farcy doesn't look very semantic to me ;) it looks cool though (in lynx/links)
As Peter stated, "any good CMS the HTML output is up to the developer." You can set up any number of different page templates that can be as standards-compliant, symantically-correct and accessible as you want.
The real killer is the code produced by the inline WYSIWYG editors - some of them produce pretty butchered mark-up. I'm yet to see a cross-browser WYSIWYG editor that produces valid code, but there are a few in the works.
A feature of some CMS' - such as FarCry - WYSIWYG editors are treated as plug-ins, letting you can choose an editor that covers your requirements. When a better WYSIWYG editor comes on the market, you can simply plug it in and turn it on.
of course, but think of the people that have no time to learn techniques, think about accessibility etc. providing a flexible standard skin (thanks to CSS) based on webstandards, coded accessible, is important. all they need is to learn a bit CSS and go right away, without having to think about the markup, which is already quite good designed (getting better in the next versions hehe).
Who are these people? Somebody has to invest their time learning these skills - the effort has to come from somewhere.
i don't think accessibility should be something someone has to think about, when he sets up a small site. it should be just there.
I disagree with the "shouldn't need to think", but agree with "it should be there." I think it's always important to keep accessibility/usability in mind, no matter how small the site is.
Isn't this why you want to use a CMS? To automate the tedious bits of building web sites, and instantly provide an accessible/usable base to build upon?
also, self-written skins aren't always compatible with multiple versions of the app. you can solve that issue that with css. have the newest "out of the box" features but also your own design.
A skin is nothing more than mark-up coupled with CSS and images. It's really quite simple to create your own look and feel using products like FarCry.
A CMS should be about making it easier to build and maintain web sites. Results are directly proportional to time, effort and/or cost.
Regards,
-Ben http://www.daemon.com.au/
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