[H-GEN] webpage

[Raymond Smith]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and
Unix-related topics. ]

On 20 Sep 1999, Clinton Roy wrote:
> 1) Not standard's compliant HTML, run tidy over them and watch the
> errors scroll past...and keep watching...

Ah yes, but neither is yours :-). Try the W3C validator 
http://validator.w3.org

I suspect the code is indeed HTML4/CSS2 compliant and you have just left
off the DOCTYPE.
 
> 3) Replication of information, which has turned into a maintenance
> problem, the FAQ being the main culprit here. We most certainly need
> a FAQ, we just shouldn't have to update it all the time. 

You should remember that the FAQ is a seperate document from the
web-pages. The FAQ maintainer is responsible for keeping it up to date,
not the webmaster; although the webmaster is responsible for having the
latest copy.
 
> 4) A little too much use of <pre> for my liking, it looks icky, and
> doesn't let you use style sheets much.

This was done because Byron and myself did not want to re-type the
consititution or the FAQ. And then, well, we didn't want to retype that
other stuff either. :-)

If you _do_ decide to mark-up the constitution could you make sure there
is a way to convert it to text? Or perhaps generate your HTML version from
the text file? It is important that we can send the constitution as plain
text to the list.

> 5) It doesn't have the next meeting information right up the front.

Yes indeed.
 
> 1) Stick to the HTML 4 and CSS 2 standards, and use tidy to check it
> all. Now, this does make using the site a little hard under lynx, but
> we'll work around that eventually. Lynx is just such a crappy client.

Hmm. What will you be using as a client? One thing I think our web page
should be is reflective of the ideals of open standards and inter-
operability. Now it sounds like you are doing this wrt standards
(HTML4/CSS2) but please also look at the Web Accessibility Initiative
under W3C's site (www.w3.org). I'd ask that you make the effort to make
the page usable by all members including those who are blind,
monitor-imparied, or doomed to use 80x25 terminals.

> 2) Completely reorganizing the site and shuffling all the data around
> so it is more logical and hopefully easier to find.

You have done a very good job of this! I would suggest, however, that you
put the portal on its own page and link to it from the frontpage and from
the member services page.
 
> 3) My first thought would be to just have links to the authoritive
> pieces of information, but that increases the number of clicks to find 
> info, perhaps it could just be #included somehow...

I think it is better to have the hyper-links than not. There is nothing
worse than re-reading stuff you have already read, and there is nothing
wrong with giving people pointers to information from other pages. They
might be lost afterall despite your logical layout.
 
> 4) Slowly marking up the <pre> elements. The constitution will take
> the longest time.

:-) Have fun!

Cheers,

Raymond
 
---
raymond at humbug.org.au              The early bird catches the worm, 
                                       but the second mouse eats the cheese


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