Should I provide these things by default or only on client request

Question

Should I provide these things by default or only on client request (if they are paying for these)

• Try to implement graceful degradation on JavaScript
• Print css
• Handheld CSS
• Form validation
• Combine all CSS and JS into one if possible and minified them
• XML Site-map
• Skip to main content link
• Fluid layout
• make Abbr ,Acronym if possible
• Tabindex
• Accesskey
• Shorthand CSS
• Site testing in all browsers

All things takes time.

Should we consider about

• User who will take print
• User with javascript disabled
• Small screen users
• SEO
• Usability on forms
• Screen reader users

If client nothing said about these.

Answer 1

At the end of the day, your work speaks volumes about you as a person. If you short-change your customers, others will see, and will reconsider hiring you.

The minimum ought to be a fully-functional site that renders properly on the primary browsers. Having print-ready CSS is nice, but I wouldn't spend too much time on it unless the client requested it. Regarding "skip to content" links - if you need one of those, you may want to reconsider your design; users shouldn't have to hunt down your content.

Answer 2

You should charge for your time. The contract should enumerate all substantial items so the client knows where your time is spent. They should have the option to choose to leave things out if it's not important to them, hopefully taking your advice as appropriate.

Answer 3

from my perspective as a user, no-script support (degradation) is an expected feature. form validation might have security and usability implications (yes, you shouldn't rely only on client side validation) but teh rest look like valid optional extras to me. especially the minified CSS/JS, which is mainly a performance issue (dont think the bandwidth hit is substantial)

Answer 4

Well, it depends. If you are making a "from scratch" design to sell to people, the more the better. If you are working for a single client, then all specifications should at the very least be agreed upon in the beginning, and worked into the costing.

All the above can be implemented as features down the track as well, however a few things I would do anyway are the following, as these are functional, and some very important:

• Print CSS
• Form validation **
• XML Site Map
• No-Script Tags **

** Important to implement these in my opinion