Have you ever tried loading up your site without CSS and Javascript? If not give it a try, in firefox its as easy as:

Turn off CSS from the menu. (View -> Page Style -> No Style )

Turn off Javascript. Firefox preferences -> Content tab -> Enable Java script by unticking the checkbox.

Personally, I try to build sites from day one so that they work in some way (maybe somewhat limited) without CSS and Javascript enabled.

If you've not tried this before, it may give you a bit of a surprise.

Why do I write this?

Sometimes I run the Firefox NoScript plugin that allows me to decide which sites can use Javascript. Many times when I first hit pages without Javascript enabled they do not render properly until javascript is enabled. Also, its worth making sure that your site looks good to users who use an alternate style sheet. Try turning off CSS on this page and you'll see that it is still quite readable.

Not only is optimising for users with alternate style sheets good for accessibility, its also good for search engines as the content you want them to index is closer to the top. Just imagine if you could not use the standard css sheet for some reason, and you had to scroll down the page just to see the content.

Here's a great site I refer to quite a lot about building a standards compliant site.

If you are using Grails or site mesh directly, then many of the things discussed here are made easier. Mainly because site mesh introduces the idea of outer templates and once these templates render correctly, its much easier to make sure that the rest of the pages render properly.