Nearly a year after a rather abortive attempt at blogging, I’ve decided to try again. I’ve chosen to violate one of Jakob Nielsen’s Top Ten New Mistakes of Web Design, by removing a handful of my old posts (it’s number six on his list). They weren’t me; they lacked personality, and tended to be overly preachy and high-minded. But that’s okay, as no one read them anyway. I’ve also chosen to expand my focus to include politics and public education in Utah. I realize this is a rather broad leap from discussions on web standards and Internet usability/accessibility, but it’s an issue that is important to me.

I’ve struggled with the site layout. I wanted something different from what WordPress offered. In no particular order, I wanted:

• Table-less design
• Three-column layout, with fixed sides and a variable width
• Browser-independent (X)HTML, free of hacks
• A source order that placed my content first, and my side columns second, yet still maintaining left and right columns

I didn’t get everything I wanted, but I came pretty close. This layout is based loosely on The Jello Mold Piefecta. I’m still moving things around a bit, so you may find an occasional validation error or glitch.

I also still need to add some usability pieces, including "jump to navigation" links, and a stylesheet for smaller screens. I also intent to experiment with ways to allow users to apply a large print style sheet easily. I’ve seen several sites do it, but it’s generally through a prefs link that isn’t easily accessible.

Posted in General, Web Standards