, e.g., [Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s district
    page](http://www.house.gov/jackson/District.shtml).

[^246]: See, e.g., [Rep. Dan Boren's "Second Congressional District of
    Oklahoma" page](http://www.house.gov/boren/district.shtml), [Rep.
    Bud Cramer's "5^th^ District of Alabama"
    page](http://cramer.house.gov/HoR/AL05/5th+District.htm?SecLnk=5thDistrict),
    [Rep. Jeff Fortenberry's "Nebraska's First Congressional District"
    page](http://fortenberry.house.gov/ne01.shtml), and [Rep. Adam
    Schiff's "California's 20^th^ Congressional District"
    page](http://schiff.house.gov/HoR/CA29/The+29th+District/).

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=29)
    (page 21) praises Sen. Tom Carper's Web site for having a "map of
    Delaware \[that\] breaks down *local news* and *resources by
    county*, which gives constituents easy access to information
    relevant to where they live". [Sen. Harry Reid's
    homepage](http://reid.senate.gov/) has a map that links to the
    Senator's accomplishments, broken down by county.

[^247]: Use the link

    > \<a
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/htbin/leave_site?ln_url=\"http://www.missingkids.com/precreate/**SS**.html\"&ln_desc=National+Center+for+Missing+and+Exploited+Children\"\>

    Replace "**SS**" with the capitalized 2-character postal
    abbreviation for the state.

[^248]: Examples can be found on [Rep. John Salazar's audio clips
    page](http://www.house.gov/salazar/press-audio.shtml), [Rep. Kenny
    Marchant's site tools page](http://marchant.house.gov/tools.shtml),
    [Rep. Mac Thornberry's Web tools
    page](http://www.house.gov/thornberry/web_tools.htm), and [Rep.
    Heather Wilson's toolbox
    page](http://www.wilson.house.gov/Toolbox.asp). Each of the pages on
    the 109^th^ Congress Speaker's Web site (except the homepage) have
    (on the left side) a toolbox image and "Important tools to visit
    this site" linked to a [page with links to
    plug-ins](http://web.archive.org/web/20060114204845/http:/www.speaker.gov/features/multimedia.asp).

    The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36
    C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(m))
    provide that "When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or
    other application be present on the client system to interpret page
    content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that
    complies with [§
    1194.21](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Software)(a)
    through (*l*)."

[^249]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for
    > the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    Instructions for implementing the exit message can be found at

    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^250]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(a))
    provide that "A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be
    provided (e.g., via \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content)."

    [Checkpoint 1.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-text-equivalent) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should:

    > Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via
    > \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content). *This includes*: .
    > . . sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone
    > audio files, audio tracks of video, and video. \[Priority 1\]

[^251]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(b))
    provide that "Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia
    presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation."
    [Checkpoint 1.4 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-synchronize-equivalents)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* similarly provides that
    "\[f\]or any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or
    animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or
    auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation."

[^252]: The late Rep. Charlie Norwood's Web site included the following
    instructions:

    > Pressing the \"PLAY\" button or clicking on the image above will
    > start the video. After the video has started you may start , stop,
    > or pause the video at any time.

[^253]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=27)
    (page 17) indicates that providing video clips is one of the
    elements of a well-formed congressional Web site. At the time the
    report was compiled, only 35.6% of all House Member, committee, and
    leadership Web sites included this material.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=40),
    (page
    32[)](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=56)
    praises Rep. Mike Pence for giving "short daily speeches on the
    House floor, which his office then provides on his Web site using
    low-cost, low-tech equipment. These regular audio and video updates
    show his constituents how hard he works on a daily basis."

[^254]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=74)
    (p. 64) counsels: "Stay away from auto-loading audio or video
    content---like a welcome video---on your home page."

[^255]: [Checkpoint 10.1 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-pop-ups) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that "[*[\[u\]ntil
    user
    agents]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#until-user-agents)
    allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or
    other windows to appear and do not change the current window without
    informing the user."

[^256]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 4.10 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.10) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    designates the "name" attribute of the \<form\> tag as a deprecated
    attribute).

[^257]: [Section 12.2.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#anchors-with-id)
    *HTML 4.01 Specifications* provides that "The
    [[id]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#adef-id)
    and
    [[name]{.underline}](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-name-A)
    attributes share the same name space. . . . When both attributes are
    used on a single element, their values must be identical."

[^258]: Section 1 of the W3C [*Core Techniques for Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines
    1.0*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#structure) provides
    that:

    > When designing a document or series of documents, content
    > developers should strive first to identify the desired structure
    > for their documents before thinking about how the documents will
    > be presented to the user. Distinguishing the structure of a
    > document from how the content is presented offers a number of
    > advantages, including improved accessibility, manageability, and
    > portability.

    Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web Standards* (2^nd^ edition,
    \[2006\]), p.180, recommends that

    > Semantic or meta-structural names (names that explain the function
    > performed by elements contained within) are best. You would feel
    > pretty silly having labeled a part of your site "orangebox" when
    > the client decides to go with blue. You would feel sillier still
    > revising your style sheets under a deadline six months from now
    > and trying desperately to remember whether "Gladys" was a
    > navigational area, a sidebar, a search form, or what.

[^259]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(*o*))
    provide that for a Web site to be accessible, "\[a\] method shall be
    provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links."
    [Checkpoint 13.6 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-group-links) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* similarly provides that
    accessible Web sites need to "\[g\]roup related links, identify the
    group (for user agents), and, [*[until user
    agents]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#until-user-agents)
    do so, provide a way to bypass the group."

[^260]: For alternative approaches, see:

    "['](http://www.webaim.org/techniques/skipnav/#creating)Skip
    Navigation' Links," WebAIM, Center for Persons with Disabilities,
    Utah State University

    "[Skip Navigation Links](http://www.jimthatcher.com/skipnav.htm),"
    by Jim Thacher

[^261]: For an example, see [Rep. Altmire's](http://altmire.house.gov/)
    Web site.

[^262]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 61) notes that "Congressional jargon and the legislative
    process can be difficult for most people off the Hill to understand.
    Focus on making the information on your site understandable, rather
    than impressive and official-sounding."

    [Rep. Ben Chadler's Web site](http://chandler.house.gov/) uses "How
    Can We Help You?" and "Assistance with Federal Agencies". [Rep.
    Spencer Bachus' Web site](http://bachus.house.gov/hor/al06/) uses
    "Helping You" and "Help with Federal Agencies".

[^263]: [Checkpoint 10.5 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-divide-links) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that "\[u\]ntil user
    agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links
    distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by
    spaces) between adjacent links." A vertical broken pipe ("**¦**" -
    &#166;) is often used as a divider between such links.

[^264]: It is especially important that this suggestion be implemented
    on any page (including splash pages) where the only navigational
    links are through \<input\> tags or by use of scripts. Having all
    navigation links only through \<input\> tags or through scripts can
    create problems for users of assistive technologies and for search
    engine indexing spiders.

[^265]: [Checkpoint 13.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-site-description)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[p\]rovide information about the
    general layout of a site (e.g., a site map or table of contents)."

