Plain Old Semantic HTML

HTML In 2009

Martin — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:12:20 +0000

So I just wanted to ask you designers if you’ve even thought of creating “beta” sites – using HTML 5? Just curious…
photo credit: Noah Sussman

Martin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:43:23 +0000

I have been looking everywhere for standards compliant, XHTML 1.0 Transitional (1.1 and Strict of course) website templates to use on sites I manage. Of course I can create them myself, thank you very much , but if you ever have had an order as a web designer for 50+ sites within the timespan of a few days to fill, and you are busy with other things, then you’ll agree with me that finding a treasure like this would be a real help.

photo credit: grenade
I actually found a web site that offers free templates (keeping a footer link to their site), or for a purchase, you can buy your own. If you go to the DreamTemplate.com web site, you can view the website templates they have available. What I did was download one, and viewed the page source. Yes, they have a XHTML 1.0 Transitional DOCTYPE, and minus a few validation errors (like a non closed BR), the markup was very semantic. Great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as well, but that’s for another post. Let me just say that semantic coding is the benchmark for SEO.

If you’ll notice on their site,

WordPress Gurus

Martin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:27:43 +0000

Hey all of you WordPress admins out there, can you please help us out? I’d like to see your career path as you get to work/consult on WordPress projects.Hey all of you WordPress admins out there, can you please help us out? I’d like to see your career path as you get to work/consult on WordPress projects.

photo credit: Nikolay BachiyskiHey all of you WordPress admins out there, can you please help us out? I’d like to see your career path as you get to work/consult on WordPress projects.

Who Should Host Me?

Martin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:42:32 +0000

Best website hosting reviews:

I know that before I started reselling web site hosting, I did not know where to find a good place that had done the research for me on a selection. I have found that the best website hosting reviews will contain reviews of the top 10 hosting companies around. The reviews have to be independent from a hosting outfit, with the ratings based on on web surfer’s feedback, hosting tools testing, and the overall usage of their services.

Upperhost.com is the place readers! Here is their mission statement:

Our Mission is to Test, Inform and Inform the potential web hosting consumers and businesses. We accept no advertisements or donations from any web hosting company.

For example, they have a review of lunarpages hosting, which contains all the greatest information you need in order to make a quality decision on their services.

So all in all, I rate them at the top of the review niche for hosting.

Linux Finished My Windows For Lunch!

Martin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:07:44 +0000

photo credit: KevinI have been using Ubuntu (Linux dist.) exclusively for about what…8 months now…and I have really grown to love it. I love the OpenSource movement, and what it stands for. Not only that, but all I need I can run on Ubuntu fairly easily.

I do run (via VirtualBox) Windows XP – but that’s just for web dev. stuff. My day-to-day is strickly Linux!

photo credit: renatotarga

POSH Is Still POSH

Martin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:12:13 +0000

There is always going to be the need for POSH!

Web Standards in Design

Martin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:12:03 +0000

There has been updates to the web standards authority site. It’s also moving on up in Google’s SERPs. All in all, great info and SEO.

Shopping For Standards

Martin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:35:49 +0000

photo credit: Cosmic Kitty
Shopping for web standards in design will kill you! I mean, if you look for a web designer that specializes in standards compliant designs, you have to turn over rocks to find them!

Target Looses Lawsuit To Blind Users

Martin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:49:28 +0000

photo credit: Rhian vK

If you have been following the latest news in accessibility and retail, then you’ve heard of the lawsuit between the retail giant Target and blind users of the internet. Let’s say you wanted to to buy something online from Target. You could not, and more importantly, you would be discriminated against. All because Targets website is inaccessibly designed. But because of the lawsuit, the Target that’s going to be changed. Target has been ordered by the courts to pay $6 million on the class action lawsuit against them.

Here’s a quote from the ruling:

“Furthermore, the settlement requires Target to implement internal guidelines to make its site more accessible to the blind by Feb. 28, 2009, with assistance from the NFB. The retailer and the NFB have agreed to a three-year relationship during which the advocacy group will keep testing the site to make sure it is accessible to the blind who use technologies such as screen-reading software. NFB said it will certify the site through its own certification program once the improvements are completed.”

photo credit: The Wandering Angel
This is great news for web standards, accessibility, and the many disabled and other users everywhere!

Semantic WordPress Themes Revisited

Martin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:23:22 +0000

photo credit: schoschie

It seems to keep coming up in conversations I have – that the WordPress CMS is probably the best platform for a site owner to run “out of the box”. And with that, there are tons of (X)HTML correct and valid, Semantic WordPress Themes available. Heck, I will even create one for you!