Accessibility is rightly a key topic in web design these days. Public domain information should be freely available to people regardless of their disability, social status, location or equipment. I consider three sources to be the starting point for producing the best, compliant presentation of information on the Web.
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W3C HTML and CSS Recommendations
These provide a well structured information hierarchy and the means to separate it from the formatting of presentation. My work is based on the XHTML 1.0 Strict recommendation and CSS 2.1 specification.
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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Defines factors that should be taken into account in order to make information more easily accessible and useable for everyone, especially those with disabilities. I currently attempt to meet WCAG 1.0 guidelines.
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User Testing
Nothing beats actual human users for finding the faults in a design. Unfortunately, finding this sort of help for anything non-commercial is often difficult; try friends and relatives. Automated tests are a good start, but people will always focus on what really matters to them.
Whilst this website is designed to conform to Web Standards and with the intention of meeting WCAG Priority level 1, 2 and 3 automated tests, I would appreciate any feedback from actual live users.