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites:

    > I**nclude helpful navigational tools, such as a search function
    > and site map.** . . . Search features and site maps -- indexes to
    > a Web site -- allow visitors to find information quickly and
    > easily. These seemingly small and trivial tools make a significant
    > difference in the site's usefulness for constituents looking for
    > specific information.

[^266]: *Prioritizing Web Usability*, by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger,
    2006 (p. 27) recommends that each page on a Web site include a
    "\[d\]irect, one-click link to the homepage".

[^267]: [Checkpoint 9.5 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-keyboard-shortcuts)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    web sites should:

    > Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in
    > [*[client-side image
    > maps]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#image-map)),
    > form controls, and groups of form controls. \[Priority 3\]
    >
    > For example, in HTML, specify shortcuts via the "accesskey"
    > attribute.

    To implement the W3C standard, the Government of the United Kingdom
    has adopted the following standards for accesskey attributes
    ([*Illustrated Handbook for Web Management
    Teams*](http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government/resources/handbook/html/2-4.asp#2.4.4),
    § 2.4.4):

    > S -- Skip navigation\
    > 1 -- Home page\
    > 2 -- What's new\
    > 3 -- Site map\
    > 4 -- Search\
    > 5 -- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)\
    > 6 -- Help\
    > 7 -- Complaints procedure\
    > 8 -- Terms and conditions\
    > 9 -- Feedback form\
    > 0 -- Access key details

    The Canadian Government's [*Common Look and Feel* standards best
    practices](http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/6/skip_e.asp) -- which
    largely follows the W3C standard -- on the other hand, provides
    that:

    > Following the identification of a conflict between the Access keys
    > previously recommended on the CLF \[(Common Look and Feel)\] Web
    > site for site navigation on GoC \[(Government of Canada)\] Web
    > sites, and the proprietary assignment of access keys being used in
    > commercially available software, e.g. speech enabled Web browsers,
    > the CLF Access Working Group has made the following
    > recommendations for amendment to the CLF best practices:

    The use of Access Keys M, 1 and 2 be eliminated, and the use of any
    other access keys is discouraged because there is no way of knowing
    which access keys conflict with any assistive technology or other
    applications installed and running on users' desktops.

    Additional material on use of the "accesskey" attribute can be found
    at:

    "[Accesskey standards](http://www.clagnut.com/blog/193)," by Richard
    Rutter

    "[Using Accesskeys -- Is it worth
    it?](http://www.wats.ca/show.php?contentid=32)" by [John
    Foliot](http://www.wats.ca/expertise/johnfoliot/8)

    "[Accesskeys and Reserved Keystroke
    Combinations](http://www.wats.ca/show.php?contentid=43)"

    "[Using accesskey Attribute in HTML Forms and
    Links](http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/accesskey.html)" by
    Jukka Korpela.

[^268]: [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site.** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^269]: [Checkpoint 6.3 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-scripts) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an accessible Web site
    should:

    > Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other
    > programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is
    > not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative
    > accessible page. . . .
    >
    > For example, ensure that links that trigger scripts work when
    > scripts are turned off or not supported (e.g., do not use
    > \"javascript:\" as the link target). If it is not possible to make
    > the page usable without scripts, provide a text equivalent with
    > the NOSCRIPT element, or use a server-side script instead of a
    > client-side script, or provide an alternative accessible page as
    > per [checkpoint
    > 11.4](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#tech-alt-pages%23tech-alt-pages).
    > [Refer also to guideline
    > 1](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#gl-provide-equivalents%23gl-provide-equivalents).

    The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36
    C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(*l*))
    also provide that "When pages utilize scripting languages to display
    content, or to create interface elements, the information provided
    by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be
    read by assistive technology."

[^270]: See, e.g., the "[Hot
    Issues](http://www.house.gov/baca/hotissues/issues.htm)" portion of
    Rep. Joe Baca's Web site.

    *Prioritizing Web Usability*, by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger,
    2006 (p. 27) recommends including "links to . . . resources that are
    directly relevant to the current location, but don't flood the user
    with links to all site areas or to unrelated pages."

[^271]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=61)
    (page 53) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Follow the "three click rule."** To the degree possible, the
    > information architecture of your site should allow visitors to get
    > from any one page on your site to any other page in three clicks.
    > This is especially important for frequently accessed sections and
    > information, and less important for supporting information and
    > document archives.

[^272]: For an attempt at using the \<object\> tag so that works well
    across browsers, see Elizabeth Castro's "[Bye Bye
    Embed](http://alistapart.com/articles/byebyeembed), " A List Apart
    (July 11, 2006).

[^273]: Use the "border-width" style sheets property.

[^274]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 13.7.3 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#h-13.7.3) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "border" attribute of the
    \<object\> tag as a deprecated attribute).

[^275]: The "padding-left," "padding-right," "padding-bottom," and
    "padding-top" style sheets properties provide the functionality
    previously provided by the "hspace" and "vspace" attributes.

    [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 13.7.2 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#h-13.7.2) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "hspace" and "vspace" attributes
    as deprecated attributes).

[^276]: Other "type" attribute values for the \<object\> tag include:

    **Extension"type" attribute
    value**.asfvideo/x-ms-asf.asxvideo/x-ms-asf.nscvideo/x-ms-asf.waxaudio/x-ms-wax.wmvideo/x-ms-wm.wmaaudio/x-ms-wma.wmdapplication/x-ms-wmd.wmxvideo/x-ms-wmx.wmzapplication/x-mx-wmz.wvxvideo/x-ms-wvx

[^277]: The Congressional Management Foundation's January 2002 report
    [*Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web
    Sites*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2002.pdf#page=38)
    (p. 32) praises [Sen. Patrick Leahy's Web
    site](http://leahy.senate.gov/office/senatepage.html) for providing
    detailed information on the Senate Page Program.

    Other examples of Congressional sites with information on the Page
    Program include the Web sites of [Rep. Jason
    Altmire](http://altmire.house.gov/pageProgram.shtml), [Rep. Peter
    DeFazio](http://defazio.house.gov/PageInfo.shtml), [Rep. Mark
    Foley](http://www.house.gov/foley/services/page.htm), [Rep. Mark
    Green](http://www.house.gov/markgreen/congresspage.htm), [Rep. Jeb
    Hensarling](http://www.house.gov/hensarling/services/pageprogram.html),
    [Rep. Mike Honda](http://www.honda.house.gov/pagenominations.shtml),
    [Rep. Frank LoBiondo](http://www.house.gov/lobiondo/pages.shtml),
    [Rep. John
    Peterson](http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/pageprogram.html), [Rep.
    Tom Petri](http://www.house.gov/petri/pageprog.htm), [Rep. Ted
    Poe](http://www.house.gov/poe/pageinfo.htm), [Rep. Bill
    Shuster](http://www.house.gov/shuster/congpage.htm), [Rep. Michael
    Turner](http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/oh03_turner/col_040319_page.html),
    and [Rep. Diane
    Watson](http://www.house.gov/watson/new/page_program.shtml).

[^278]:
    ###  For instance, [**http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html**](http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html).

    The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36
    C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(m))
    provide that "When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or
    other application be present on the client system to interpret page
    content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that
    complies with [§
    1194.21](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Software)(a)
    through (*l*)."

