This website is the official repository of the [1] Declaration of Standards Compliance. This declaration is an expression of understanding, compliance, and assent to basic web standards and accessibility. It is an evolving document open to discussion and change as the web itself evolves and changes. I encourage you to [2] read it and [3] join in the conversation. This is just one more way of [4] getting the word out and getting people interested in the need for web standards and web accessibility.

Disclaimer

Before anyone gets in an uproar and thinks that I am perhaps mocking the document upon which this is based–The Declaration of Independence–I'm not. I don't know of a clearer way to outline an ongoing problem and then express the need for action and the conviction to carry it out. As a pure study in writing, it's one of the greatest essays ever written. I humbly borrow from the masters.

Signatories

The signatories on this document are those who have met the requirements outlined below at the time they "signed" the document. It does not represent an ongoing policing of their site to check for maintenance of those standards. Their "signatures" link back to their websites, and they are free to display (or not to display) the [1] Declaration of Standards Compliance signatory badge as long as that badge links back to the declaration itself.

Becoming a Signatory

If it is your wish to become an official signatory of this important document and help to promote the standards and methods therein espoused, then there are some requirements that you need to be aware of before you submit your site:

1. First and foremost, your own site must be standards-based, well coded, and reasonably accessible.
2. Your site must not be pornography-, online-gambling-, or hate-oriented. I don’t want to look at sites of that nature. I don’t care how well coded they are, and neither do their users.
3. You must write an article (or post) on your own blog or site about the need for web standards and accessibility in general and reference and link to the [1] Declaration of Standards Compliance in particular in that article. (Writing an article does not guarantee signatory status. You can [7] contact me prior to writing the article if you’re worried that there might be some reason I would refuse you as a signatory, but an article like that is worth writing for its own merit.)
4. You must [7] contact me, let me know about your article, and request signatory status.

Removal of a Signatory

I do reserve the right to remove a signatory (and its link) from the document and withdraw the right to display the signatory badge if the site linked from the signature should begin promoting pornography, online-gambling, or hate-oriented content or is in some way being used to violate the law.

Legalities

Any request to become a signatory shall be considered as an agreement to be bound by all the terms outlined on this page. These terms are subject to change at the sole discretion of the site owner. All visitors are encouraged to read this site’s [9] privacy policy prior to commenting or contacting the site owner. All content on this site (including the [1] Declaration of Standards Compliance) is the sole property of the site’s owner, ptvGuy, and is protected by international copyright law. It is made available for distribution subject to a [11] Creative Commons Attribution, NonCommercial, NoDerivs 2.5 License and only under those terms.