Text Only Browsers, SEO and Accessibility

A text only browser reflects both how a search engine and assistive technologies, such as a screen reader, will display your site to users. This information needs to make sense.

Lynx viewer
a text only browser to check your site

w3c accessibility guidelines
WCAG10 guidelines for a more accessible site

Web Designer Profile: Andy Budd

website: http://www.andybudd.com/
company: Clear: Left
org: SkillSwap
Based out of: UK
conference: d'Construct
book: CSS Mastery
talks about: CSS & Web Standards and Accessibility
devoted fan of: Movable Type and Mac OS X


Has a list of Free Designer Resources and his Favorite Sites

Trick Out Your A HREF

Resources:
rev & ref attributes: Boost Your Hyperlink Power

CSS:
Styling Links

Accessibility

"Although many people automatically think about people with some sort of physical impairment when accessibility is mentioned, the term actually refers to a Web site that is open to all. Even visitors with old equipment, tiny monitors, slow modems, and screen readers can use accessible Web sites.What happens when a designer considers how the page will look to all visitors? The usability level of the site increases, as does visitor satisfaction - and hopefully repeat visitors. You don't have to design an ugly site geared towards the lowest common denominator. Just put some thought into how the site looks in configurations other than your own.If you assume that "everyone" has a huge monitor running at the highest possible resolution or other cutting edge equipment, then you could be locking out well over half of your visitors. Why not invite them in instead?"

Providing text equivalents for non-text elements in the form of an alt or longdesc tag

Resources:
30 days to a more accessible web site
Accessify

Test Your Site

Test your site in multiple browsers, browser versions, screen resolutions, operating systems, and monitor sizes combinations.
Become familiar with the major assistive technologies used by visitors with disabilities.
Running IE 6 and 7 at the same time

Screen Resolution And Web Page Design

Read Optimal width for 1024px resolution?

I wish I did before I wrote all the following out...
The comments have both good information and a fixed vs fluid debate. Comment debates give me headaches.

Here's the archaic research I did:

Researching an old question for the newest answer.

1. Check Visitor Stats
2. If you have no stats history, Check Current Research - Preferably Industry and Geographically Specific

2001 [1]
Check your visitor stats
Reference online user surveys at WebSideStory and BrowserNews
They indicate that 800x600 is the most popular resolution, with 1024x768 close behind in 2001.
A page optimized for 800x600 should have a maximum width of about 760 pixels.

2005 [4]
The rightmost part of a page is cut off when printing a frozen page. This is especially true for Europeans, who use narrower paper (A4) than Americans
mistake #1 is to freeze the fonts - then they are too small for browsers

2006 [3]
Percentage Of Users:
1024 × 768 - 56% (2005) & 50% (2004)
800 × 600 - 28% (2005) & 35% (2004)

Screen Size In Browser:

For Screen size 800 × 600
IE 6 779 × 400
Firefox 781 × 434
Opera 777 × 427
Mozilla 779 × 420
Netscape 781 × 389

For Screen size 1024 × 768
IE 6 1003 × 568
Firefox 1005 × 602
Opera 1001 × 595
Mozilla 1003 × 588
Netscape 1005 × 557

"I use both fixed-width and percentage-based designs, and determine which to use based on user research, intended audience and client expectations. If I use a fixed-width design I tend towards an 800 × 600 screen size, usually around a 762 × 400 design size. If I use a percentage-based design I will design in stretch points so that the information looks good at both of the dominant screen sizes." - Joshua David McClurg-Genevese


Resources:
1. Screen Resolution And Page Design [Dec 2001]
2. Screen, which screen size should a web designer design for? [May 2000]
3. Designing for the Web [Jan 2006]
4. Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005 [Oct 2005]

Read More:
Resolution Dependent Layout
Accessibilty Guide to Screen Resolution and Page Layout