[^279]: The [*Members' Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=37#web_sites)
    (Web Sites, § 5), issued by the House Administration Committee,
    provides that:

    > HIR will display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the
    > House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of
    > Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a
    > disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for
    > the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their
    > sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the
    > exit notice into their external links.

    Instructions for implementing the exit message can be found at

    [http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm](http://onlinecao.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_exit_msg.htm)

[^280]: Tooltips for input fields in a PDF perform the same function for
    PDF files as "title" attributes in \<input\>, \<select\>, or
    \<textarea\> tags perform in HTML files. (Note: PDF does not have an
    equivalent to the HTML \<label\> tag.)

[^281]: [Checkpoint 12.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-associate-labels)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]ssociate labels explicitly with their
    controls."

    The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ([36
    C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(n))
    provide that "When electronic forms are designed to be completed
    on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to
    access the information, field elements, and functionality required
    for completion and submission of the form, including all directions
    and cues."

    The Social Security Administration's *Guide to Accessible PDF
    Documents and Forms* (April 2006), page 36, recommends that the
    tooltips for input fields on PDFs:

    Include only enough information in the tooltip for users to know
    what input is expected and how to complete the field correctly,

    Indicate form inputs which are required.

    Indicate if special keystrokes are required to perform a function.

    . . . should not state the input type or state \[e.g., that this is
    a checkbox\]; this information is passed programmatically to
    assistive technology.

[^282]: As written, the [Ath Slide JavaScripted Photo
    Gallery](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/Ath_Slide.shtml)
    does not work when scripting is turned off -- which is not compliant
    with regulation [36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(*l*)
    of § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("When pages utilize
    scripting languages to display content, or to create interface
    elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified
    with functional text that can be read by assistive technology."), To
    make the coding compliant, add (after the \</script\> tag): a
    \<noscript\> tag, followed by an ordered (or unordered) list of the
    links and captions of the photos, followed by a \</noscript\> tag.
    For an example, see [Rep.](http://altmire.house.gov/photos.shtml)
    Bill Delahunt's "[Art Discovery
    Contest](http://www.house.gov/delahunt/artcomppictures.shtml)" page.

[^283]: The [Ath Slide JavaScripted Photo
    Gallery](http://www1.house.gov:801/mmiller2/photoplay/Ath_Slide.shtml)
    allows HTML coding to be included in the photgraph captions. If
    using this feature, only use single quotation marks to include
    attribute values -- do not use double quotation marks. If you want
    to use quotation marks in the text of the caption, use the entity
    name, decimal representation, or hexadecimal representation instead
    of the actual character (e.g., use &#8220; for an open double
    quotation mark, or &#8221; for a double close quotation mark).

[^284]: The [*Committee's Congressional
    Handbook*](http://cha.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=37#content)
    (Web Site Regulations, Content, § a). issued by the House
    Administration Committee, provides an identical restriction on House
    committee Web sites.

[^285]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 9.3.4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/text.html#h-9.3.4) *HTML 4.01
    Specification* designates the "width" attribute of the \<pre\> tag
    as a deprecated attribute).

[^286]: The Congressional Management Foundation's *2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill* (page 63)
    that "Most of our award-winning sites keep their press releases
    up-to-date and organized chronologically and by topic as well." The
    report indicates (page 17) that only 29.1% of all House Member,
    committee, and leadership Web sites included this press releases in
    subject order.

[^287]: Appendix 1: *Print Option* of this document provides sample
    instructions for coding such a feature.

    **Note:** The coding in the appendix depends on the use of
    JavaScript. The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of
    1973 ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(*l*))
    provide that "When pages utilize scripting languages to display
    content, or to create interface elements, the information provided
    by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be
    read by assistive technology." To fully comply with § 1194.22(*l*),
    equivalent functionality should be provided when scripting is turned
    off. In the case of a print option that excludes navigation links,
    etc., this can be done through the judicious use of print style
    sheets. For suggestions as to how to set up such a style sheet, see
    Eric Meyer's "[CSS Design: Going to
    Print](http://alistapart.com/stories/goingtoprint/)", published in A
    List Apart, May 10, 2002.

    The style sheet approach is best done in addition to (not instead
    of) the JavaScript out of respect for the spirit of the section of
    the § 508 regulations ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(d))
    and [Checkpoint 6.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-order-style-sheets)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which both provide that
    documents are to be organized so they are readable without requiring
    an associated style sheet.

[^288]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=77)
    (page 67) provides that "Privacy statements should be included on
    every Web site, but currently only 55.49% of congressional offices
    provide them. They should be written in user-friendly language that
    is designed to put visitors at ease about the information the site
    is collecting. If a Web site requires the user's name and address
    before they can correspond with the office, the privacy statement
    should explain why the information is being collected and what will
    happen to it later. It is especially important to describe the steps
    that the office will take to safeguard any personal information it
    obtains."

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003:
    Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=59)
    (page 51) goes on to say that, "A good example to follow is that of
    *Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)*. She posts an extensive privacy policy
    and her Web site is P3P-enabled. This means that when users visit
    her site, their browsers will automatically check her policy against
    their preferences."

[^289]: The regulations issued pursuant to COPPA (the Children\'s Online
    Privacy Protection Act), set out at [16 C.F.R. §
    312.4](http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/11feb20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/16cfr312.4.pdf)(b)(1),
    provide that:

    >     (1) *Placement of the notice.* (i) The link to the \[Web
    > site's privacy policy\] notice must be clearly labeled as a notice
    > of the website\['s\] . . . information practices . . .\
    >     (ii) The link to the notice must be placed in a clear and
    > prominent place and manner on the home page of the website . . .\
    >     (iii) The link to the notice must be placed in a clear and
    > prominent place and manner at each area on the website . . . where
    > \[users of the website\] . . . directly provide, or are asked to
    > provide, personal information, and in close proximity to the
    > requests for information in such area.

    The Federal Trade Commission's Federal Register statement issuing
    the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ([64 Fed. Reg.
    59894](http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_register&docid=99-27740-filed.pdf#page=8))
    explains that:

    > "Clear and prominent" means that the link must stand out and be
    > noticeable to the site's visitors through the use, for example, of
    > a larger font size in a different color on a contrasting
    > background. The Commission does not consider "clear and prominent"
    > a link that is in small print at the bottom of the home page, or a
    > link that is indistinguishable from a number of other, adjacent
    > links.

