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This is Interesting: Free Magazines for Graphics designers and webmasters
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Critique my company's revised web site. |
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Re: Critique my company's revised web site. |
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 09-15-04 - 05:17 PM 
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Spartanicus wrote:
> Bad:
> 1) JS browser sniffing
I have to use some CSS tweaks for different browsers. Is there a way
around this?
> 2) Div soup
?
> 3) <h2 class="welcome" title="Welcome."><b>Welcome</b></h2>
> What on earth are the title and <b> for?
> 4) The above content is not a header, loose it
The title attribute is a requirement according to the W3C WAI
guidelines. The <b> is set to display:none; and therefore the welcome
text will only appear if the user disables css (as opposed to the
image). <strong> performs the same job as <b> and is also emphisised by
screen readers. That is my reasoning for using <strong> throughout and
"reserving" <b> for users who choose to disable CSS.
> 5) "Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to visit our site."
> Get rid of this nonsense
My boss' choice :o
> 6) <h3 class="none"> </h3>
> Get rid of this junk
To conform to the W3C WAI guidelines, there has to be a structured
heading hierarchy. If there is no H3 section on a page, I simply hide it
like that.
> 7) Incorrect header descendence
? All pages have <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6> in order... ?
> 8) <p style="margin : 0 0 0 0;text-align : center;">
> Loose the inline styles
OK, good point.
> 9) List of links not marked up as such
?
> 10) Incorrect usage of <strong> throughout
See above, although the only use I know of for strong is to emphasise a
word... no?
> 11) Incorrect usage of <b> throughout
See above.
> 12) JS menus, loose them
To be fair, I have provided a non-JS version of every menu item.
> 13) Microfonts
Yes, but only in the menu I suppose I can fix that :o
> 14) Bobby and Valid XHTML buttons: don't mention the mechanics
It looks good, and every page checks out ... I'm proud of that :)
> 15) XHTML: fad
>
It's a *standard*.
Thanks for taking the time to critique this website.
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Re: Critique my company's revised web site. |
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09-16-04 - 12:17 AM
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On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 16:11:47 +0100, john henry bonham <with@he.ld> wrote:
> Spartanicus wrote:
>
I do agree. I'll help answer some of the questions...
>
> I have to use some CSS tweaks for different browsers. Is there a way
> around this?
Many. Likely though, the problems you have come from overcomplexity.
You have this need to put style in your HTML. If you really want the page
to be accessible, begin with NO style. Pretend it never existed, and all
we have are headings, lists, paragraphs and that kind of thing. No bold,
no italics, no refined sugar, you know the drill.
I'm viewing your page in text mode on Opera, and visually it makes a
little sense, but it'd make MORE sense if you applied a more semantic
approach to your markup.
>
> ?
Too many neutral or unnecessary elements. Simplify.
See the following nested h2 and b for an example. It carries no semantic
meaning on the page. So it's what's more commonly called "tag soup". Use
only the HTML you need to express to the user agent what role each piece
of content plays in the page.
Or look at this:
<p class="left">
To speak to one of our sales representatives, please call:
</p>
<p class="left">
<strong>01249 654 871</strong>
</p>
<p class="centered">
<a class="left" href="website-pricing.php?contact">Or leave us a
message</a>
</p>
Are these really separate paragraphs? Nope. So don't mark them up that
way!!
>
> The title attribute is a requirement according to the W3C WAI
> guidelines. The <b> is set to display:none; and therefore the welcome
> text will only appear if the user disables css (as opposed to the
> image).
What image? Use alt to set what an image should be replaced with.
Oh, you must be using a background image for the Welcome header. Don't.
The hoops you're jumping through are only hurting the usefulness of the
page.
This isn't necessary, you've goe the long way to get there, and you're not
even there.
> <strong> performs the same job as <b>
NO it does NOT. They are distinct.
strong means this word is strongly emphasized in the sentence. You
<strong>must</strong> use semantic markup, for example. Most graphic UAs
boldface it, but a reader will stress the word.
b means that the author means to force boldface on the user with no
recognized semantic purpose. About the only real purpose for b is in
scientific equations where vectors are often bolded. b should rarely be
used, instead either use semantic markup (like a heading or strong) or set
it in CSS. And Lynx won't boldface at all, so what happens there?
You're assuming a lot about presentation in your markup. Please get out of
that old style of thinking!
> and is also emphisised by screen readers.
Damn straight. WHAT IF I TYPED MY WHOLE SENTENCE LIKE THIS?? That's
similar to the effect a sentence of strong has on a reader.
> That is my reasoning for using <strong> throughout and "reserving" <b>
> for users who choose to disable CSS.
If they choose to disable CSS, then don't use b, they don't want the damn
boldface!
Set it in CSS if you like it bold. If the page can survive something not
in the HTML, definitely strip it out.
>
> My boss' choice :o
Sorry. It is lame.
>
> To conform to the W3C WAI guidelines, there has to be a structured
> heading hierarchy. If there is no H3 section on a page, I simply hide it
> like that.
Cheating. Find a better way.
Do you want to satisfy a list of criteria, or do you truly want the site
to be accessible? They are different things. If you want just the former,
we can't really be much help, because you can train a monkey to follow a
list of rules.
>
> ? All pages have <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6> in order... ?
Generally, h1 is the primary header, h2's are sectional headers, h3's are
sub-sectional headers, etc. This is not a hard rule but it is accepted
style for this type of document.
>
> ?
<a class="main_menu" href="index.php" id="n0"
title="Homepage.">Home</a><b>|</b><a class="main_menu"
href="website-development.php" id="n1" title="Website Design.">Website
Design</a><b>|</b><a class="main_menu" href="it-services.php" id="n2"
title="IT Services">IT Services</a><b>|</b><a class="main_menu"
href="contact-us.php" id="n3" title="Contact Us">Contact Us</a>
It's a list. Use list markup and CSS to do this more logically and simply.
Again, stop obsessing over the rendering and focus on the semantic meaning
in HTML. That goes farther toward making a page accessible than Bobby ever
can.
>
> See above, although the only use I know of for strong is to emphasise a
> word... no?
<strong>Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to visit our
site.</strong>
A whole sentence? No no no. This will sound like you're yelling at me.
Use CSS to add this type of typographic style.
>
> See above.
<h2 class="welcome" title="Welcome."><b>Welcome</b></h2>
b is used when content must be boldfaced according to style. No reason to
use it within heading markup, which will already carry that rendering in
any browser that supports it.
Use CSS to modify any element's rendering.
>
> To be fair, I have provided a non-JS version of every menu item.
Then why bother with the Js?
>
> Yes, but only in the menu I suppose I can fix that :o
Mmm-hmm... they all say that...
>
> It looks good, and every page checks out ... I'm proud of that :)
>
>
> It's a *standard*.
Whose standard? Sure ain't mine!
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