Those of us on the HOW Forum have been getting a kick out of this guy throwing rhymes about standards-based Web design.
And it’s so true. Good Web design isn’t just about a pretty layout drawn up in Photoshop. It is a mixture of good design, grid-based layout, accessibility, clean coding and styling and best practices for search engine optimization. It is also about consistent cross-browser compatibility….including Internet Explorer 6 (did I just say a bad word?).
It’s not just about taking Frontpage, Dreamwever, Go Live, Pagemill, ExpressionWeb (have I forgotten any?), slapping some tables on a page, adding some pretty colors, putting ten different fonts in your layout, adding some javascript you found free on the Web, saving it as HTML and calling yourself a Web Designer anymore.
Good Web design is an intricate, professional practice that not everyone with a computer and some software can accomplish. However, it (like every design profession) is becoming more and more undervalued. No one wants to pay a professional rate for professional services when their 16 year-old can make their business a “flashy” page for free.
Oh well. Rant over. Back to turning APSU’s 70,000+ pages into a successful, accessible site for all.
I know I haven’t posted in a while. I have been enjoying my family and the wonderful journey we are taking. It is late on the 23rd, my wife and son are already asleep. We spent Saturday night at my parents and Tanner did not sleep well. He has never slept well away from home. And I know some of it is because it is really the first Christmas for him. He is so excited. Last year, he didn’t realize what was happening. But, this year, he is going to town on this Christmas thing!
So, I hope we can get some rest and relaxation tonight. Tomorrow is another big day…two houses. Then two more on Christmas Day.
The holidays are almost more stress than relaxation for us. A marathon of eight houses in five days for the Wilsons. But, seeing the joy in my son’s eyes has made it all worth it so far.
So, I want to extend a blessed holiday season to all of you. I hope you can feel the warmth and joy of Christmas in your hearts and I wish you the best in 2008.
As part of the HOW Forum, members known as “HOWies” put together a book of art based on a quarterly theme. The latest theme was “Robots.” So, as an added bonus to my submission, I created some desktop wallpapers. I have included them here if anyone would like to use them. They are based upon the concept that outdated items of technology are upset at new technologies, such as the iPhone or the Roomba.
Stumble it!