[^290]:
    ###########  There is a wide-spread misconception that Federal government offices are prohibited by law from using cookies (see, e.g., "White House Web Site Uses Forbidden Cookies Too," Associated Press, December 30, 2005, [**http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180177,00.html**](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180177,00.html)). The regulations issued by the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to § 208 of the E-Government Act of 2002 ([**OMB Memoranum M-03-22**](http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/print/m03-22.html), § III(D)(2)(a)(v)) permits the use of session cookies. It also permits the head of an agency to authorize the use of persistent cookies in that agency's Web site if the agency head declares there is a "compelling need" to use the technology and the site's privacy policy makes it clear what information is being collected, the purpose and use of the information, who will the information be disclosed to, and what will be done to safeguard the information. Nonetheless, given the public perception that it is illegal for government sites to use cookies, avoiding cookies may save a House office from embarrassment (see also "Hands in the cookie jar," by Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com, January 6, 2006, [**http://news.com.com/Infographic+Caught+with+hands+in+the+cookie+jar/2009-1028_3-6020368.html**](http://news.com.com/Infographic+Caught+with+hands+in+the+cookie+jar/2009-1028_3-6020368.html)). {#there-is-a-wide-spread-misconception-that-federal-government-offices-are-prohibited-by-law-from-using-cookies-see-e.g.-white-house-web-site-uses-forbidden-cookies-too-associated-press-december-30-2005-httpwww.foxnews.comstory0293318017700.html.-the-regulations-issued-by-the-office-of-management-and-budget-pursuant-to-208-of-the-e-government-act-of-2002-omb-memoranum-m-03-22-iiid2av-permits-the-use-of-session-cookies.-it-also-permits-the-head-of-an-agency-to-authorize-the-use-of-persistent-cookies-in-that-agencys-web-site-if-the-agency-head-declares-there-is-a-compelling-need-to-use-the-technology-and-the-sites-privacy-policy-makes-it-clear-what-information-is-being-collected-the-purpose-and-use-of-the-information-who-will-the-information-be-disclosed-to-and-what-will-be-done-to-safeguard-the-information.-nonetheless-given-the-public-perception-that-it-is-illegal-for-government-sites-to-use-cookies-avoiding-cookies-may-save-a-house-office-from-embarrassment-see-also-hands-in-the-cookie-jar-by-declan-mccullagh-cnet-news.com-january-6-2006-httpnews.com.cominfographiccaughtwithhandsinthecookiejar2009-1028_3-6020368.html. .unnumbered}

[^291]: To be compliant with [§ 6.12 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/types.html#h-6.12) *HTML 4.01
    Specification*, Web pages that use the rel=\"privacy\" attribute
    either in an \<a\> tag or in a \<link\> tag, should have the
    following attribute in the \<head\> tag:

    > profile=\"http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-html/1997Sep/0046.html\"

[^292]: Examples of "What is RSS" pages can be found at the Web sites of
    [Rep. Kapture](http://www.kaptur.house.gov/Library/AboutRss.aspx),
    [Rep. Maloney](http://www.house.gov/maloney/aboutrss.html), the
    [House Administration
    Committee](http://cha.house.gov/toolbox/rss_info.htm), and the [W3C
    Web Accessibility
    Initiative](http://www.w3.org/WAI/highlights/about-rss.html).

[^293]: Web sites that are hosted on the HIR UNIX server are encouraged
    to use the server-side include:

    > \<!\--#include virtual=\"/include_content/rss.html\" \--\>.

    All other sites can use code along the lines of:

    > \<iframe src=\"http://www.house.gov/include_content/rss.html\"
    > frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" width=\"660\" height=\"550\"
    > title=\"What is Real Simple Syndication?\" \>\<ul\>\<li\>\<a
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/include_content/rss.html\"\>What is
    > Real Simple Syndication?\</a\>\</li\>\</ul\>\</iframe\>

    **Note:** when using the \<include\> on a page that is accessible
    using a virtual URL, be sure to test the page with the virtual URL.

    Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just linking to
    the House's "What is RSS" page. Using \<include\> or \<iframe\>
    retains the consistent look and feel of the rest of the office's Web
    site. A consistent look and feel assists with compliance with
    [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site.** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. If you have a blue navigation toolbar on
    > the left side of one page, there should be a blue navigation
    > toolbar on the left side of every page. If you have links imbedded
    > in text in one issue section, you should do the same thing in
    > every issue section. *Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD)* uses the same
    > horizontal and vertical navigation throughout his site. The only
    > thing that changes on his pages is the content.

[^294]: The [RSS Advisory Board
    recommends](http://www.rssboard.org/news/41/vote-support-common-feed-icon)
    using this icon.

[^295]: \<span style=\"border:1px solid;border-color:#FC9 #630 #330
    #F96;padding:0 3px;font:bold 12px
    verdana,sans-serif;color:#FFF;background:#F60;text-decoration:none;margin:0;\"\>RSS\</span\>

[^296]: \<span style=\"border:1px solid;border-color:#FC9 #630 #330
    #F96;padding:0 3px;font:bold 12px
    verdana,sans-serif;color:#FFF;background:#F60;text-decoration:none;margin:0;\"\>RSS
    2.0\</span\>

[^297]: \<span style=\"border:1px solid;border-color:#FC9 #630 #330
    #F96;padding:0 3px;font:bold 12px
    verdana,sans-serif;color:#FFF;background:#F60;text-decoration:none;margin:0;\"\>XML\</span\>

[^298]: Pages with this tag, when viewed in Firefox, will show a special
    \"live bookmark\" icon in the URL area. Pages with this tag when
    viewed in Internet Explorer 7 will make the RSS icon active. 
    The icon in both browsers becomes a drop-down list of available
    feeds that you can do with as desired.

[^299]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=70)
    (pages 60 and 67) notes that

    > Congressional Web sites can demonstrate accountability by
    > providing voting records, rationales for key votes, and schedules
    > -- and they can do so without overburdening their staffs.
    > Constituents are probably not interested in knowing about every
    > meeting that takes place or every vote taken. Stick to the most
    > relevant and current information: meetings with constituents,
    > public Member appearances in the district or state, committee
    > hearings, the House and Senate floor schedule . . .
    >
    > Most citizens do not understand, or are not familiar with, the
    > intricacies of the congressional schedule. In our research with
    > constituents, they assumed that their elected officials were
    > golfing or on vacation when Congress is in recess. While there
    > isn't much legislative activity to report during recesses, you can
    > correct this misperception by posting a schedule of town hall
    > meetings, reorganizing your home page content, or providing a
    > preview of what the Member, committee, Leader, or Congress will be
    > doing after the break. Every August we see scores of congressional
    > Web sites that haven't been updated since mid-July. Don't let
    > yours be one of them.

    The report (on [page
    57](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=67))
    notes that only " 9.1% of Member sites had a district or state
    schedule and only 7.3% had such information posted within the last
    month".

[^300]: [Rep. Cynthia McKinney's Web
    site](http://web.archive.org/web/20060421022800/http:/www.house.gov/mckinney/monthly_calendar.shtml)
    used WIDA to provide her schedule.

[^301]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(a)
    and (*l*)) provide that "A text equivalent for every non-text
    element shall be provided (e.g., via \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in
    element content). . . . When pages utilize scripting languages to
    display content, or to create interface elements, the information
    provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that
    can be read by assistive technology."

    [Checkpoint 1.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-text-equivalent) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should:

    > Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via
    > \"alt\", \"longdesc\", or in element content). *This includes*:
    > images, graphical representations of text (including symbols),
    > image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and
    > programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as
    > list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or
    > without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks
    > of video, and video. . . .
    >
    > For example, in HTML:

    Use \"alt\" for the IMG, INPUT, and APPLET elements, or provide a
    text equivalent in the content of the OBJECT and APPLET elements.

    For complex content (e.g., a chart) where the \"alt\" text does not
    provide a complete text equivalent, provide an additional
    description using, for example, \"longdesc\" with IMG or FRAME, a
    link inside an OBJECT element, or a [description
    link](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#d-link%23d-link).

    For image maps, either use the \"alt\" attribute with AREA, or use
    the MAP element with A elements (and other text) as content.

