Hey Taco >Is this something for "Standards" or out of scope?
Russ has this idea that there are 4 pillars of web standards: - validity - semantics - separation of presentation & content - accessibility To my mind that last one generally refers to people with disabilities & people using dodgy hardware & software (http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aaccessibility). For a long time I have thought that there is a 5th element that is missing from this list. This 5th element is addressed in good design but its not really discussed very often in terms of web standards. I think the reason for this is its kind of hard to put your finger on and there is no buzz word that sums it up. I guess what I am talking about is accessibility for you & me. Little things that make sites easier to use for even expert users. I guess you could call it usability but even that word has a number connotations (http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Ausability). Part of the reason I love the CUE site (http://www.qld.gov.au/web/cue/overview/) is its deals with this issue in more detail than I have seen in any one place. It calls it "consistent user experience". But even this tag sells the idea short. Anyway what I am talking about includes all the little things that give a site real "polish", things like: - guessable/memorable URLs, - site structure (logical connection of content), - use of hyperlinks in the text, - googlability or search engine friendliness - tabbing between elements - font & colour use (beyond just % based fonts) - using http status properly* - lots of other stuff Maybe you could just say that its about playing nicely in the Internet space (see http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-webarch-20031209/). Or maybe its about going the extra lengths for your users. Yes! I really think this is a vital part of web standards. I just wish I could find a name for it. * For example "this page has moved, please update you bookmarks, you will be redirected in 5 seconds" is insane. HTTP 301 is the thing to use in this case: "10.3.2 301 Moved Permanently The requested resource has been assigned a new permanent URI and any future references to this resource SHOULD use one of the returned URIs. Clients with link editing capabilities ought to automatically re-link references to the Request-URI to one or more of the new references returned by the server, where possible. This response is cacheable unless indicated otherwise." Seamless end user experience + proxies & spiders and other clients understand what is happening. Cheers Mark ------------------ Mark Stanton Technical Director Gruden Pty Ltd Tel: 9956 6388 Mob: 0410 458 201 Fax: 9956 8433 http://www.gruden.com ***************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ *****************************************************
