Improving the bottom line of the internet

Solution #1 - Addressing Office Productions

For some unfathomable reason, Microsoft Office products have a File/Save As Web Page option. This has led to even the most inept of computer users compiling some form of web media. I know there are many more products that have this feature but, by far, Microsoft Office is the largest perpetrator. Now who's fault is this? OK, don't answer that. What about "can we blame the authors?". Answer: not really. So what do we do about it? Answer: write an article on how to build a usable, accessible website in Microsoft Word. Don't laugh, it can be done even if it doesn't validate. There are still document structure issues, navigation guidelines and avoiding WordArt or even FrontPage FPHover if that's the tool of use.

So an accessible MS Word website article? Watch this space.

People using Publisher or Word to build websites will never stop because it's fast and it's cheap. It's what we all want in life. We want it from our cars, our Broadband connections, our food, sometimes our women. Websites are no different.

So address the bottom line for Word builders, give them the resources and the knowledge to do it properly and the bottom line creeps upwards raising the standards.

Solution #2 - Dreamweaver/Photoshop Productions

Websites are designed, not developed in Dreamweaver. There are of course exceptions but the rule of thumb is design over development for people with these tools. Now, my understanding of a website is primarily a tool for business that is created to feed the largest possible market and serve the information with the aim of attracting new clients so what we need is solid core information that is attractively styled and presented to the user.

So, how can we address design over development? By flipping the process. I know many designers who can produce stunning websites without actually knowing any HTML. The nearest that they understand adhering to the web standards, is ticking the "Make XHTML Compliant" box.

So aside from teaching a designer advanced CSS positioning, box model hacks and DTD's and assuming that tables are the flavour of the day, the best way to address this is for them to think about the flow of the document, and before design begins, think about how many nested tables are needed to get the look they're after. Too many? then think again, design around it. 1 table with 3 columns is better than seeing 15 <TABLE> tags positioning the content.

By changing the mindset of a designer and giving them the skills to play with the CSS options within Dreamweaver to assist alignment and positioning, a more accessible, lighter weight website will be produced.

Solution #3 - Target Clients

This is where I spend most of my time. Many of my clients look to build there own websites and there are many reasons for this train of thought.

• Previous experience has bred an expectation of failure, so why spend a fortune on a website?
• The leap from FrontPage plop to hand coded lean machines are far too expensive.
• More money should be spent on marketing than building so FrontPage it is.
• Why pay more for something that looks the same?

I'm sure others can think of many more.

The more businesses are aware of the benefits of doing things a certain way, the more they will raise their expectations of a design agency. Businesses are economic entities so address them as such. There's no gain in saying a tableless design will save on bandwidth and bring your hosting fees down from £50 to £30 a year, it needs more than that.

WordPress for example gives clients a means of updating websites without incurring fees, comments allow client interaction which saves on phone bills, forums make great support tools and people often solve problems themselves, further saving administration and support costs. There are many examples of great ways a business can use the web and make being online a powerful and integral part of the business model. When the jobs done properly, the potentials are realised and the goals aimed for. It's business that drives the industry so hit them hard with what they need to know and how a great website can offer greater return on investment.

Conclusion

I'm not out to slow down innovation and I expect a commercial website development agencies to produce the very best websites for my clients but I can't expect people attempting to build their own to know or understand XHTML Strict and associated CSS, but by understanding fundamental standards and adhering to a few golden rules, the bottom end of the scale slowly creeps up. This surely has to have more impact than breeding a few expert CSS coders that price themselves above the majority of the SME market.