    [Checkpoint 6.3 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-scripts) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an accessible Web site
    should:

    > Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other
    > programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is
    > not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative
    > accessible page. . . .
    >
    > For example, ensure that links that trigger scripts work when
    > scripts are turned off or not supported (e.g., do not use
    > \"javascript:\" as the link target). If it is not possible to make
    > the page usable without scripts, provide a text equivalent with
    > the NOSCRIPT element, or use a server-side script instead of a
    > client-side script, or provide an alternative accessible page as
    > per [checkpoint
    > 11.4](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#tech-alt-pages%23tech-alt-pages).
    > [Refer also to guideline
    > 1](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#gl-provide-equivalents%23gl-provide-equivalents).

[^302]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(*l*))
    provide that

    > When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to
    > create interface elements, the information provided by the script
    > shall be identified with functional text that can be read by
    > assistive technology.

    Similarly, [Checkpoint 6.3 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-scripts) *Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an accessible Web site
    should:

    > Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other
    > programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is
    > not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative
    > accessible page.

[^303]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 18.2.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/scripts.html#h-18.2.1)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the "languague" attribute of
    the \<script\> tag as a deprecated attribute).

    The "language" attribute should not be confused with the "lang"
    attribute that specifies the human language of associated text
    (e.g., \<span lang=\"fr\"\>oui\</span\>) or the "hreflang" attribute
    that specifies the primary language of a page being linked to, e.g.,

    > \<a href=\"http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/index.asp?Language=F\"
    > hreflang=\"fr-CA\"\>Parliament of Canada\</a\>

[^304]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that each Congressional Web site include a
    search capability, noting that "While they are common practice off
    the Hill, only 50.2% of House sites and 69.0% of Senate sites have
    functional search engines."

    *Prioritizing Web Usability*, by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger,
    2006 (p. 27) recommends that a search capability be provided in the
    upper right corner of each page.

[^305]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C
    technologies." ([Section 17.8 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#edef-ISINDEX)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* and [§ C.6 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#C_6) *XHTML 1.0 Specification*
    designate the \<isindex\> tag as a deprecated element).

[^306]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    (page 46) recommends that "Visitors to Member sites should . . . be
    able to initiate basic service requests . . . and to solicit
    assistance with academy nominations and internship processes."

[^307]: Item 21 of [*The United States House of Representatives
    Information Security Publication -- Web Site Developers Security
    Checklist*, HISPUB 007.1.56, April 2007 (page
    4](http://www.house.gov/cao-opp/PDFSolicitations/HISPUB_007.1.56.pdf)),
    provides that "All web forms must include direction for public users
    to not pass any sensitive data via the web".

[^308]: Use the "text-decoration: line-through" style sheets property.

[^309]: [Checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C technologies
    ([Section 15.2.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/graphics.html#edef-S) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the \<s\> and \<strike\> tags as
    deprecated elements).

[^310]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*
    (p. 46) notes that "Committees and leadership offices with natural
    constituencies can also provide service information online. The
    *House Committee on Veterans' Affairs* Web site provides information
    on veterans' benefits for its key audience."

[^311]: Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just
    linking to the generic "Student Financial Aid" page. Using
    \<include\> or \<iframe\> retains the consistent look and feel of
    the rest of the office's Web site. A consistent look and feel
    assists with compliance with [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > mode l of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^312]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(d))
    provide that "Documents shall be organized so they are readable
    without requiring an associated style sheet." A virtually identical
    standard is set out in [Checkpoint 6.1 \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-order-style-sheets)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*,

[^313]: For more information on how Jaws interacts with style sheets,
    see "[Does JAWS support cascading style sheets
    (CSS)](http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_support/BulletinView.cfm?QC=1165)?"
    Freedom Scientific (February 1, 2007).

[^314]: For a technical explanation of why this is needed, based on
    priorities within CSS, see Eric Meyer's explanation at
    <http://meyerweb.com/eric/css/link-specificity.html>.

[^315]: For more information on this issue, see
    <http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum83/9334.htm>.

[^316]: Section 1 of the W3C [*Core Techniques for Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines
    1.0*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#structure) provides
    that:

    > When designing a document or series of documents, content
    > developers should strive first to identify the desired structure
    > for their documents before thinking about how the documents will
    > be presented to the user. Distinguishing the structure of a
    > document from how the content is presented offers a number of
    > advantages, including improved accessibility, manageability, and
    > portability.

    Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web Standards* (2^nd^ edition,
    \[2006\]), p.180, recommends that

    > Semantic or meta-structural names (names that explain the function
    > performed by elements contained within) are best. You would feel
    > pretty silly having labeled a part of your site "orangebox" when
    > the client decides to go with blue. You would feel sillier still
    > revising your style sheets under a deadline six months from now
    > and trying desperately to remember whether "Gladys" was a
    > navigational area, a sidebar, a search form, or what.

[^317]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(g))
    provide that

    "Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables". A
    virtually identical standard is set out in [Checkpoint 5.1
    \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-table-headers) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*.

[^318]: The regulations under § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
    ([36 C.F.R. §
    1194.22](http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web)(h))
    provide that

    > Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for
    > data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column
    > headers.

    A virtually identical standard is set out in [Checkpoint 5.2
    \[priority 1\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-table-structure) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0*.

[^319]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an accessible
    Web site should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation."

    One approach to replacing layout tables with styleseets is to use
    \<div\> tags with "class" attributes to invoke stylesheets such as:

    > .nav {float: left; width: 32%;}
    >
    > .maincontent {float: left; width: 32%; margin-left: 1%;
    > margin-right: 1%;}
    >
    > .supnav {float: right; width: 32%;}

    In the example (for a 3-column layout), text in the "nav" class will
    appear in the left column, text in the "maincontent" class will
    appear in the middle column, and text in the "supnav" class will
    appear in the right column.

    **Note:** The total width is deliberately slightly less than 100% in
    order to make the layout compatible with various browsers that do
    not properly implement the CSS box model. This approach is suggested
    in Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web Standards* (2^nd^ edition,
    \[2006\]), p. 297.

    **Additional Note:** Many of the Gecko-based browsers (including
    Firefox and Netscape 7) are unable to print more than one page of
    floated text. A solution to this bug suggested by Eric Meyer is
    basically to set up a print style sheet with "float:none". (See Eric
    Meyer's "[CSS Design: Going to
    Print,](http://alistapart.com/stories/goingtoprint/)" published in A
    List Apart, May 10, 2002.)

    For a strategy (and code) for setting up a 3-column layout with
    fixed-width columns on the left and right, a liquid center, and a
    full-screen width footer, see Matthew Levine's "[In Search of the
    Holy Grail](http://www.alistapart.com/articles/holygrail/)," A List
    Apart (January 30, 2006). **Note**, however, that the strategy in
    Levine's article does not work in Internet Explorer 5.5 -- a WSB
    analysis of www.house.gov usage for April 12 to 16, 2007, indicates
    that IE 5 constitutes 6.85% of the identifiable, non-robot access to
    the site. Additionally, Levine's approach uses the IE "star hack",
    which is [no longer supported by IE starting with IE
    7](http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/10/12/480242.aspx) (which
    constituted 25.34% of [www.house.gov](http://www.house.gov/) usage).

