All posts by bogeywebdesign

accessibility, css, web design

Keeping Accessibility In Mind

I saw this article awhile back and meant to blog about it, but haven’t had the time.  In working on my site redesign though it struck my eye as I was perusing my links and felt the urge to share it.

Recently, Target was sued in a class action suit because their site was inaccessible to the vision impaired.  It has been a law for awhile now that web sites, like other facilities open to the public, must be accessible to all.  When doing a redesign you must keep in mind not only the various browsers and screen resolutions it’s users might have – but also other mitigating factors that might cause them to be unable to use your work as intended.

I am not well versed on the subject, but I would check out Molly’s blog – she has done a lot for the web standards and accessibility community.

Random Tidbit: In further perusing my links I found another link from Juicy Studio talking about Validity and Accessibility – well worth a look and a bookmark on del.icio.us.

life

More Random Tidbits

I have been very busy with my new job and an update for my website – so I have not thought of anything interesting to say.  I have however, found some interesting links that I felt like sharing:

I have more that I’ll share in future blogs, but I had a backlog of them available.  Enjoy.

life, web design

Gainfully Employed

I am proud to say I have now joined the team of Helium.com and hope that I can live up to their expectations and my own.  I think this is an excellent opportunity to grow my skills, expand my knowledge base and learn from people who are on the cutting edge of both web standards and web 2.0.  The experience I gain will be invaluable.

This does mean, however, that my posts will become even more infrequent.  I know this will disappoint my faithful readers – all 8 of you – but in order for me to achieve my goals I must prioritize my activities.

I hope that if you are a regular reader of my blog, you have – and will continue to get – something useful out of it.  Have a happy and safe new year.

css, web design

A Tale of two Posts

I was perusing through my RSS feeds the other day and came upon two posts that caused polar opposite feelings for the future of web design in relation to web standards, CSS and what I hope to do with my life.

The first was Smashing Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful CSS-Based Web Designs in 2006.   Seeing some of the beautiful, cutting edge and still standards compliant sites that people can design is uplifting.  I can learn a great deal and draw lots of inspiration from more then a few on the list.  I thought it might be a sign that the days of the past – nested table designs, tag soup and such – might finally be starting to move into the past.

Unfortunately I came upon a separate post that leans 180 degrees the other way – Are Web Standards Bad for Business.  I had hoped this was a post written by someone new to the field or ignorant of the benefits.  This was not to be.  The writer is well versed on what standards compliance means and, in fact, someone who practices designing compliant sites.

Coming from a site that had a lot of “legacy” code that I spent a lot of time upgrading – as well as my as yet limited skills could – to more compliant CSS/XHTML form, a lot of the points he made hit home.  Sometimes you have no control.  Sometimes what the customer buys before you’re even involved handcuffs you with regard to design and no matter how hard you fight you can’t always win.

It’s hard enough setting yourself apart from the pack when (quote from same blog) “print based designers with no desire or experience in web standards design can churn out “pretty” cookie cutter web sites via using various automated software product.”  To have to teach about why standards compliance are worth it as well just makes it that much more difficult.

If Molly and Meyer can’t come up with a better solution, I don’t think I can.  I just hope that I see more of the former in the future, rather then the latter.

Random Tidbit: Since this post is already talking about explaining programming/design to the non-programmer/designer I wanted to list an interesting post along the same line.  Check out The Iceberg Secret, Revealed on Joel on Software.

books, life, science fiction

Don’t Panic

I’ve been reading an excellent book recently that I saw on a list of the 5 books every geek should read and wanted to recommend it as the best on the list. It is also one of the few books I would actually recommend that you see the movie first – simply because of how odd the book is. It is the 6 books of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy – better known as the The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Be forewarned that it can be odd and seemingly pointless at times, but if you get it, it can be one of funnier books that you will read. It also has some interesting bits of philosophy in it – mostly poking fun at or exploring the oddity that is life.

I have read 4 of the other books and would recommend them as well. Neuromancer seems to be where they get a lot of the ideas for the Shadowrun books. Ringworld also seems to be an idea well for several other series. Finally, Asimov was always a good science fiction writer.

Enjoy. And remember – don’t panic.

Random Tidbit: It’s always important to remember The Ten Commandments of Web Design.