As most of you know, I strive to develop websites that conform to currently accepted web design standards. I write my code to be valid both via the CSS file and the XHTML markup.

Although it takes a bit more time to design a website to conform to these standards, it always seemed like the right way to design a website. It also feels good when your product is pronounced to be Valid by the various validation tools.

I stumbled upon a website today that appears to me to be the least valid website I have ever seen. Bar none. As of today, there are 2017 validation errors when the XHTML is checked. Wow. That’s a lot of errors.

Can you find a website with more errors than this one has? That’s the challenge for today!

P.S.
Just to balance things out, the University of California Spanish & Portugese Department is one of the most valid websites I have ever seen. The good folks over at Accessites.org highlighted the UC Spanish & Department website over a year ago.

How’s that for contrast?

June 9th, 2008 | Accessibility, Website Design

Project Complete: I have just completed a new website for Matthew C. Shepard, PLC. Mr. Shepard is an attorney located in Keego Harbor, MI.

In addition to a standard website, Mr. Shepard wanted the ability to write articles and news items for both his clients and website visitors.

WordPress as a CMS

With that in mind, I designed the site using WordPress as the CMS for this project. With only a modest amount of training, Mr. Shepard will be able to update his “Law Blog” on a regular basis. Not only will this be informative for his readers, but the blog articles will also make his website much more attractive to search engine indexing. Afterall, both Google and Yahoo love fresh content on websites and are likely to increase the page rankings for websites that regularly add new content.

Custom Blog Theme

This website was completed by customizing a blog theme that I have used for previous clients. By reusing an existing theme, and simply modifying the graphics and applying a few other tweaks, I was able to provide Mr. Shepard with a very cost effective solution for his webiste needs. I think the site portrays Mr. Shepard’s law firm as both serious and professional, and that’s just what he was looking for. I am happy with the site, but most importantly, so is the client!

May 31st, 2008 | Portfolio, WordPress

One of the struggles I have had recently is determining the best way to allow my clients to update the content on their websites. Although there are a myriad of content managment systems to choose from, in my experience most of them are too complicated for the needs of the clients I normally work with.

I have personally become a convert to using WordPress as the backend for most sites that I design. By doing so, I can update most client sites from anywhere in the world through the WordPress web based interface. This is a great advantage as I am no longer tied to the various desktop software applications in my office in order to accomplish most updates.

With the exception of blog themes that I have done, none of the clients for whom I have setup WordPress as a CMS system have ever updated the content on their sites. Not a single one. This isn’t a client failing, but rather I feel that WordPress is just a bit too complex for most clients.

May 15th, 2008 | Search Engine, Web Stuff, Website Design