[^320]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C technologies
    ([Section 11.2.6 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/tables.html#h-11.2.6) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "height" and "width" attributes
    of the \<td\> and \<th\> tags as deprecated attributes).

[^321]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C technologies
    ([Section 11.2.6 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/tables.html#h-11.2.6) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* designates the "nowrap" attribute as a
    deprecated attribute).

[^322]: Instructions for implementing a sort function in a Web table can
    be found at Neil Crosby's "[Standardista Table Sorting (A
    client-side JavaScript Table
    Sort)](http://www.workingwith.me.uk/articles/scripting/standardista_table_sorting)."
    An implementation of the sort function can be found at the [homepage
    of the Immigration Reform
    Caucus](http://www.house.gov/bilbray/irc/).

[^323]: [Checkpoint 13.8 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-front-loading) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[p\]lace distinguishing information at the beginning
    of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc."

    Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger in their Prioritizing Web Usability,
    2006 (page 276) note that:

    > The main page title is especially important because it serves as
    > the link to the page in search engine listings. Users speed
    > through those listings, so your page title must convey your
    > purpose in just a few words. Our eye-tracking studies show that
    > users often read only the first words of the search listings, so
    > it's no good to save your information carrying keywords for the
    > end of the title.

[^324]: [Checkpoint 3.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-grammar)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "validate to published formal grammars."

[^325]: Other W3C validators are available at
    <http://www.w3.org/QA/Tools/#validators>.

[^326]: [Checkpoint 3.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-grammar)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "validate to published formal grammars."

[^327]: One option that Cynthia Says provides is to perform an analysis
    of the quality of "alt" attributes. The standards used by Cynthia
    Says to analyze "alt" attributes are set out at
    <http://www.hisoftware.com/cc/altquality.htm>. Cynthia Says also
    detects some deprecated attributes (e.g., "bgcolor" and "nowrap") as
    part of its WCAG priority 2 analysis.

[^328]: Use the "text-decoration: underline" style sheets property.

[^329]: [Checkpoint 3.3 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-style-sheets) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "\[u\]se style sheets to control layout and
    presentation." Additionally, [checkpoint 11.2 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-avoid-deprecated)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible
    Web sites should "\[a\]void deprecated features of W3C technologies
    ([Section A.3.1 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/appendix/changes.html#h-A.3.1.2)
    *HTML 4.01 Specification* designates the \<u\> tag as a deprecated
    element).

[^330]: Jakob Nielsen, in "[Guidelines for Visualizing
    Links](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html)" (May 10, 2004)
    recommends:

    > Don\'t underline any text that\'s not a link, even if your links
    > aren\'t underlined. **Reserve underlining for links**. Because
    > underlines provide a strong perceived affordance of clickability,
    > users will be confused and disappointed if underlined text
    > doesn\'t have an actual affordance to match this perception.

[^331]: One potentially legitimate exception to this standard (and even
    then, one to be used with care) is when you are reproducing text
    that originally existed as non-World Wide Web printed text. As Paul
    Ford notes in "[Processing
    Processing](http://www.ftrain.com/ProcessingProcessing.html#3-anchor)"
    (September 2, 2003) (cited in Jeffrey Zeldman's, *Designing With Web
    Standards* (2^nd^ edition, \[2006\], p. 175):

    > When I\'m publishing content from 1901 and it\'s in italics, it\'s
    > in *italics,* not emphasized. Typography has a semantics that is
    > subtle, changing, and deeply informed by history.

[^332]: The U.S. Code is the official, subject-matter order, compilation
    of the Federal statutes (currently in force), of a general and
    permanent nature, The U.S. Code is compiled by the Office of the Law
    Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. For more
    information, see <http://uscode.house.gov/about/info.shtml>.

[^333]: U.S. Code title numbers run from 1 to 50. For a list of the
    subjects covered by each of the 50 titles, see
    <http://uscode.house.gov/download/ascii.shtml>.

[^334]: U.S. Code section numbers can include numerals, lower case
    letters, upper case letters, and up to one dash, e.g.,
    "123456aaaa-2b". For these purposes, section numbers do not include
    material in parentheses, e.g., "(c)(3)" in "501(c)(3)" -- in this
    instance the "(c)(3)" indicates that this is subsection "(c)(3)" of
    section 501.

[^335]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*
    (p. 46) notes that "Committees and leadership offices with natural
    constituencies can also provide service information online. The
    *House Committee on Veterans' Affairs* Web site provides information
    on veterans' benefits for its key audience."

[^336]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=50)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*
    (p. 42) sites the [veterans section of Rep. Mike Honda's Web
    site](http://www.honda.house.gov/veteransinformation.shtml) as a
    good example of using a Web site to build relations with veterans.

[^337]: Web sites that are hosted on the HIR UNIX server are encouraged
    to use the server-side include along the lines of:

    > \<ul\>\<!\--#include
    > virtual=\"/house/subpage_content/Veterans_content.htm\"
    > \--\>\</ul\>

    All other sites can use code along the lines of:

    > \<ul\>\<iframe
    > src=\"http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/Veterans_content.htm\"
    > frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" width=\"660\" height=\"230\"
    > title=\"Veterans benefits frequently asked questions\" \>\<li\>\<a
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/Veterans_content.htm\"\>Veterans
    > benefits frequently asked questions\</a\>\</li\>\</iframe\>\</ul\>

    **Note:** when using the \<include\> on a page that is accessible
    using a virtual URL, be sure to test the page with the virtual URL.

    Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just linking to
    <http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/Veterans_content.htm>.
    Using \<include\> or \<iframe\> retains the consistent look and feel
    of the rest of the office's Web site. A consistent look and feel
    assists with compliance with [Checkpoint 13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^338]: Created by [Pub. L.
    106-380](http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/useftp.cgi?IPaddress=162.140.64.88&filename=publ380.pdf&directory=/disk3/wais/data/106_cong_public_laws).

[^339]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*
    (p. 46) notes that "Committees and leadership offices with natural
    constituencies can also provide service information online. The
    *House Committee on Veterans' Affairs* Web site provides information
    on veterans' benefits for its key audience."

[^340]: <http://www.loc.gov/vets/>

[^341]: The [Congressional Management
    Foundation's](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    *Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age*
    (p. 46) notes that "Committees and leadership offices with natural
    constituencies can also provide service information online. The
    *House Committee on Veterans' Affairs* Web site provides information
    on veterans' benefits for its key audience."

[^342]: <http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1>

[^343]: Instructions for using CAO-Web Solutions Branch's form_proc
    software to create tour request forms are available on HouseNet at
    <http://housenet.house.gov/webassistance/html/ht_tour_form.htm>.

    Form_proc is the software suggested in Congressional Management
    Foundation's [*Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the
    Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=65),
    (p. 57): "House offices can also simplify their e-mail management by
    utilizing the customized Web-based forms available from House
    Information Resources (i.e. for tour requests, scheduling requests,
    casework, feedback, etc.)."

