The online playground of Andrea Schwandt-Arbogast: web design, university web development, animals, books, and other slices of life.

DWWS

Published 17 Sep 2003

I finally got my hands on DWWS by Jeffrey Zeldman. We had to wait for both the state of California and HSU to get their budgets in order before we could do any ordering for this fiscal year. I am enjoying reading through it and seeing well-detailed, lucid explanations of the design strategies I take for granted. This is very timely, since the university is starting to re-think its approach to its web presence.

I am hoping that they will heed the good advice offered in this book and by the designers within their institution. Who exactly they are has yet to be determined, so it is an exciting and uncertain time for the web at HSU.

I really wish that certain LMS vendors would heed this advice and stop putting out bloated code that could be much more efficient. Here is a nice excerpt of the Sys Admin panel code, which coomprises only about 1/8th of the page source:

 &lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;1&quot; WIDTH='450'
         class=&quot;moduleBorder&quot; summary=&quot;&amp;nbsp;Portal Areas
         Module&quot;&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing = &quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;2&quot; summary= &quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;a
         id= &quot;4&quot; name=&quot; 4&quot;&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;moduleTitlePm &quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;Portal
         Areas &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; summary=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td
         class=&quot;moduleBody&quot;&gt;&lt;table width=&quot;100%&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td
         valign=&quot;top&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;50%&quot; nowrap=&quot;1&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#efefef&quot;&gt;&lt;font
         size=&quot;2&quot; face=&quot;Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;&lt;table
         border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; face=&quot;Arial,
         Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;&lt;a HREF=&quot;/webapps/portal/admin/tabs.jsp&quot; TARGET= &quot;_self&quot;&gt;Manage &amp;nbsp; Tabs&lt;/a&gt;&lt; /font&gt; &amp;nbsp&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt; td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font
         size=&quot;2&quot; face=&quot;Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;&lt;a
         HREF=&quot;/webapps/portal/admin/modules.jsp&quot; TARGET=&quot;_self&quot;&gt; Manage&amp;nbsp;Modules&lt; /a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt; /tr&gt;&lt; tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font
         size=&quot; 2&quot; face=&quot;Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot; color=&quot;#4f4f4f&quot; &gt; Manage&amp;nbsp; Channels&lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td
         valign=&quot;top&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot; 50%&quot; nowrap=&quot; 1&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#efefef&quot;&gt;&lt;font
         size=&quot;2&quot; face=&quot;Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot; &gt;&lt;table
         border=&quot; 0&quot;&gt; &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt; b&gt;&lt;font size= &quot;2&quot; face=&quot;Arial,
         Helvetica, sans-serif &quot; &gt;&lt;a HREF=&quot;/webapps/portal/admin/palette_items.jsp?palette_family=tools&quot; TARGET=&quot;_self&quot;&gt;Manage&amp;nbsp;Tool&amp ;nbsp; Panel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font
         size=&quot;2&quot; face=&quot;Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif &quot;&gt;&lt;a
         HREF=&quot;/bin/admin/admin_tab.pl?family=pa_settings&quot; TARGET=&quot;_self&quot;&gt;Settings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&amp; nbsp&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font
          size=&quot;2&quot; face=&quot;Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot; color=&quot;#4f4f4f&quot;&gt;Export&amp;nbsp;Modules&lt; /font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;

whew! There was a thread started on CSS-discuss about the potential of the WaSP focusing their efforts on CMSs(Content Management Systems) that output code like this. I think this is a logical next step; after getting browser vendors to support standards, and with more designers learning how to use them, it’s time to focus on the vendors of tools used by non-web professionals do do their day-to-day work.
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Filed under Web Standards

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