Web Specs and Standards

[AlohaDawg]

This is a request from those of you who have training, education or experience in designing web pages:

I'm involved in an organization that has the worst website ever. To me, it evokes a website that perhaps an elderly lady put together in 1993 to show off her collection of hummels. Such things as horrible midi music that can not be turned off, and little angels falling in the background. It makes me physically ill.

It's a horror, an abomination even.

Can someone direct me to a set of plain language, easy-to-understand general standards for websites, particularly for those designed for the public to access to learn about an organization and it's products/services? Particularly valuable would be if these standards came from national organization or group which would naturally and immediately lend credibility to the publication.

Thanks

J

[FlipConstantine]

w3.org is a good place to start for the authoritative word on web standards, but definitely not really "beginner friendly".  I'd suggest hiring out a professional web design firm, but I can see that that might not be cost effective.  I don't know if any of those "web design basics" articles out there can be trusted, really.  Just point whoever's in charge of your webpage to the W3 standards and give him/her good examples of web design.  I think Achewood.com is actually a good design that can be shown to folks.  Also check out sites like digg.com or something.  There's also Webpages That Suck for examples of what not to do.  Dunno if any of that will be helpful, but if all else fails they can learn from Teodore's mistakes.

[jough]

If I wasn't so tired I'd totally weigh-in on this topic.  Maybe tomorrow.

I'll say that there really are no design standards  as much as design trends.  Right now BIG TEXT is in, and drop shadows and buttons that look like plastic are I guess always "in."

For the coding you want to adhere to W3.org standards, as every browser now pretty much does, which means that if you code to standards theoretically your sites should look or behave approximately the same in any browser.  This isn't really the case practically speaking, but it's a good start.

Also, unless you want to spend a few years studying the finer points of design, trying and failing many many times, etc., you'll want to hire a professional.  A lot of web pros work fairly cheap now, and if you're willing to give a CS major a shot you can probably get a true bargain (i.e. the whole site for a couple hundred bucks).  It might not even look like ass.

[AugustWest]

I was very happy with my web designer.

[jough]

And as with any craftsman, his own shoppe is in disarray.  I really do mean to get back to adding content to my own web sites soon.  I really do.