[^344]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*Congress Online
    2003: Turning the Corner on the Information
    Age*](http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2003.pdf#page=54)
    (page 46) recommends that "\[v\]isitors to Member sites should also
    be able to initiate basic service requests -- for flags, tours,
    photos, and documents, for example . . . "

[^345]: To capture the text of the Tourist Information page, Web sites
    that are hosted on the HIR UNIX server can use the server-side
    include:

    > \<!\--#include
    > virtual=\"/house/subpage_content/Tour_dc_content.htm\" \--\>

    All other sites can use code along the lines of:

    > \<iframe
    > src=\"http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/Tour_dc_content.htm\"
    > scrolling=\"auto\" width=\"660\" height=\"390\" title=\"Washington
    > DC tourist information\"\>\<ul\>\<li\>\<a
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/house/tour_dc.shtml\"\>Washington, DC
    > tourist information\</a\>\</li\>\</ul\>\</iframe\>

    To capture the text of the Visiting DC page, Web sites that are
    hosted on the HIR UNIX server can use the server-side include:

    > \<!\--#include
    > virtual=\"/house/subpage_content/Visitor_content.htm\" \--\>

    All other sites can use code along the lines of:

    > \<iframe
    > src=\"http://www.house.gov/house/subpage_content/Visitor_content.htm
    > \" scrolling=\"auto\" width=\"660\" height=\"390\"
    > title=\"Visiting Washington DC\"\>\<ul\>\<li\>\<a
    > href=\"http://www.house.gov/house/Visitor.shtml\"\>Visiting
    > Washington,, DC\</a\>\</li\>\</ul\>\</iframe\>

    **Note:** when using the \<include\> on a page that is accessible
    using a virtual URL, be sure to test the page with the virtual URL.

    Using the \<include\> or \<iframe\> is preferable to just linking to
    the House's "Washington DC Tourist Information" or "Visiting
    Washington, DC" pages. Using \<include\> or \<iframe\> retains the
    consistent look and feel of the rest of the office's Web site. A
    consistent look and feel assists with compliance with [Checkpoint
    13.4 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-clear-nav-mechanism)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* which provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[u\]se navigation mechanisms in a
    consistent manner."

    [Section 4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CORE-TECHS/#navigation) *Core
    Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* further
    provides that:

    > A consistent style of presentation on each page allows users to
    > locate navigation mechanisms more easily but also to skip
    > navigation mechanisms more easily to find important content. This
    > helps people with learning and reading disabilities but also makes
    > navigation easier for all users. Predictability will increase the
    > likelihood that people will find information at your site, or
    > avoid it when they so desire.
    >
    > Examples of structures that may appear at the same place between
    > pages:

    navigation bars

    the primary content of a page

    > . . .
    >
    > A navigation mechanism creates a set of paths a user may take
    > through your site. Providing navigation bars, site maps, and
    > search features all increase the likelihood that a user will reach
    > the information they seek at your site. If your site is highly
    > visual in nature, the structure might be harder to navigate if the
    > user can\'t form a mental map of where they are going or where
    > they have been. To help them, content developers should describe
    > any navigation mechanisms. It is crucial that the descriptions and
    > site guides be accessible since people who are lost at your site
    > will rely heavily on them.

    The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse Report:
    Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=73)
    (page 63) recommends that Congressional Web sites should:

    > **Keep your format and navigation consistent on every page of your
    > site:** Don't force your audience to learn new formatting and
    > navigational rules on every page of your site. Each page should
    > follow the same pattern. ***Sen. John Cornyn***'s Web site is a
    > model of clearly and consistently organized information. The menu
    > headers and options are clear, and they stay the same throughout
    > the site.

[^346]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=70)
    (page 60) notes that "Most of our award-winning sites keep their
    press releases up-to-date and organized chronologically and by topic
    as well." The report ([page
    17](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=27))
    also notes that, at the time it was compiled, only 28.1% of House
    Member, committee, and leadership Web sites provided press releases
    organized by topic.

[^347]: [Checkpoint 13.1 \[priority 2\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-meaningful-links)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should:

    > Clearly identify the target of each link. \[Priority 2\]
    >
    > [*[Link
    > text]{.underline}*](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#link-text%23link-text)
    > should be meaningful enough to make sense when read out of context
    > \-- either on its own or as part of a sequence of links. Link text
    > should also be terse.
    >
    > For example, in HTML, write \"Information about version 4.3\"
    > instead of \"click here\". In addition to clear link text, content
    > developers may further clarify the target of a link with an
    > informative link title (e.g., in HTML, the \"title\" attribute).

[^348]: [Checkpoint 14.3 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-consistent-style)
    *Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that an
    accessible Web site should "\[c\]reate a style of presentation that
    is consistent across pages".

[^349]: During the 109^th^ Congress, the Web site of the Congressional
    Food Safety Caucus was hosted by Rep. Sherrod Brown. With Rep.
    Brown's election to the Senate in the 110^th^ Congress, the Caucus'
    Web site is in the process of being hosted by [Rep. Rosa
    DeLauro](http://www.house.gov/delauro/).

[^350]: "Dublin Core" is the official implementation of ISO Standard
    15836-2003 and NISO Standard Z39.85-2001.

[^351]: GILS is the official implementation of [44 U.S.C. §
    3511](http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=44&section=3511).

[^352]: Because these tags have values that are likely to remain
    consistent throughout the entire Web site, it is appropriate to have
    them contained in a server-side include, which could then be invoked
    on each HTML page.

    The "profile" attribute of the \<head\> tag should **not** be used
    as a substitute for the server-side include. [Section 7.4.4 of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#profiles) *HTML
    4.01 Specification* (which defines the \<head\> tag "profile"
    attribute) reserves the profile file for definitions of the "name"
    attribute of each \<meta\> tag, rather than as a repository of the
    \<meta\> tags themselves. In the absence of a W3C standard for
    formatting profile files (§ 7.4.4 specifically provides that it
    "does not define formats for profiles"), the Global Multimedia
    Protocols Group has proposed that the profile files be separate
    (X)HTML files that use the \<dl\>, \<dt\>, and \<dd\> tags to define
    the \<meta\> tag "name" attributes (see the GMPG's [*XMDP:
    Introduction and Format
    Description*](http://www.gmpg.org/xmdp/description)).

[^353]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=76)
    (page 66) recommends that "Every congressional Web site should
    prominently display basic contact information, including . . . their
    e-mail address or a link to their contact form".

[^354]: See, e.g., Bert Bos' "[Character
    Encodings](http://www.w3.org/International/O-charset)".

    Use of UTF-8 (or UTF-16) is also consistent with the avoiding the
    problems associated with XML declarations (see footnote Error:
    Reference source not found).

[^355]: UTF-8 is the successor to the series of standards that included
    ISO 8859-1.

[^356]: The Congressional Management Foundation's [*2006 Gold Mouse
    Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol
    Hill*](http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/2006GoldMouseReport.pdf#page=76)
    (page 66) recommends that "Every congressional Web site should
    prominently display basic contact information, including telephone
    and fax numbers, \[and\] the office's physical address".

[^357]: Only use words that are relevant to what is on the page -- do
    not use words that are irrelevant even if you believe that doing so
    will attract people to your site through search engines. In addition
    to the ethical questions that such practices raise, also consider
    Jakob Nielsen's and Hoa Loranger's observation in *Prioritizing Web
    Usability*, 2006 (p. 18):

    > You might ask, "What's the harm in attracting users even if you
    > don't have the product they want? The worst they can do is leave."
    > But actually, they can do worse than leaving: They can never
    > return. Once users have been disappointed several times after
    > clicking your links in a search engine, they may well decide to
    > ignore your site in the future.

