I came across a slightly changed version of Google that was designed for accessibilty (web search for the visually impaired) at http://labs.google.com/accessible/

Having used this version, although there was some variance in results from the standard international version of Google, I found it really refreshing to use a search engine that did not have any paid for ads visible on the results pages.

I also thought this was a great idea, as it could be a shining beacon for following the w3c conventions of accessibility, which is a drive to ensure that as many websites are as accessible to as many people as possible. However, when I tried to validate the page using the w3c validator, I was rather disappointed to discover that the code actually wasnt valid.

As we all know, following w3c standards is advisable wherever possible, but sadly is not always used, especially by established sites.

There are also some web designers that will attempt to scare some webmasters that are unaware that the standards the w3c work for are advisory rather than compulsory ones. It is important to follow these if at all possible as it opens up a website to anyone who wants to visit it, however, the move to following these standards is likely to be a slow process, and it is likely that it will not be compulsory for many years to come (if ever)!