Octavio Heredia » web design

Color reference

Octavio — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 05:41:18 +0000

#463427, #C5AC81, #BEDFE2

When banners get in the way

Octavio — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 22:45:47 +0000

While channel surfing Sunday afternoon, I came across CNN’s In the Money show where they were having an insightful discussion about blogs and the ideas behind blogging. When I tuned in, they were interviewing Tony Perkins who is the man behind AlwaysOn. Mr. Perkins provided a lot of information and statistics about the current status and the potential behind the blogosphere. Of course, there had to be some room for his sales pitch but I managed to get past that.

After the interview, I went to check out their site and I was very disappointed on what I found. I took a screen shot of the AlwaysOn homepage with my browser set at 800×600 px, similar to what an computer user might be using on their own computer. I understand that such screen resolution is slowly being pushed aside but I wanted to illustrate the point that commercial real estate can easily become an obstrusive proposition.

In this image, you are greeted by:

A banner showcasing the benefits of an AlwaysOn membership. I wonder if removing all commercial banners is a benefit?
A rotating banner courtesy of AO’s Founding Partners
Finally, using the 800×600 resolution, the site’s navigation links mark the end of the page.

If you were to scroll down the page, you would then be able to see the content available on this page (it’s "wrapped" by even more banners and commercial links). I get the impression that the AlwaysOn network is putting its sponsors’ interests ahead of its content. Something that appears to be against the fundamental idea behind most blogs today.

I am not sure that I would reference the AlwaysOn network as a leader in the blogging movement, if they are, they certainly need to re-analyze their own website.

Untangling the web Teleconference

Octavio — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 18:07:52 +0000

In a few minutes I will be going to a PBS broadcast covering accessibility of online courses. The program is being produced by the University of Maryland University College and sponsored at our campus by a couple of departments involved with online education. There has been a lot of talk about web accessibility and with a move toward standards-based designs; it has become much easier to open the online doors to those with disabilities.

The program is structured in three parts:

Realities: which explains problems that students with disabilities commonly encounter in online courses as well as problems faculty and staff encounter in trying to help them

Challenges: discussing complex barriers to online accessibility that faculty and staff working together will be unable to resolve without outside intervention

Progress: which focuses on reframing accessibility so that the focus for faculty and staff is on the environment rather than on individual students.

The members of the panel are:

Sue Kroeger directs the Disability Resource Center at the University of Arizona, which serves over 1300 students with disabilities. She is a past president of the Association on Higher Education And Disability and is well known for her presentations on the the advantages of Universal Design and has made numerous presentations on the advantages of Universal Design. She has been principal investigator for several federal grants and has consulted nationally and internationally.

Brenda Matthis is an assistant professor of technology at Lesley University, where she specializes in technology and special needs and in emerging technologies. Her professional background is in software design and analysis; she most recently worked with the Center for Applied Special Technology, where she served as Lead Researcher for the Bobby accessibility repair tool.

Kristine Neuber is the assistive technology and web accessibility coordinator for George Mason University. She provides assistive technology screening, training and support for all university students and employees. She has extensive experience in building support for large-scale web accessibility initiatives and has partnered with WebAIM in developing institutional models and plans for accessibility.

John Slatin directs the Accessibility Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. He has been involved in accessibility issues since 1985 and currently chairs a statewide initiative on accessible electronic government services in Texas. He is the author (with Sharron Rush) of Maximum Accessibility: Making Your Web Site More Usable for Everyone.

Download the materials in advance.

Update

Well, the material covered was really nothing ground breaking and most of the talk was the normal academia lingo (…committee this and administration that…). However there were a couple of points regarding online accessibility that stuck with me and I will take a couple of days to read up on before I make an entry here.

State of the SOHO Web.

Octavio — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 06:01:48 +0000

During my time working for a corporation in Amarillo, I would come across the different sites for some of our clients. These clients ranged in size from small to humongous and only in some cases the quality of their online presence would match their size. I would be mostly surprised by those clients that were doing a lot of business with said company but once you would visit their website, you would not believe they were a million dollar company even if you could see their accounting books.

I have seen several cases where a "client" spends a large amount of money to conduct their daily operations. In some cases, an online presence is not essential for their industry and the reason behind their website is mostly because their competitor has a one and so they need one as well. Situation like these end up with sites that are not successful from the any possible point of view (business, accessibility, designing, etc.)

The reason for failure can be one of many but one that I have seen over and over again, is the lack of understanding for what can be accomplished online — when the proper resources are allocated to the project. This process can snowball very easily as one could start asking "why are the resources not being allocated? " and the answer to this question can lead into a deep discussion and one that I rather not entertain in this space.

What prompted this post? Recently, I came across a couple of sites for companies that are spending a lot of money to conduct their daily operations but have a very poor website. One of these sites is completely unusable unless you were browsing with Internet Explorer. Again, a discussion can be long and many points could be raised about their projects, but I would like to think that just having a website these days is not a business advantage. As society has become more and more connected, a negative online experience may certainly work against your business goals and objectives.