Just received an email[1] from my SMH subscription stating they've launched a new website, SMH.com.au technology:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology
I have to admit. I was a little cynical and was preparing myself for an onslaught of presentational markup and zilch semantic markup. Off I went and viewed the source of the new website and... low and behold... its semantic markup laid out purely with CSS (otherwise known as a CSS-P layout).
Hats off to the f2 network web team (I know you're on this list!) for moving SMH's policies toward a standards based architecture.
Unfortunately the site doesn't validate because of bare ampersands in URIs, some javascript language attribs, attributes that aren't doubled quoted and a missing alt tag. The ad banner system seems to be the cause of most of the errors which, im guessing, is out of their control.
Again, nice work f2! I look forward to seeing you move more of SMH (and the f2 network) towards standards based techonologies (including a focus on some accessibility features).
A question on behalf of those who are considering moving their companies to standards based design:
How were the "forces of power" in f2 convinced to invest in web standards and what commitment by management was needed for this to become (what I consider to be) a successful project?
-- tim
www.toolmantim.com
[1]
-- FWD-From: smh.com.au Technology <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
New look technology site
Dear Tim,
The new look technology section on smh.com.au/technology has just launched. It has been enhanced to provide more breaking technology news and to showcase the vast amount of news, analysis and reviews available online from Next, ICON and LiveWire. Plus, it will be even easier for you to navigate around.
What has changed?
- It is now a fixed-width site, which will make it easier to scan the headlines and read the articles.
- We have rearranged the site into two main columns, which allows you to see all of the different sections and updated news and features at a glance.
- And, there's an extra navigation across the top, a change of colours and picture bylines for our fantastic columnists, to make the site a little more personal.
New features
- Resources section with an IT Events calendar
- Management Focus with articles from our MIS publications in Australia, Asia, NZ and the UK
- More IT Whitepapers and all the latest tech tips from Next
- Refreshed design and layout for the technology news emails starting from next week
We hope you like the changes to the technology site that have been long in coming, but which we hope will improve your enjoyment. Take a look at smh.com.au/technology now and send us your feedback.
Regards
Mike van Niekerk Managing Editor, Online The Sydney Morning Herald
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