Comments on: Where do you draw the line? http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/ Musings on design, web standards and free software from a Sri Lankan geek Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:28:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 By: OldBoy http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-43 OldBoy Mon, 18 Apr 2005 02:37:19 +0000 http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-43 Good point. Agree... but not completely. My personal idea is, no conversion is perfectly smooth & it takes time. Same applies to our clients. When the outside world gets more & more educated & concerned about accessibility & usability, things will get smoother. - Those days no building had a entrance for disabled on wheelchairs. So for the time being, we have to bear the pain. So still I'd take such projects -to go with tables-, but will try to make it useable & accessible as far as possible. But if there's some one who doesn't want to touch tables anymore & blessed with $, he can do two things: 1) Wait till every possible client is somehow educated on accessibility, so they don't ask for table things anymore. 2) Educate them. So for the time being, practice I'd follow is, Make accessible sites. If clients wants something else, show him what he'll loose. If he still wants it, do it & make it accessible as far as I can. Let's keep the web clean - But cleaning is a process :) Good point. Agree… but not completely.

My personal idea is, no conversion is perfectly smooth & it takes time. Same applies to our clients. When the outside world gets more & more educated & concerned about accessibility & usability, things will get smoother. - Those days no building had a entrance for disabled on wheelchairs.

So for the time being, we have to bear the pain. So still I’d take such projects -to go with tables-, but will try to make it useable & accessible as far as possible. But if there’s some one who doesn’t want to touch tables anymore & blessed with $, he can do two things:

1) Wait till every possible client is somehow educated on accessibility, so they don’t ask for table things anymore.
2) Educate them.

So for the time being, practice I’d follow is, Make accessible sites. If clients wants something else, show him what he’ll loose. If he still wants it, do it & make it accessible as far as I can.

Let’s keep the web clean - But cleaning is a process :)

]]> By: Kev http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-44 Kev Mon, 18 Apr 2005 11:04:03 +0000 http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-44 It's been a hard lesson for me to learn but really all you can do is explain your position, outline with advantages, explain the disadvantages of not going that way and trust your client is wide enough to see things your way. My latest site saw me arguing with the client that we had to accomodate 800px width users - they wanted to abandon them in favour of more ad space. In the end I got down on my knees and begged (metaphorically speaking!) them not to committ web-busines suicide and they saw reason but thats a very rare victory in these sort of discussions. It’s been a hard lesson for me to learn but really all you can do is explain your position, outline with advantages, explain the disadvantages of not going that way and trust your client is wide enough to see things your way.

My latest site saw me arguing with the client that we had to accomodate 800px width users - they wanted to abandon them in favour of more ad space. In the end I got down on my knees and begged (metaphorically speaking!) them not to committ web-busines suicide and they saw reason but thats a very rare victory in these sort of discussions.

]]> By: Kev http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-45 Kev Mon, 18 Apr 2005 11:04:50 +0000 http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-45 "client is wide enough" should of course read: "client is wise enough". Oh dear. “client is wide enough” should of course read: “client is wise enough”.

Oh dear.

]]> By: Prabhath http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-50 Prabhath Tue, 19 Apr 2005 11:04:01 +0000 http://nidahas.com/2005/04/17/where-do-you-draw-the-line/#comment-50 Sometimes we are cornered - I feel sorry for the in-house designers who are bullied in to doing things that makes the management feel good, and those who are stuck in design agencies that don't give a shit about standards. For freelancers and the few of us who are at places where web standards are given due respect, it's a matter of personal preference. As you say Kev, we'll <em>always</em> know, even though it doesn't go on the portfolio. Sometimes we are cornered - I feel sorry for the in-house designers who are bullied in to doing things that makes the management feel good, and those who are stuck in design agencies that don’t give a shit about standards.

For freelancers and the few of us who are at places where web standards are given due respect, it’s a matter of personal preference. As you say Kev, we’ll always know, even though it doesn’t go on the portfolio.

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