[^358]: [Checkpoint 4.3 \[priority 3\] of the
    W3C](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-lang) *Web
    Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0* provides that accessible Web
    sites should "Identify the primary natural language of a document."
    [Checkpoint
    4.1](http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-identify-changes)
    \[priority 1\] provides that accessible Web sites should also
    "Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document\'s
    text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions)."

    The standard for codes to identify individual languages is set out
    in [RFC 4646](http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt) (a
    simplified version is available at the W3C's "[Language tags in HTML
    and
    XML](http://www.w3.org/International/articles/language-tags/Overview.en.php)").

[^359]: Spanish is the primary language of over 10% of the population of
    49 of the 53 congressional districts of California; and is the
    primary language of over 50% of the population of California's
    29^th^, 32^nd^, 35^th^, 39^th^, 40^th^, and 48^th^ Congressional
    Districts, according to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of
    Southern California's [*California Speaks: Language Diversity and
    English Proficiency by Legislative
    District*](http://apalc.org/demographics/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/apalc_californiaspeaks.pdf#page=139)
    (pp. 137-189).

    A collection of U.S. Government material in Spanish is available at

    http://www.usa.gov/gobiernousa/index.shtml

[^360]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Arabic is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Arabic>

[^361]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Arabic script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0600.pdf>; with supplemental
    material at <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0750.pdf>,
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFB50.pdf>, and
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFE70.pdf>.

[^362]: Armenian is the primary language of over 10% of the population
    of California's 29^th^ Congressional District, according to the
    Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California's
    [*California Speaks: Language Diversity and English Proficiency by
    Legislative
    District*](http://apalc.org/demographics/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/apalc_californiaspeaks.pdf#page=167)
    (p. 165).

    A collection of U.S. Government material in Armenian is available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Armenian>

[^363]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Armenian script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0530.pdf>; with supplemental
    material at <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0530.pdf>.

[^364]: Chinese is the primary language of over 10% of the population of
    California's 8^th^, 12^th^, and 29^th^ Congressional Districts,
    according to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern
    California's [*California Speaks: Language Diversity and English
    Proficiency by Legislative
    District*](http://apalc.org/demographics/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/apalc_californiaspeaks.pdf#page=146)
    (pp. 144, 148, and 165).

    A collection of U.S. Government material in Chinese is available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Chinese>

[^365]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Unihan (the CJK Unified Ideographs)
    is set out at <http://www.unicode.org/charts/unihan.html>.

[^366]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Flemish is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Dutch>

[^367]: The 2000 U.S. Census indicates that 5.3% of households in Maine
    and 4.7% of households in Louisiana speak French.

    A collection of U.S. Government material in French is available at

    http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#French

[^368]: A collection of U.S. Government material in German is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#German>

[^369]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Greek is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Greek>

[^370]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for modern Greek script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0370.pdf>; with supplemental
    material at <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F00.pdf>.

[^371]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Hebrew is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Hebrew>

[^372]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Hebrew script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0590.pdf>; with supplemental
    material at <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFB00.pdf>.

[^373]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Hindi is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Hindi>

[^374]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Devanagari script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0900.pdf>.

[^375]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Hmong is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Hmong>

[^376]: For information on Pahawh Hmong script, see
    <http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hmong.htm>.

[^377]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Italian is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Italian>

[^378]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Japanese is
    available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Japanese>

[^379]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Hiragana script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U3040.pdf>.

[^380]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Katakana script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U30A0.pdf>; with supplemental
    material at <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U31F0.pdf> and
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFF00.pdf>.

[^381]: Korean is the primary language of over 5% of the population of
    California's 33^rd^ Congressional District, according to the Asian
    Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California's [*California
    Speaks: Language Diversity and English Proficiency by Legislative
    District*](http://apalc.org/demographics/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/apalc_californiaspeaks.pdf#page=171)
    (p. 169).

    A collection of U.S. Government material in Korean is available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Korean>

[^382]: For information on the scripts associated with Korean, see
    <http://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm>.

[^383]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Hangeul script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UAC00.pdf>.

[^384]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Lao is available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Laotian>

[^385]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Lao script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0E80.pdf>.

[^386]: Persian is the primary language of over 5% of the population of
    California's 30^th^ Congressional District, according to the Asian
    Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California's [*California
    Speaks: Language Diversity and English Proficiency by Legislative
    District*](http://apalc.org/demographics/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/apalc_californiaspeaks.pdf#page=168)
    (p. 166).

    A collection of U.S. Government material in Persian is available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Farsi>

[^387]: For information on representing Persian text on the Web, see
    Behdad Esfahbad's [*Persian Computing with
    Unicode*](http://behdad.org/download/Publications/persiancomputing/a007.pdf),
    April 2004. The current Unicode

[^388]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Polish is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Polish>

[^389]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Portuguese is
    available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Portuguese>

[^390]: a collection of U.S. Government material in Punjabi is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Punjabi>

[^391]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Gurmukhi script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0A00.pdf>.

[^392]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Russian is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Russian>

[^393]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Cyrillic script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0400.pdf>; with supplemental
    material at <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0500.pdf>.

[^394]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Samoan is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Samoan>

[^395]: Tagalog is the primary language of over 5% of the population of
    California's 7^th^, 12^th^, 13^th^, and 51^st^ Congressional
    Districts, according to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of
    Southern California's [*California Speaks: Language Diversity and
    English Proficiency by Legislative
    District*](http://apalc.org/demographics/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/apalc_californiaspeaks.pdf#page=145)
    (pp. 143, 148, 149, and 187).

    A collection of U.S. Government material in Tagalog is available at

    http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Tagalog

[^396]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Tagalog script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1700.pdf>.

[^397]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Thai is available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Thai>

[^398]: The Unicode 5.0 Standard for Thai script is set out at
    <http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0E00.pdf>.

[^399]: A collection of U.S. Government material in Ukrainian is
    available at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Ukrainian>

[^400]: Vietnamese is the primary language of over 5% of the population
    of California's 15^th^, 16^th^, 46^th^, and 47th Congressional
    Districts, according to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of
    Southern California's [*California Speaks: Language Diversity and
    English Proficiency by Legislative
    District*](http://apalc.org/demographics/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/apalc_californiaspeaks.pdf#page=153)
    (pp. 151, 152, 182, and 183).

    A collection of U.S. Government material in Vietnamese is available
    at

    <http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/multilanguage/multilang.htm#Vietnamese>

[^401]: This model privacy policy is intended to be consistent with the
    privacy notice content regulations issued pursuant to the:

    Children's Online Privacy Protection Act - regulations set out at
    [16 C.F.R. §
    312.4](http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/11feb20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/16cfr312.4.pdf)(b)(2);

    Privacy Act - regulations set out at [OMB Memorandum M-99-18,
    attachment (Guidance and Model Language for Federal Web Site Privacy
    Policies)](http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m99-18attach.html);

    E-Government Act -- regulations are set out at [OMB Memorandum
    M-03-22,](http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m03-22.html#a)
    [attachment
    A](http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m03-22.html#a) , § III.