In the 14 areas I cover here in Va, only one is on line.  That is Virginia Beach.  www.vblandrecords.com
The indexes you look at online here are the EXACT same system at the courthouse, no differences.  You need a subscription to actually view the documents though, so you have to fill out an app and have the Clerk Approve it and you get a user name and password.  If you do not have an account you CAN NOT view the documents or print them from online.  This is how the Clerk keeps track of who remotely accesses the records.
I HOWEVER, use the indexes only to get a recording date, see if a recording was filed or make a copy every now and again.  We still go to the courthouse every day to do the work.
Though I do not personally agree with the records even being online in the first place,  I know that in some areas, that is how the searches are done.  If the abstractor chooses to do this, I am sure they have enough confidence in their work to use those online records.

And on the NALTEA front, as the chair for the education committee, we have not specified in the certification guidelines that searches have to be done at a courthouse level.  We trust that the abstractors who are qualified enough to become certified have the integrity and knowledge to put out a good work product and know what resources are good and which are not and will take that in to account doing their work.